Anxiety & PTSD support

[teenagecrush]

[snorlax-and-co]

[amarakaran]

[closet-keys]

Traumatic events destroy the sustaining bonds between individual and community. Those who have survived learn that their sense of self, of worth, of humanity, depends upon a feeling of connection with others. The solidarity of a group provides the strongest protection against terror and despair, and the strongest antidote to traumatic experience. Trauma isolates; the group re-creates a sense of belonging. Trauma shames and stigmatizes; the group bears witness and affirms. Trauma degrades the victim; the group exalts her. Trauma dehumanizes the victim; the group restores her humanity.

Judith Lewis Herman, Trauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence - From Domestic Abuse to Political Terror (via closet-keys)

[lemonyandbeatrice]

and I’m also thinking abt repressed memories/repressed traumas where you have a feeling something happened but you can’t remember it and even though there are signs that it did happen it’s not something that can be fully worked through?

[risingphoenixpress-deactivated2]

A Poem From Survive Like the Water

“Mean Bones" is a poem from the collection Survive Like the Water by Lydia Havens. Get a copy for someone you love for 20% off during our holiday sale.

Purchase your copy here

[326baybee]

What traumatized you then, what haunts you now, may become the gateway for blessings in the future. Express your emotions and let the healing begin.

macpacwrites (via imstardust)

[snorlax-and-co]

[snorlax-and-co]

[a-time-for-speaking-out-blog]

I feel like so much of trauma recovery for adults who’ve been traumatized is “you are not the only one who feels this way, this is normal.”

But for adults who were traumatized as children, there is an important experience of learning that it is in fact, not normal. It’s good to not feel alone, to find people who get it and to not feel crazy, but the process of going through who you are and picking out the things you had accepted as normal that are definitely not is so important.

I’ll never forget the moment that I realized people have happy dreams, like frequently. Or the day I realized that most people sleep through the night like almost all of the time. Those were really sad moments, but they were really important too, because they made me understand that I am not crazy. Something bad happened, and it changed me.

It’s okay to be different, it’s okay if the trauma changed you, but if you are running a race with a broken legand beating yourself up because you aren’t as fast are the other runners something needs to change. Realizing you are different is the first step to figuring out how to heal

[conscious-love]

How to Stop Choosing the Wrong People

I’ve chosen many men because my pain and dysfunction recognized them as sources to keep the pain alive. For example, I’ve chosen angry men because anger remains something which is unresolved in myself. Some women gravitate toward unavailable men because they were abandoned or neglected in childhood. Humans are creatures of habit — our minds seek the familiar.

Research both Codependency and Trauma Bonding. This will help you discern whether you’re choosing someone out of love and compatibility, or due to your dysfunctional past/mindset.

Heal all that is unhealed in yourself. Become aware of your unconscious needs and meet them yourself, that way you don’t seek them unconsciously from someone else.

Become whole on your own so that you don’t feel that you’re lacking. Learn to approve of yourself so that you don’t seek approval from others. This way, you won’t choose people out of desperation, but rather because they would be a healthy addition to your life. You won’t settle for toxic people anymore, you’ll drop them as soon as you figure them out.

“Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.”

— Carl Jung

[ancestralmusings]

Other Signs of D.I.D.:

Full chunks of time missing.

Chronic fatigue.

Frequent headaches.

Nonverbal when overwhelmed or overstimulated.

Extreme short term memory loss.

Asking or sending the same things to someone because of memory lapse.

Multiple alter egos.

Blurry vision.

Fluctuations in appetite (typically a lack of).

Sudden rage that can’t be explained.

Fearing abandonment, yet craving solitude.

Physical contact causing sensations of nausea, discomfort or overstimulation.

Chronic feelings of deja vu.

You see literally a different person or being in the mirror.

Splitting happens so often (70% of the time or more) you start to not know the difference between what is real (this reality) and when you’re splitting.

High likelihood of weight loss.

Having what can be described as “blackout episodes” where you do things and can’t remember them. Typically someone will ask you why you did ______ and you won’t have a clue or retain any memory of it.

Food aversions.

[thatslifeinsideout]

My therapist said something during session

“even if what happened didn’t feel bad, it was still abuse and not your fault”

Cue shame.

It was out of the blue and I think she was trying to guess what I might be struggling with. That wasnt it at that moment. But it is something I struggle with.

Abuse is supposed to feel bad.

But sometimes your body responds..and it doesn’t feel bad. Que mind fuck.It is the worst feeling of betrayal. Your own body betrayed you. So much shame.

Cue negative reel “Am I a freak? Did I enjoy it? He’s related to you…you are so disgusting!…etc etc”

She continued to talk and I just got lost in my head.. going further and further down the rabbit whole.. I hope she brings it up again. Because.

[thelightningbottle]

Recovery is not an easy journey. It is a winding road traversing sprawling meadows and misty woods. It takes you through mountains, over rivers, sometimes in and out of hell. It’s difficult to navigate alone — but with treatment and support from loved ones, recovery is a journey all of us can make. And darling, it’s a journey worth every step.

[quiet-reassurance]

Studying with Trauma Tip #1

So my first tip will be probably the most important one I know, although it’s the hardest to learn.

Don’t punish yourself for not being able to do what everyone else can.

Although everyone has their own issues, especially in college, trauma and other mental health issues make it much, much harder to do even the bare minimum in classes and extracurriculars. Do your best not to compare yourself or your progress to others that have different struggles or different coping mechanisms than you.

Do your best for you, and appreciate that for the sometimes-Herculean effort that it is.

I’m proud of you, and we can do this.

[recovering-and-healing]

SUDDENLY … life turns upside down, and you find out the other side is the right one for you.

(via recovering-and-healing)

[befooledbyhope]

Please fucking tell im not the only one, who have lived with all of the symptoms all of my life, and have tried so hard to be normal and fit in, an therefore just learned to cope with all of it. SO FUCKING much that it is just a part of me that seems so oddly normal. Panic attacks is just my body telling me that im not feeling well, which i already know, so what? Seems even harder to recover when i feel like the symptoms are made of me or the other way around…