Complex PTSD

What Is... Series (Insights into Psychology)

What Is… STAIR Narrative Therapy for PTSD

In this series, I dig a little deeper into the meaning of psychology-related terms. This week’s term is STAIR narrative therapy. I recently stumbled across STAIR narrative therapy for PTSD, so I thought I’d do a post about it. STAIR stands for Skills Training in Affective and Interpersonal Regulation. STAIR narrative therapy, which was developed …

What Is… STAIR Narrative Therapy for PTSD Read More »

Mental Health @ Home book review: You Will Never by Normal by Catherine Klatzker

Book Review: You Will Never Be Normal

You Will Never Be Normal by Catherine Klatzker takes the reader on a journey of discovery with her as she learns that she has dissociative identity disorder and Parts inside of her have been holding trauma she hadn’t even been aware that she had experienced. The book opens in 2009 as she’s having a talk …

Book Review: You Will Never Be Normal Read More »

The emerging blogger series on Mental Health @ Home

Mental Health and COVID Restriction Easing (Guest Post)

This post on mental health effects of COVID reopening comes from Escaping the Cage. Mental Health and COVID Restriction Easing I’m worried about my mental health as COVID restrictions are eased. I know that for many people COVID has brought many challenges to their mental as well as physical health. For me, however, it has …

Mental Health and COVID Restriction Easing (Guest Post) Read More »

The emerging blogger series on Mental Health @ Home

Purpose and Complex Trauma (Guest Post)

This guest post is by Sara of Wishing Tree. Purpose Writing helps me access that which I cannot speak. I write in order to release – to free myself of all that entraps me – to give a voice to all of the parts inside of me that cannot make a sound. Writing teaches me …

Purpose and Complex Trauma (Guest Post) Read More »

What Is… the Window of Tolerance

In this series, I dig a little deeper into the meaning of psychology-related terms. This week’s term is the window of tolerance. The window of tolerance was first described by psychiatrist Dr. Dan Siegel in 1999. It’s used to describe levels of arousal, both psychological and physiological (and no, not sexual). The window represents the …

What Is… the Window of Tolerance Read More »

students in the SKIDS documentary

SKIDS: Traumatized Kids and the School System

I recently saw a really interesting documentary called SKIDS, which focuses on kids attending Vanguard Secondary, an alternative school in Langley, B.C., Canada, that uses a trauma-informed approach Vanguard‘s model recognizes that trauma is at the root of the significant challenges that have kept their students from succeeding in regular schools. Their model is informed …

SKIDS: Traumatized Kids and the School System Read More »

Mental Health @ Home book review: The Body Keeps the Score

Book Review: The Body Keeps the Score

The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk is perhaps one of the best-known books about trauma, particularly early life trauma. It’s been on my to-be-read list for quite a while, and I’ve finally managed to get around to it. This is a hefty book. The digital version that I was reading weighed …

Book Review: The Body Keeps the Score Read More »

The emerging blogger series on Mental Health @ Home

A Childhood of Abuse, an Adulthood of PTSD (Guest Post)

In this emerging blogger post, Shanon of Surviving Childhood Trauma writes about living with PTSD as a result of childhood sexual abuse. I always struggle with how to begin my story, what parts to share and how exactly to word it. My abuses were so severe, my trauma so impactful that my memories are broken …

A Childhood of Abuse, an Adulthood of PTSD (Guest Post) Read More »

What Is... Series (Insights into Psychology)

What Is… Intergenerational Trauma

In this series, I dig a little deeper into the meaning of psychology-related terms. This week’s term is intergenerational trauma. Trauma that occurs at an individual level is devastating enough, but when it occurs on a collective level, the effects of that trauma may not stop with the people who directly experienced the traumatic events. …

What Is… Intergenerational Trauma Read More »

What Is... Series (Insights into Psychology)

What Is… the Inner Child

In this series, I dig a little deeper into the meaning of psychology-related terms. This week’s term is the inner child. The concept of an inner child, or childlike aspect within each of us, has some roots in psychology, but it’s also a pop culture phenomenon. The first page of Google Scholar search results on …

What Is… the Inner Child Read More »