Tagged With "religious beliefs and practices"
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Trauma, Attachment, and Relationships
Interventions in the Attachment and Relationship Problems Trauma Can Cause Julie De Wilde Alfred Adler Graduate School Abstract Much research has been done on the negative effects of trauma on attachment, which then has negative effects on relationships. Research more recently has focused on the positive post traumatic growth that can happen when clients receive safe, healthy attachment to a therapist they can trust. Research also includes the benefits to the client when a therapist includes...
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Victim to Victory: Memoir
I wrote Victim to Victory, healing generational abuse from my bloodline, during a seven-year journey of being very sick. I am not a writer. I am a healer. In those years of losing my ability to walk and having my family abandon me I turned inward, asking why and how do I get out of this straight jacket. I did everything imaginable, but the pain was chronic and my will was losing strength. In my darkest hours, I would hear a voice during my meditations. I had nothing to lose, so I followed...
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What is Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (CPTSD)?
Most people have heard of post-traumatic stress disorder that afflicts many men and women returning from a war zone. It is characterized by flashbacks, unstable moods, and survivor’s remorse. However, many have never heard of a condition that often develops in childhood and changes the course of the child’s life forever, complex post-traumatic stress disorder (CPTSD). For a good definition of CPTSD, we turned to Beauty After Bruises, an organization that offers outreach focused on adult...
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How to Heal Emotional Trauma (wakeup-world.com)
Understanding Emotional Wounds We tend to think of an emotional wound as the original traumatic experience – as the “thing” that happened to us, but the wound is actually the dis-empowering belief that we developed as a result of the traumatic experience. In the search for emotional security, our natural response to any traumatic event is to make sense of it. We “make sense”of things by creating beliefs. Beliefs that we develop in response to traumatic experiences are Traumatic Beliefs.
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How to Keep the Greater Good in Mind During the Coronavirus Outbreak (greatergood.berkeley.edu)
Why expect more cooperation and compassion in the face of an epidemic? Because, contrary to popular belief, crises often tend to bring out the best in people. A report that looked at how people responded during the September 11th Twin Tower attacks showed that people bent over backwards to help others escape, sometimes at great personal risk to themselves. Other reports on the aftermath of natural disasters show that strangers will stick out their necks for each other to help. In fact,...
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3 Steps Toward Managing And Healing Anxiety
I've struggled with anxiety throughout my life. A difficult childhood and my highly sensitive personality meant I grew into an anxious kid—there was just too much pain and emotional overwhelm for my young brain to handle. My anxiety most often manifested as perfectionism and people pleasing, so from the outside everything seemed great. I excelled in school and I was a good kid who did as she was told. But there was a war inside me. I felt broken, unable to navigate these huge feelings of...
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Neuroplasticity and Mindfulness
To understand the treatments for complex post-traumatic stress disorder, it is helpful to understand the interaction between neuroplasticity and mindfulness.
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Study: 1 in 4 Who Meditate Have Had Bad Psychological Experience [psychcentral.com]
By Janice Wood, PsychCentral, May 10, 2019. More than a quarter of people who regularly meditate have had a “particularly unpleasant” psychological experience, including feelings of fear and distorted emotions, according to a new study. Researchers at the University of College London also found those who had attended a meditation retreat, those who only practiced deconstructive types of meditation, such as Vipassana (insight) and Koan practice (used in Zen Buddhism), and those with higher...
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The Neurobiology of Trauma: Somatic Strategies for Resilience
The Neurobiology of Trauma: Somatic Approaches to Resilience By Jennifer Walsh As we have all come to experience over the past several months, trauma is simply a component of the human condition. While it affects both individuals and communities in a variety of ways, we have all experienced difficult, stressful, or even traumatic events over the course of our lifetime. Although social workers have traditionally worked with these vulnerable populations, there are numerous professionals...
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How to Heal Emotional Trauma (wakeup-world.com)
Understanding Emotional Wounds We tend to think of an emotional wound as the original traumatic experience – as the “thing” that happened to us, but the wound is actually the dis-empowering belief that we developed as a result of the traumatic experience. In the search for emotional security, our natural response to any traumatic event is to make sense of it. We “make sense” of things by creating beliefs. Beliefs that we develop in response to traumatic experiences are Traumatic Beliefs.
