arfie

hello katrina. welcome to the forum. personally, i believe the rumors that there is no cure for the common me. just when i fix one...

Ah, maybe someone was being a bit over-protective of me then as I’d just had a very shocking bereavement, so I think they thought it...

This really made me laugh! And yes, you’re right, they would be!

i'm not too worried about which inbox to file it under, but avoidance/sneakiness is one of the symptoms i decided to train rather than...

especially if i could turn back and forth at will. . . still, the first go-rounds would be a serious shock to the system. sad? ? ? ...

i'm not sure it is the same thing, and it can easily carry to psychotic extremes, but i mostly feel like there is considerable proof...

disney plus has a nice selection of soothing feel good movies. i especially recommend "encanto," "turning red," "soulman" and "coco."

this was true for me when i first started the exposure therapy to remedy my aversion to touch. i think i habitually dissociated when...

i had a similar problem with my husband's father. he died in our 36th year of marriage and when i got the news, i secretly slipped...

i still experience some aversion to touch, but not so much since i listened to my shrink and did that exposure therapy yours is...

Thank you for all your replies everyone. It's helpful, as always, to hear your views. This is interesting. And this happened when my...

i'm loving the term, "constipated crying." it fits my case to a "t". in my own herstory, i tend to use anger to mask and repress my...

Thank you @ninja and @arfie. I hadn't thought about the anger element before letting the grief out. And that is helpful to think about...

i have this problem, too, all the way to envying people who seem to be able to turn on the cathartic waterworks with natural ease. or...

i hold that dreams, in general, are among life's greater mysteries. nightmares even more so. what are they? what do they mean? the folks...

gentle empathy, littlestars. i often feel like mental illness is such a hungry demon that it eats up my entire capacity to give and i...

far from being offensive, your post touches on one of my ongoing psychoweirds. my participation in live support groups and digital...

i have gone through such years and still find myself uttering those prayers on the rough days. my primary motivation for finding a new...

kerplunk. . .

welcome back, ashondra. got my life preserver ring in hand and waiting to toss. just need some orientation on which direction to toss...

to my heavily psychotheraputed senses, forgiveness is not about the other person. it is about healing the damage done. whether the...

the wounds which do close on their own are the hardest to treat. badly healed wounds often need to be re-broken so that they can be...

hello magnolia. welcome to the forum. sorry for what brings you here, but glad you are here. i love bandage analogies for the denial...

in my own psychotherapy, the lines between paranoia, phobia, hypervigilance and obsession blur and fissure without mercy with several...

hello clown. welcome to the forum. i couldn't resist a grin at your username. my gk's are playing "teenage mutant ninja turtles" in the...

me, too, except for the fact that i wanted to be a boy and can't stand makeup, etc. i try to see the humor in this and push myself to...

I think I am at a similar state to you. 68 and still trying to be a good girl. When I do test the waters and it works out, I tend to...

a diagnostician would be the one to ask, but i don't understand the conflict. i imagine it to be something like an epileptic developing...

no tattoos in my case, but i have been through similar trigger episodes with my hubby. new hobbies and/or toys my abusers enjoyed might...

drinking isn't a problem for me, but i attract alcoholics/addicts like a magnet. don't accuse me of experting, but i have yet to see the...

as with so many things in life, it takes time to grow new muscle. practice, practice, practice. . .

Thanks so much for replying! This, exactly. With everything now. I'm sorry you are feeling the same, but I'm glad to hear I'm not the...

gentle empathy, flossy. i'm 67 years old and still trying to be "a good girl" and on the lookout for the unpredictable hand of...

an especially gnarly tic from my own psycho smorgasbord springs to my mind. i, strictly personal, call this tic, "contrarianism." this...

gentle empathy, aolfe. if being honest and open was easy, everybody would do it. i used to carry my journal into therapy sessions with...

rocking you gently and crying with you, lilac. it's a tough phenom to sort. be gentle with yourself and patient with the process. in my...

nor was i implying knowledge of other conversations you have had. simply stating my own, strictly personal experience. please believe...

as one who has dealt with entirely too much of my own trauma induced amnesia, i am utterly convinced that emerging memories are...

dunno, lilac. i understand animals far more than i understand psychology. in my biology studies, the fawning is to circumvent clear and...

on my radar, that reference originated in biology discussion of "the survival instinct" inherent to all animals developed enough to...

I had heard this phrase before but I really understand it better now in the context of what you wrote. 😎

this was the very observation by which i was finally able to make headway in my self-loathing cycles with "anger channeling." learning...

hello roses. welcome to the forum. have you tried sound insulating earbuds or headphones? they block ambient noises like noisy...

hello aardvark. welcome to the forum. whether from biological parental units, impersonal group homes or third world beggar gangs...

there is nothing justy about rolling with the memories of childhood trauma. for me, it is **merely** the lesser poison. trying to ignore...

hello keefe. welcome to the forum. sorry for what brings you here, but glad you are here. gentle empathy on the difficulty of opening...

welcome to the forum, cheesewiz. i started psychotherapy about twenty years before the first pro articles on ptsd were published within...

My God. I am SO sorry for your son and his wife’s death. I can’t even imagine the pain you must endure. It breaks my heart to know that...

i am happy to report that it has been quite a number of years since i have had more than the occasional, isolated nightmare. still far...

yup, starting when i was a kid. a recurring theme among abused children is that they often *accuse* the people who tried the hardest to...