Tag Archives: recovery
The Falsehood of “Post-Traumatic Growth”
People sometimes tell me I am experiencing “post-traumatic growth.” They say it like it’s a compliment, and I should feel encouraged. As if this is the gold at the end of years of fighting for my life. That’s a falsehood. … Continue reading
The Doctors in My Recovery Plan
Many people have trouble believing that caring doctors became an essential part of my Interpersonal Neurobiology-based trauma recovery plan. Some dismiss it entirely because they assume healing relationships have to happen with family, friends, a romantic partner, or a therapist. … Continue reading
Posted in Healthcare
Tagged Complex PTSD, connection, doctors, healthcare, Medical PTSD, MPTSD, PTSD, recovery, safety
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Not Feeling: A Survival Adaptation
Not feeling emotions can be a survival adaptation that develops when your nervous system has been overwhelmed by chronic stress or trauma. It’s a way of protecting yourself from feelings that once felt too intense or unbearable. Reconnecting with your … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged emotional blunting, emotions, feelings, numbness, recovery
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Beyond the Mental Illness Industry: Healing Trauma with NARM and Interpersonal Neurobiology
After the psychiatric abuse of a “standard treatment” nearly killed me 8 years ago, I found the tools that made survival possible. This was at the intersection of the NeuroAffective Relational Model (NARM) and Interpersonal Neurobiology. Unlike the mental illness … Continue reading
Signs of Recovery, an IPNB Perspective
The mainstream mental illness industry offers a symptom–management and pathology-reduction framework that reflects the incomplete biomedical model of mental health. That narrow framework treats progress as a set of isolated symptom-based milestones, focusing on controlling or managing parts of experience … Continue reading
Posted in Mental Health
Tagged Behavioral Health, IPNB, Mental Health, PTSD recovery, recovery, Relational Neuroscience, symptoms
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Why One Safe Connection Affects Everything
In the past few months, I have enjoyed a noticeably improved quality of life. I don’t have to spend so much focus desperately trying to build connections. I have more energy for other things, like working in the garden and … Continue reading
Posted in PTSD, Uncategorized
Tagged connection, integrated relationships, integration, mutuality, recovery, relationships, support
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When the Body Sets the Pace: Trauma Integration Through Agency and Relationship
I had a remarkably powerful experience with my craniosacral practitioner after I had realized that my Moro Reflex flashbacks were also connected to the suffocation torture. It was the same posture–prone face up, arms wide, head back–and inability to breathe. … Continue reading
Posted in Relationships, Trauma
Tagged craniosacral, craniosacral practitioner, holding space, implicit memory, recovery, safety, torture, trauma recovery, witnessing
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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
Posted in PTSD
Tagged Complex PTSD, CPTSD, IPNB, labels, Medicine, Nervous System, psychiatry, recovery, relationships, survival, survival adaptations
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Stuck on Red Alert: The Hidden Harm of Seeking Help
For most of the last seven years, I haven’t been able to feel the normal range of human emotions. Joy, peace, gratitude, awe, and beauty have been mostly absent. Most of the time, I can only think about these things. … Continue reading
Posted in Abuse, Healthcare
Tagged abuse, awe, emotions, healthcare, hypervigilance, joy, Medicine, peace, recovery, Red Alert, wonder
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