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D J Jaffe and A Culture of Fear by Michael Skinner
Dear Pete, I read your blog post, “Influential Critic D. J. Jaffe Has Died: Remembered As “Bomb Thrower” Who Demanded Mental Illness Reforms” and thought of how he has done so much to hurt those of us labeled “mentally ill”. You considered him a friend, he was anything but for those of us struggling with the challenges of trauma, abuse and mental health concerns. These are some of my thoughts on D.J. Jaffe. He did not have the best interests of people struggling despite all of his rhetoric,...
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Five Steps to Protect Yourself from OPINION BULLIES
There has never been a time when thinking clearly, and thinking for yourself, have been more important than they are right now. With Childhood PTSD, it’s all too common that we end up losing ourselves around other people -- especially people with strong personalities and strong opinions. It’s OK that people have strong opinions. But with us, We get around that and we often feel we have to go along with those opinions, or we go silent, even when we disagree, or we lose track of what we...
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Healthcare providers learn skills to prevent burnout, build resilience
It’s an enormous understatement to say that healthcare workers today are suffering. Every day, you hear interviews with nurses, physicians, social workers, and others in healthcare saying they’re pushed to the breaking point and beyond. But, by using skills taught in the Community Resiliency Mode l (CRM), even people under severe stress can weather the onslaught, do their work, and get along with colleagues. CRM is an evidence-based training program that’s being used by millions of people in...
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Season's Greetings
Season's Greetings Folks, Whatever your faith, belief system, ethnicity, identity may be, I am wishing everyone peace and joy. I am grateful that our paths have crossed. I will share a song of "Joy". I don't have much to offer, but as a musician I do have the gifts of music to share. An older song of mine & video, but the sentiment remains the same. Stay safe & Take care, Michael. "Joy" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=by4tWjowZVo
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Neuroplasticity and Mindfulness
Every time we experience something new, a new neural pathway forms, and if repeated, reinforces and strengthens the connections between brain cells.
So, neuroplasticity happens throughout our lives based on our experiences which either strengthen or weaken our neural connections. What we don’t use will be pruned away. However, there is a way neuroplasticity can be harnessed to successfully mitigate the effects of adverse childhood experiences on our adult lives.
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Why I Promote the Science of Hope over Resilience
I said then what I believe even more strongly now: "Hope is the belief that your future can be brighter and better than your past and that you actually have a role to play in making it better."
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Jennifer Maurer - Out with the OLD, In with the BOLD; 5 Steps to Freedom from Fear; & Passion Principles
Jennifer is an established Certified Life Coach and author of "5 Steps to Freedom From Fear," a simple guide to removing the obstacles that prevent us from realizing our fullest potential.
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The Power of Prayer and Meditation
“The minds who spend hours worshiping God in prayer and meditation are different yet more blessed than others.” – Barbara Bradley Hagerty The power of prayer and meditation cannot be overlooked. In today’s busy life, the importance of meditation and prayer has increased multifold. Not only do they bring much-needed peace to the increasingly materialistic mind, but they also enhance character traits that are essential for success in life. Prayer and meditation are the ways to know the meaning...
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A Better Normal: Practicing Resilience | Witnessing Ourselves: Grief & Self-Care in Times of COVID-19 Transition
Please join us for our next A Better Normal: Practicing Resilience episode, a live Zoom event! In A Better Normal we imagine and create a PACEs science-informed world together. In Practicing Resilience we fill up our own cups with healing practices for ourselves. Witnessing Ourselves: Grief & Self-Care in Times of COVID-19 Transition Thursday, June 17th, 2021 | Noon to 1pm PDT Live on Zoom | Hosted by Gail Kennedy and Lara Kain Guest: Sandra J. Valdes-Lopez, MDiv, CA, TCTSY-F, RYT...
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My Biggest Insight of the Summer (Healing Complex PTSD and Chronic Illness)
Spring in my garden is a riot of color. I caught the above pic of my poppies just past their peak after deciding to replace them and wanting to document the process. Because uprooting a cheery, bright colored plant that makes me happy in order to take the chance that something else might do an even better job can feel, as a friend of mine once quipped, "fraught with peril." And that's what it can feel like when we are in the process of healing. When, instead of believing that this is the...
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I’m a Trauma Therapist. Here’s What I’ve Learned About Yoga’s Impact on Genetics [yogajournal.com]
I’m a Trauma Therapist. Here’s What I’ve Learned About Yoga’s Impact on Genetics Our physical, emotional, and behavioral tendencies—both good and bad—aren't ours alone. They're often passed down from generation to generation. At one point in my young life, I wanted to be a public defender. In my first criminal law class, my professor asked the question, “Are fairness and justice the same thing?” I raised my hand high, almost bouncing with excitement. After stating my argument as to why I...
