Sometimes the hardest person to forgive after childhood trauma isn’t the person who hurt you. It’s yourself. That sounds strange when you were a child and someone else was responsible for what happened to you. You might reasonably think there should be nothing to forgive. And yet, here we are. You might look back at […]
BPD vs CPTSD: Why the Difference Matters
I recently found myself in a debate about something that comes up more and more often in conversations about trauma: whether Borderline Personality Disorder is actually Complex PTSD. The conversation started with a pretty unequivocal statement: “Borderline Personality Disorder IS C-PTSD.” That didn’t leave much room for nuance. I understand why that idea resonates with […]
CPTSD: Every Healing Journey Is Different
Vulnerability Doesn’t End When You Hit Publish One of the things I didn’t expect when I started writing about CPTSD was that hitting “publish” would bring a whole new kind of vulnerability. Writing my story was difficult, but sharing it with the world was something else entirely. Suddenly, the words I had carried privately for […]
Limerence vs. Love After Childhood Trauma
Why Intensity Can Feel Like Connection For many people who grew up with childhood trauma, love can feel confusing. Not because we don’t know how to love. Many trauma survivors actually love deeply. We tend to notice the smallest changes in someone’s mood, remember the details other people miss, and become incredibly aware of the […]
CPTSD, Trauma, and the Power of Laughter
There is something about me that you may not know: I like to laugh. Actually, if you know me at all, that probably isn’t much of a secret. I’ve always been someone who uses humor. Sometimes at the most inappropriate times. Sometimes when things are uncomfortable. And definitely when life seems to look at me […]
Publishing My Book Triggered My CPTSD
I Expected Relief. Instead, I Felt Fear. When I finally published my book, I thought I knew what I was going to feel. I expected relief after years of writing, editing, second-guessing, and rewriting chapters more times than I care to admit. I imagined there would be excitement, maybe even a quiet sense of pride […]