Tag Archives: Relational Neuroscience

Safety, Connection, Belonging, and Well-Being

From an Interpersonal Neurobiology perspective, safety, connection, belonging, and well-being are not separate experiences, but interdependent processes that continuously shape one another. Safety is the foundation. When our nervous system detects enough predictability, responsiveness, and choice, it becomes possible to … Continue reading

Posted in Community | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Listening to My Nervous System is Not Optional

Trauma recovery is not a belief system, moral stance, prescription, or a choice based on what feels convenient, politically aligned, or socially condoned. Recovery is about learning, often the hard way, what my nervous system actually needs in order to … Continue reading

Posted in Neurobiology | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

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 , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Beyond Credentials: The Non-Negotiable Key to My Recovery

I had a years-long period when my functionality was so low that it was hard for me to leave the house. I was severely isolated by disability from repeated medical harm. My relationships with practitioners became my default primary social … Continue reading

Posted in Healthcare, Relationships | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Always in the Direction of Life: Eight Years of Medical Harm and My One Prospect for a Future 

I have been fighting for my life daily for 8 years. Before that, there was already a lifetime of abuse from people in positions of power, most often from caregivers. The medical and psychiatric abuse of the last eight years … Continue reading

Posted in Healthcare | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Why Internet Doctors Push Habits Instead of Recognizing Conditions

Doctors on the Internet stay at the level of individual behavior because their authority holds and the solutions stay marketable. Medical social media influencers focus largely on self-management: Scroll less, eat better, try harder, and regulate yourself under conditions that … Continue reading

Posted in Healthcare | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

IPNB: Bucking the Culture That Keeps Us in Survival Mode 

Standard treatments do not address ongoing conditions. They try to change thoughts while the body is still organized around threat. From a Relational Neuroscience perspective, that is a mismatch. The system is responding accurately to the conditions under which it … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Why I Quit Therapy

Over 6.5 years, I was traumatized by 13 therapists. Even the intake, first session, and attempt to explain my history put my nervous system back into the same defensive state. In session, I frequently encountered misattunement that prompted their disbelief, … Continue reading

Posted in Mental Health | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Secrecy and Stability: The Super Enablers at My Father’s Memorial

At my father’s memorial in 2019, the family dynamics were easy to see. Most people did not want to talk to me. They showed it through distance, short answers, or simply not engaging. My sister’s behavior was openly hostile. Her … Continue reading

Posted in Family, IPNB of Hierarchy | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Outsourcing to Angels: Faith as Deferral Instead of Action

Recently,  I met someone who told me that the political turmoil of today is okay according to the angels. They say it’s just cleaning out the bad stuff. She also said that angels don’t work on our timeline, so we … Continue reading

Posted in Systems | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment