Blogs

“There are wounds that never show on the body that are deeper and more hurtful than anything that bleeds.” — Laurell K. Hamilton,...

Sexual assault on school campuses has received a lot of attention in the press lately. That doesn’t mean that the number of rapes is...

I am passionate about Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT). I use it in my own life and it has made all the difference. I cope with...

Diagnosing mental illness is an imperfect science. The DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual) describes bipolar, borderline personality disorder (BPD) and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as distinct problems, but they share a lot of the same symptoms and can be very hard to distinguish. They also can occur together, which makes it even tougher to sort out. Some common symptoms of these illnesses are trouble sleeping, thoughts of suicide, not being able to maintain rel

You are not alone. Healing from sexual abuse and rape requires working with every part of the trauma experience – instinct, emotion, images, and thoughts. When faced with a life threatening experience, primitive instincts kick in – fight, flight, freeze, submit (see part 1 and part 2 of this blog). These instincts help you survive the encounter, but leave evidence behind in the form of body memories. The cortisol response that was triggered by the original trauma, can be re-t

You aren’t broken. Trauma and complex PTSD caused by sexual abuse and rape are underdiagnosed and often misdiagnosed as something else....

“Just get over it.” It’s one of the worst things someone can say to a survivor of sexual abuse or rape. And yet how many times have you...

Childhood abuse happened in the past. Unfortunately the effects of abuse don’t stay tucked in the past but rather invade your daily life...

Diagnosing mental illness is an imperfect science. The DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual) describes bipolar, borderline personality...