Tag Archives: IPNB

Complex PTSD From An IPNB Perspective: Survival Adaptations and the Roots of Symptoms

When people talk about Complex PTSD or other trauma-related conditions, they often focus on the symptoms. They make lists of patterns, put them into clusters, and give them names. That sounds organized, but it hides the bigger picture. It puts … Continue reading

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Putting Our Lived Experience on the Record Can Help Build a Sense of Safety

I started bringing a printed page to my pain specialist appointments because I needed a way to communicate that worked for my nervous system and his. Each page bears the date and his name, plus brief status updates on regional … Continue reading

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“The God Shot”: Magical Thinking for a Culture That Refuses to Change

Dr. Eugene Lipov, who helped develop the use of Stellate Ganglion Block (SGB) for PTSD, announced the release of his new book, “The God Shot.” The title also refers to a medical procedure he calls a “Dual Sympathetic Reset (DSR).” … Continue reading

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Announcing My First Book!

Of all the things I could have predicted for my life, becoming a watercolor graphic medicine artist who uses cartoon ladybugs to teach Relational Neuroscience was not one of them. But here I am. My “Della the IPNB Ladybug™” books … Continue reading

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What Are Our Core Biological Needs?

From an Interpersonal Neurobiology perspective, the core biological needs that are chronically unmet in people with severe CPTSD involve safety, connection, and regulation. These needs are not abstract, but embodied. 1. Co-regulation. Human nervous systems are designed to settle in … Continue reading

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Creating My Own Justice: Art, Words, and the Nervous System

I keep talking about what happened to me because the lack of justice makes it impossible to “let it go,” as if that is even a thing. The psychiatric abuse and forced FGM surgery didn’t just happen; they continue to … Continue reading

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The DSM Misses the Mark: IPNB Offers a Humane and Scientific Understanding of Mental Health

Some trauma experts have said that if the psychiatric Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) acknowledged trauma, it would be a very thin volume because virtually everything else would fall beneath it. But from an Interpersonal Neurobiology (IPNB) … Continue reading

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When Your Partner Cannot or Refuses to Understand Trauma

One of the most destabilizing dynamics for a trauma-impacted nervous system is not the original harm. It is ongoing misattunement inside an intimate relationship. When a partner cannot or refuses to understand trauma, the problem is not a lack of … Continue reading

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Why I Am Skeptical of EMDR For Trauma Recovery

From an Interpersonal Neurobiology perspective, EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) isn’t about eye movements or “reprogramming.” It’s a relational, neurophysiological process that uses bilateral stimulation as a way to engage both hemispheres of the brain while the person accesses … Continue reading

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When Healthcare Feels Dangerous: How Practitioners Shape Our Capacity to Heal

When I tell a practitioner that I’m not doing well, and they dismiss or minimize what I say–what I share of my lived experience–it makes everything worse. It increases my sense of unsafety. It pushes me even further onto Red … Continue reading

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