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Nightmares and ACEs: They No Longer Need Rule the Night
Recurring nightmares lead to much needless suffering for survivors of adverse childhood experiences—suffering that goes well beyond disturbed sleep. Five steps help take back the night.
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Growth through trauma
There is growth through trauma. Hard as it is, there IS growth through trauma. Very often, we do not see it at the time. It is not until we reflect on what happened and find possible reasons why we faced a flashback or responded so badly to a trigger. I have been forcing myself to attend the Royal Commission Inquiry into Abuse in Care hearings because I wanted to discover WHY professionals working in our State institutions would cause harm to children and youth. I wanted to discover WHY they...
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7 Tips to Create Cultural Change at Work through a Trauma-Informed Lens
If you look at history, it’s evident that cultural change happens slowly. Many of the changes we experience hardly feel like changes at all. They happen gradually over the course of a lifetime, and they elude our attention. But when we shift our perspectives and take an intentional, measurable, and trauma-informed approach to cultural change, we discover that it is not only larger and faster than we initially believed—it is also more impactful, more achievable, and more essential. If you’re...
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9 Ways to Embody Trauma-Informed Values
Throughout our last several blogs, we’ve explored the broader themes of how to accomplish trauma-informed cultural change. We’ve also discussed how embodying trauma-informed values is essential to accomplishing that change. But what does embodying trauma-informed values look like in real time? How are we practicing the values in our personal and professional lives? How do the concepts we discuss become embedded and embodied in our work? Today, we’ll give you concrete examples of how to...
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Re: Lightening the Load We Carry from Childhood: 10 Ways to Forgive the Unkindest Cuts
Dear Dr. Schiraldi, "Take the offender to neutral . . . I won’t waste my time thinking about you or remembering.” This has been the single most helpful definition of forgiveness for me. In my belief system, a contrite and repentant offender is a necessary part of the forgiveness process - things my offender never was. The best I can do under those circumstances is to bear him no ill will and leave it at that. "Don’t personalize . The offense is more about the pain and imperfect past of the...
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Keeping Hope Alive Through Leadership
“The first and last task of a leader is to keep hope alive.” You might be familiar with that saying from John W. Gardner which was first published in No Easy Victories (1968) and repeated in his popular book, On Leadership (1993). As someone who promotes Hope-Centered Leadership, I gotta say, I really like that quote! But would Gardner agree with how I view Hope-Centered Leadership? I think so; allow me to explain. Dr. Rick Snyder, the father of Hope Theory, defined hope as a positive...
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Adverse Childhood Experiences and Care for the Soul
Strengthening the wounded soul can improve psychological and physical wellbeing and help to complete the recovery process. Although ACEs, understandably, can numb feelings, including spiritual feelings, once healing has progressed, spiritual feelings can often be successfully cultivated.
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Self-Care: Ethical Implications For The Novice Social Worker
Greek philosopher and physician Hippocrates of Kos is considered the father of modern medicine. An influential physician and scholar, Hippocrates was adamant about effective healthcare practices. During his career, Hippocrates implemented an essential policy for future physicians to follow. To establish consent to heal, doctors should ask patients if they are willing to give up the things that cause them to be sick (Hippocrates & Asulanus, 1526). Hippocrates believed physicians needed...
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Are you able to hold hope in life?
“People will forget what you said. People will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you make them feel.” – Maya Angelou Finding hope, let alone holding hope as a thread through life these days, can seem like a tough task for so many. Trauma survivors often struggle to find or hold hope in their lives. It’s understandable when so much pain has been endured in life — when you have not been able to trust anyone to do the relational job they were supposed to. It’s so very hard...
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Walking will dramatically improve your health, thousands of daily steps not needed (earth.com)
To read more of Chrissy Sexton's article, please click here. In an era where technology often confines us to sedentary habits, walking remains a readily available and simple form of exercise. A new study suggests that the more we walk, the more we stand to gain in terms of health benefits. The relationship between the number of steps taken and the reduction in mortality risk has been a topic of many discussions. The current study, which is the world’s most extensive research on the subject,...
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The Surviving Spirit Newsletter September 2023
Healing the Mind, Body & Spirit Through the Creative Arts, Education & Advocacy Hope, Healing & Help for Trauma, Abuse & Mental Health “ Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars”. Kahlil Gibran The Surviving Spirit Newsletter September 2023 Hi Folks, Welcome to the September issue of the Surviving Spirit. Fall is definitely in the air here in New Hampshire, pleasant days and chilly nights ...a sign of what's to come.