Tag Archives: IPNB
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
Posted in Accountability
Tagged abuse, art, expression, failure of justice, integration, interpersonal neurobiology, IPNB, justice, justice making, medical abuse, medical harm, painting, process, recovery, watercolors, witnessing
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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
Posted in Mental Health, Psychiatry
Tagged Behavioral Health, DSM, illness, IPNB, Mental Health, mental illness industry, Nervous System, pathologizing, psychiatry, Psychology, recovery, Trauma, wellbeing
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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
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
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
Posted in Healthcare
Tagged attune, attunement, compassion, doctors, healthcare, healthcare practitioners, IPNB, relationship, witnessing
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Why I Won’t Call Pain “Banana”
There is a chronic pain community that discourages people from using the word “pain.” Instead, they encourage members to use the word “banana.” The idea is that replacing a threatening word with something neutral or even silly can help the … Continue reading
The Real Zone of Growth is Not Outside the Comfort Zone But Inside the Window of Tolerance
A whiteboard at a local gym promotes the idea that “growth only happens outside the comfort zone,” which is popular in our “push through” culture. Stagnation can happen when there’s no challenge and no novelty. But if pushed too far, … Continue reading
Posted in Neurobiology, Uncategorized
Tagged comfort zone, growth, gym, IPNB, learning, mindset, neurobiology, progress, pushing through, Regulation, sweet discomfort, zone of growth
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Survivors in the Lurch: How Doctors Disregard Their Role in Resolving Medical Trauma
Recently, I heard the same line I’ve been hearing for years. A prominent pain specialist told me that doctors don’t have the time to help me recover from medical PTSD. The conversation always drops straight into the same rut: “Are … Continue reading
Posted in Accountability, Healthcare
Tagged attunement, Doctor, doctor-patient relationship, doctors, Empathy, IPNB, Medical PTSD, MPTSD, pain, pain specialist, relationship, therapy
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From Trauma to Truth: How I Became Anti-Psychiatry
I became anti-psychiatry because of what psychiatry did to me and what I saw it do to others. I walked in with severe Complex PTSD. They put me on Lexapro. The suicidal ideations started about 3 weeks after. When I … Continue reading
Posted in Psychiatry
Tagged abuse, anti-psychiatry, Behavioral Health, chemical imbalance, control, hierarchy, IPNB, Mental Health, psychiatry, Trauma
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Control Sold as Awakening: An Interpersonal Neurobiology Look at Byron Katie’s “The Work”
Byron Katie’s teachings are built around four questions that invite people to challenge their thoughts, with “Is it true?” being the most famous. On the surface, these questions can sound compassionate and insightful. And sometimes, they can be helpful. A … Continue reading
Posted in Accountability
Tagged "The Work", Byron Katie, connection, disembodiment, dissociation, functional freeze, IPNB, safety, shame
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