Shrinking the Inner Critic in Complex PTSD In my work with clients repetitively traumatized in childhood, I am continuously struck by how frequently the various thought processes of the inner critic trigger them into overwhelming emotional flashbacks. This is because the PTSD-derived inner critic weds shame and self-hate about imperfection … Continue reading
Five Life Management Tips for Trauma Survivors My hand lingered along the crystal punch bowl. I flicked it with my finger and listened to the high-pitched ding only real lead crystal can make. Setting out eight matching punch cups, I mixed ginger ale with Hawaiian punch and stirred. It was … Continue reading
How Making Videos About Complex Trauma Helps Me If someone had told me just one year ago that I’d be running a YouTube channel with videos of me giving talks and reciting my own poetry in twelve months time, I wouldn’t have believed them. Within my narcissistic family, I was … Continue reading
Flashback Management in Treatment of Complex PTSD A significant percentage of adults who suffered ongoing abuse or neglect in childhood suffer from Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. One of the most difficult features of this type of PTSD is extreme susceptibility to painful emotional flashbacks. Emotional flashbacks are sudden and … Continue reading
Working therapeutically with trauma Trauma affects many people in unique and individual ways. You may be a survivor of sexual abuse, sustained violence, sexual violence or domestic abuse. You may be a survivor of trauma through the loss of a loved one in traumatic circumstances, you may have witnessed trauma … Continue reading
Why Trauma Should Be Duly Diagnosed and Treated Trauma can be defined as the response to an extremely negative event. Sometimes, its effects can be immediately gleaned; at other times, symptoms can take much longer to manifest themselves. If you or a loved one has had to face a traumatic … Continue reading
The Effects of Childhood Abuse and the Process of Recovery by Malcolm Underhill Child abuse statistics Research on child abuse in the UK reveals shocking results. An estimated 1 in 20 children have been abused; over 23,000 sexual offences against children were recorded last year (source: NSPCC and ChildLine). Childhood trauma … Continue reading
Disclosure I would like to be able to write that my disclosure was the best choice I had made but post disclosure I felt so out of kilter that I hadn’t found the initial relief I had always dreamt about. My therapist had been great when I did tell him … Continue reading
Effects of child abuse and neglect for adult survivors by Cathryn Hunter, Senior Research Officer with the Child Family Community Australia information exchange at the Australian Institute of Family Studies. Experiencing abuse and neglect in childhood can lead to adverse outcomes in adulthood. The purpose of this blog is to … Continue reading
Research Findings on the Sexual Abuse of Males by David 0. McCall, M.Div. A major difficulty in the study of child sexual abuse and adult survivors is accurately assessing occurrence. Incidence — the number of cases occurring in a given time frame (usually years) — is expressed as a number … Continue reading
