Most of us won’t get through life without our fair share of stress and heartache. But some people experience not just anxiety, sadness, or grief, but actual trauma. This can be from events like being involved in a bad car accident, rape, a natural disaster, or war.Experiencing such events is called post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a condition where the mind...[ read more ]
Pregnancy can be an emotionally overwhelming experience for just about anybody. But for women with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), it can be downright scary. Sadly, there doesn’t seem to be a lot of information to be found about how PTSD can impact pregnancy, leaving many moms-to-be with even more questions and concerns.The few studies that examined how PTSD affects pregnancy are...[ read more ]
When you think about someone experiencing trauma, incidents such as a violent or sexual assault or a terrible car accident might come to mind. But other, subtler forms of trauma can negatively affect our lives and hinder our relationships.Emotional trauma is often overlooked and minimized, and we may think we’ve “gotten over” some emotional pain that we’ve buried and not...[ read more ]
Traumatic events such as war, rape, and severe accidents can lead people to suffer from symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). What we have recently discovered is that any event that is experienced as threatening can generate PTSD-like symptoms and negatively affect a person’s quality of life.Somatic Experiencing® (SE™) was developed by psychologist Peter A. Levine to address the effects of trauma....[ read more ]
It has been a very long year. Lockdowns and social distancing have had a profound impact on our hearts and minds. But thankfully, as the vaccines roll out and the country begins to slowly open back up, we are beginning to return to some kind of normal. While many people are jumping for joy with the idea of taking part...[ read more ]
According to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, nearly 1 in 5 women will be raped at some point in their lives in the United States. In addition, an estimated 13% of women and 6% of men reported being a victim of sexual coercion, which means being pressured in a nonphysical way of experiencing unwanted sexual penetration. Keep in mind,...[ read more ]
We live in a society that rewards those with courage and bravery. We are taught from a young age that it’s good to face our fears, for doing so is often the catalyst for effective and lasting change. And yet, how many of us allow ourselves to be vulnerable? Think of the amount of courage it takes to allow yourself...[ read more ]
For a year now, most of us have been unhappy with living a life in quarantine, wondering when the world would finally get back to normal. Finally, with vaccines rolling out and most towns and cities reaching herd immunity, society is beginning to open back up. Now, if you are like some Americans, part of you is happy for life...[ read more ]
One only needs to read a few lines from poets such as Frost, Wordsworth, and Thoreau to recognize the love for and connection to nature human beings have always had. Nature stirs our souls and imagination and brings beauty to our everyday lives. But it turns out, nature also brings a slew of benefits to our mental and physical health....[ read more ]
Meditation offers practitioners powerful benefits, yet many people are confused as to what exactly those benefits are. In a nutshell, meditation focuses attention in a deliberate manner, taking you from a state of noisy mental chatter to calm and quiet inner peace. And isn’t that something most of us could use? While meditation has been practiced for thousands of years...[ read more ]