Tag Archives: healthcare

How Repeated Medical Abuse Conditions the Nervous System

Fabrizio Benedetti’s insights into conditioning in his book, “The Patient’s Brain: The neuroscience behind the doctor-patient relationship,” are highly relevant for understanding how repeated medical abuse can shape a person’s nervous system. Conditioning—where the nervous system learns through repeated experiences—plays … Continue reading

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ChristianaCare: Fortress of Wealth, Desert of Care

ChristianaCare is sitting on rising profits while the amount of free care it provides to the poor hasn’t budged in years. Spotlight Delaware reports that in 2023, the hospital system spent less than one percent of its budget on charity … Continue reading

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7 Years of Disbelief

For over seven years, I’ve been forced into the role of “my own best advocate.” This is because the people I turned to for care refused to understand what I need for recovery from severe Complex PTSD and quadrilateral Complex … Continue reading

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Connection Is the Cure: Meet My Nervous System’s Needs

My nervous system is desperate for the kind of connection that feels safe. Because all my life, I’ve been chronically and acutely deprived of that safety. Sometimes it’s been extreme, other times less so, but never enough. When I had … Continue reading

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F’ing Insane: Maltreatment by Health Data

I had my annual checkup with my primary care provider. She said all my numbers are good, because they collected the wrong numbers. No sleep data. No tracking my pain over time. No questions about PTSD or Complex Regional Pain … Continue reading

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Hugs in the Treatment Plan: This Is What Care Feels Like 

Six years ago, a gynecologist at ChristianaCare cut away healthy tissue without my consent. That egregious violation of informed consent fractured my sense of safety in a medical environment, my relationship with my body, and my ability to trust that … Continue reading

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The Most Predatory Systems in America

In America today, several systems are notoriously predatory because they extract resources–money, labor, health, or dignity–from people without providing safety, care, or fairness in return. These systems often target the most vulnerable while shielding those with wealth and power. Here … Continue reading

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Finding the Right Doctor

Finding a doctor who listens and understands can be highly challenging, especially when you’re already in pain or dealing with complex needs. From an Interpersonal Neurobiology (IPNB) lens, the quality of our relationships, including with our providers, greatly affects our … Continue reading

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Connection in Healthcare is Essential, But Medicine Sabotages It

Connection is vital in medicine, and is often ruptured by institutional demand for rushing and the culture of separation. That’s two strikes against doctors who want to connect, understand the importance, and need to feel connected themselves, and all doctors … Continue reading

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Why a Doctor Visit Can Increase Our Pain

For someone with a chronic condition, going to the doctor can increase pain because the body is already in a heightened state of sensitivity. When pain persists over time, the nervous system adapts by becoming more responsive to potential threats, … Continue reading

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