What is Your Tipping Point? Four Kinds of Stress 1. COMPRESSION 2. TORSION 3. SIMPLE BENDING 4. TENSION The Breaking Point There are four kinds of stress,Yet we are not concernedToday
Post traumatic growth is part of the trauma cycle. In the next two weeks I will be writing about the ways that resilience deepens. In the flip book below you find two quotes that are from Victor
A child learning for the first time of an impending divorce of his parents, says, “The hardest thing about the divorce is the loss of my school and my house. I have known this neighborhood my entire
I deeply respect the work of Dr. Odelya Gertel Kraybill on the topic of early childhood development. SHE WRITES:Working with survivors of developmental trauma (trauma that took place ages 0-6) requires a different framework of treatment than
In a dark time . . .look for signs of green. As we faced the one year anniversary of the school shooting at Covenant School in Nashville, I felt an ache to see the color green. Can
1. There are two very helpful ideas that give guidance and assurance on the TALKING DAY. The first is this: While you listen with accurate empathy notice where previous trauma is informing the current situation. I often
the definition of automatic obedience Excessive, uncritical, or mechanical compliance with the requests, suggestions, or commands of others. Why is this important to understand?? Automatic obedience is the sixth movement through trauma. You can review all 7 movements
Mothering Trauma My Thoughts about Secure Attachment with our FIRST ADVOCATE- The first advocate that we are hardwired to trust is a mother. Our ability to rebound from trauma is interwoven with the nurturing quality of our
Seamus Heaney wrote an an anthem to describe the human heart’s longing for justice. In the last lines of the poem you find these words.– from the poem “The Cure at Troy” (see below) “That means someone
A Good Description of how The First Days After a Loss Feels He was so tired that he was scarcely able to hear a note of the songs:he felt imprisoned in a cold region where his brain
Before you open the guide to six ways to regulate your emotions it is helpful to reflect on ways that you have already gravitated to calming your nerves. If you think of ways that you centered your
When exposure and re-exposure to pain needs to be managed The method known as titration is often employed by doctors and researchers to find the optimal dosage of a medicine. The method uses what is known as
Three Ideas to Clarify the Meaning of the True Self #1The True Self is like a shy fox THE TRUE SELF THE BIG IDEA:YOUR INSIDES MATCH YOUR OUTSIDES You can’t direct it. Aim at it, or fake
The True Self Defined Recently I saw a Facebook post that intrigued me. Here is what was written, “It’s nice to be happy after being cut down by life.” I knew what had happened to my friend.
Change The Way You Change As I have said before, trauma is an event larger than your coping strategies. Distortions of thought get locked inside your brain. It can feel like a failure of willpower to
Helpful metaphors for how trauma feels THOUGHTS ABOUT BRUISES God has mercifully ordered that the human brain works slowly; first the blow, hours afterwards the bruise. Walter de La Mare THOUGHTS ABOUT KNOTS The Knot,
I once heard of a coffee shop that branded itself this way: People’s Third Place. They chose a name based on the premise that we all have 1) A Workplace &2) A Home. & 3.______________________________________??? You see, the
Meet Patrick Teahan,Therapist When you find there are gaps in the timeline of childhood memories the most thoughtful discussion of this dilemma that I could find is within the video below. Dr. Teahan shares an idea that
I often join in the “chorus” when I hear someone lament that they don’t have many childhood memories. In decades of listening to life stories it has always been true that those with pleasant memories and family
Holding Space/ Ideas From Susan Cunningham About The Talking Day Being able to tell our story, both the good and the bad, to someone who listens with compassion, helps to develop new, healthy, and whole stories–regardless
EXAMPLE #1—-The Refusal of a Talking Day A student attending a workshop, came up to author, Frances Weller, and told him she was impacted by an activity of drumming and dancing that he led the day prior.
Learning from First Hand Descriptions 1. Jimbo Hart- professional Musician OPENArticleHERE OLD SCHOOL Trauma Take Away: I can’t speak with any authority about what this wonderful musician means by “old school traumas.” But I believe there
DEFINING ATTUNEMENT From the moment babies are born they learn from their environment. By studying early interactions between babies and caregivers researchers can better understand how trauma impacts development. Babies and children who are deprived of
The drone of flying engines — is a song so wild and blue. It scrambles time and seasons— if it gets through to you. – from the song, Amelia Joni Mitchell Linear time We have all heard
Three Definitions We can’t cope with fear anymore. We disintegrate internally. (Curt Thompson) We experience an acute or chronic shock to the system which affects our ability to calm ourselves down and see events from a broader,
A DEEP MORAL CRISIS ACTIVATES THE SAME RESPONSES AS A TRAUMA INCIDENT In the novel, Kite Runner (2003) by Khaled Hosseini, you read of a young boy name Amir that spends decades trying to overcome the guilt
Distorted Thinking Usually extends long After the Repair of the Life Altering Event There are many distortions that come on the heels of a traumatic experience. There are over two dozen types of faulty thinking but in
As first responders it is crucial that you watch for symptoms related to the physical effects of exposure to the pain, distress or injustice suffered by your clients. Unlike burn out, which is related to work conditions,
A Paucity of Words: A person experiencing a life-altering event will likely have a reaction of being frozen in their speech. We have many phrases that attempt to capture how it feels from the inside. Someone might
Creativity Can Open New Avenues of Trauma Recovery I painted this during a time of debilitating depression. There are never identical stories of the “dark night of the soul” but some feelings are universal. I remember the
Poem describing the experience of trauma by Gregory Orr Hunkered down, nerve-numb, in the carnal hut, the cave of self, while outside a storm rages. Huddled there, rubbing together white sticks of your own ribs, praying for sparks in that dark where tinder is heart, where tender
Efficacy is the innate ability of both humans and animals to produce a desired result. In nature you might see the battle for efficacy when a tranquilized polar bear tries with all of his physical power to
My Observations About Terrorise Me Lyrics of Terrorise Me Listen to the song until the time stamp of 2:38. This section of the lyrics ends with what I have described here as a paucity of words. Finn
Overfunctioning- a Side Effect of Trauma Overfunctioning is a behavior in which an individual takes on more responsibility than necessary, often to the point of exhaustion or burnout. This behavior can be seen in both personal and
The Power of Shame Curt Thompson, M.D. writes: “The shame in our head is like a locomotive. And to stop that locomotive, I need a bigger locomotive. And that is where community comes in.” With trauma the
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