I’ve always been the quiet kid. I was always described as “shy” or “bashful.” I rarely volunteered to read to the class or present my project. I had to be strong-armed into doing a lot of social events. School. Church. Work. If there was going to be people there, then I was terrified to go. [...]
Virtual Reality Therapy is a real thing. It sounds weird, right? To call something "virtual" a real thing. But it is! Apparently, there are therapists who allow their clients the opportunity to face their fears in a safe environment that is simulated. The person who is undergoing VR Therapy is in this form of treatment [...]
My name is Heather, and I am on a journey to improve my mental health by exploring my past to try to understand how past events and traumas have ultimately affected my life. I am a registered nurse on a postpartum unit, taking care of new mothers and their babies, and I also work closely [...]
How many ways are there to get well? You can CBT your way to wellness by combating negative thoughts, find the pain in your body by doing gestalt therapy, analyze your childhood in the psychodynamic model, find the deep root of your pain in psychoanalysis, face your fears in exposure therapy or do all of [...]
"I'm just beginning to see, now I'm on my way."- The Moody Blues Merriam-Webster offers several definitions of the word “shock.” Two, in particular, stand out to me: 1) “a sudden or violent mental or emotional disturbance/something that causes such disturbance, and 2) sudden stimulation of the nerves and convulsive contraction of the muscles caused [...]
Underneath she can hear me. After every performance, I went backstage, downed a beer and shut off my feelings. It was easier that way. Music was and is my way to cope with pain. I could sing my anger and pain out. I've tried everything to get in touch with her, from writing, therapy to going [...]
I Wasn't a Bitch; I Was Schizophrenic -Michelle Hammer I didn't want to speak. I didn't want to be noticed. I didn't want to be bothered. I wanted to be completely ignored. It was high school, and I was an undiagnosed paranoid Schizophrenic. I remember thinking, “What's the point?” What was the point of doing [...]
It’s nice when there’s a good day. Wake up and I got what I call “energy.” That’s the feeling of bounce, like imagine an old elastic band, okay, and you stretch it but it’s gone. You see the rips starting and get worried; an average day for me. Get a new one and there’s bounce. [...]
What any trauma survivor wants is one simple thing: to be believed. It's enough to know that something out of your control happened to you. When you have the strength to tell someone that you were violated, and the person on the other end doesn't believe you that is devastating. Your head feels like it [...]
*Trigger warning - sexual abuse Stay in my body. I don't want to. I wish I could float above it like I used to when it started to happen. I want to check out. I want to be free. I don’t want to remember what happened to me. I don’t want to recall hands on me. [...]
