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I haven't posted in a very long time. I feel like I've had a handle on my reactions to stressors, enough to get me through the day. But something I've been struggling with for years now is having to live part time with a stepson who is now almost grown but still in college who basically despises...

I haven't posted in a long time. I hope I can have some feedback about my current struggle. I am feeling really angry and resentful at someone in my life who I can't simply walk away from or ignore (not someone from my immediate family). It's actually a part of a pattern: Person X (could be a...

I feel like I'm being a bad human being. I cannot warm up to my boyfriend's son who is 17. His mom is kind of a wreck, so I try to be sympathetic. But there has been a few incidents that have left a mark on our relationship - we're very different people in general, but he also takes money from...

In Body Keeps the Score, van der Kolk describes the re-experience of trauma as being timeless. If I remember correctly, when we're triggered, our amydyla is activated, and it can only experience the immediacy of the present and become activated to fight or flight. It has no history or sense of...

Anybody else hyper-protective of their kid(s) because of childhood abuse? My son, who's a late teen, has special needs also, so often it feels like I need to go the extra mile, but I don't think that really justifies how intense I can be about helping and protecting him. I don't think it's all...

Just wondering if this is a good idea. Doesn't feel like it. After meditating today, my mind started to think about my narcissistic, sadistic father as a child, the hurt he must have endured in order to become the mess he became. I thought about all the things he didn't get, all the wrong things...

Has anyone read the recent research that demonstrates that a person signalling virtuous victimhood is an indicator of the dark triad personality - narcissism, machiavellianism, and psychopathy? Very interestingly, the person who identifies as virtuous and victim is more likely to cheat in a...

This is another post about my explorations into whether my coping patterns are narcissistic. I loathe to think that I'm narcissistic, and I don't think I truly meet the definition of NPD. Also, I think my father's malignant narcissism is the main reason why I suffered and still do. But genuinely...

I was listening to a podcast on narcissism. I believe my bf's ex is narcissistic and my father was highly narcissistic, so I find listening to these podcasts helpful. But this time, rather than seeing those two people in what the doctor was saying, I started recognizing myself in the behaviors...

I wanted to see how people coped with catastrophizing. That part of my brain seems so deeply embedded, almost primordial. I'm able to put more distance between me and the catastrophe these days, and I want to see if I can make headway into dealing with it. If a neighbor complains about my lawn...

Hi all. I haven't posted in a while. I've been feeling pretty healthy and hardly get triggered, which is what often motivates me to run here. I think my boyfriend has a lot to do with it. He has been a reassuring presence in my life. We've been together for over two years. When I get triggered...

I discovered a new cognitive distortion that I would like help thinking through. I realized recently that I become very focused on appeasing the toxic person. For example, my ex was a vulnerable narcissist, and when the relationship ended, though I had no desire at all to ever get back with him...

I haven't had experience with self injury, and I never heard about it manifesting this way, so I wanted to see if anyone had any insights about this. I have a friend who has a 15 year old teen who is "accident prone." He's already broken 4 bones in his body at different times. His "accidents"...

I'm very triggered, and partly intended to write another post about how I fear I've done something to alienate my bf and try to assess the reality of it or is it the ptsd? That happens quite frequently with me because my dad would punish me severely for the most innocuous deeds or words. I grew...

I'm so triggered. The other night, I said some pretty harsh things to my bf, and I feel like he's ignoring me today because of it. I basically told him how when I first met him, he said something rude and I told him that I was thinking "F**k you, motherf***ker". I was joking. I was just...

I was talking to my T the other day, and it's funny because once in while I have to qualify what I'm about to say by saying, "Humans seem to need X..." I feel like an alien sometimes trying to figure humans out, and I'm not sure if it's just a part of my personality, the ptsd, or what. One...

I haven't felt this dysregulated in a while. I'm feeling overwhelmed with the lockdown, and I'm continuing to work which has been stressful. Also, my landlord keeps "forgetting" to cash my rent checks. It makes me think that he's trying to get rid of me. Maybe he'll claim that I was...

I posted a thread that got a lot of replies a while back about anger. I feel pretty strongly that folks with ptsd should not use it as an excuse to target toxic anger onto others. The people who deserve our anger is our abusers, but we often cause our partners and children suffering by directing...

I can theoretically talk about love and a part of me puts a lot of stock in it. But in practice, I feel like there are some fundamental pieces missing inside my soul. I am so drained from today, but actually NOTHING happened. But I had a full on drama in my head of my own making that has left me...

I wanted to see if anyone could relate and help me better cope. I get anxious about posting on social media. I don't post often, but I sometimes feel the need/desire to share, but if I do post, I am immediately seized with anxiety and self-consciousness. I feel exposed and I worry about how many...

I just uncovered a cognitive distortion that I wanted to express and wondered if anyone could relate. It's something like 'I am an evil, hurtful bitch if I don't meet someone's needs.' Now that I write it, it seems like a pretty standard cognitive distortion among us. But I guess I'm letting it...

I recently revealed to my bf some of the things that happened in my childhood that resulted in my ptsd and went into more detail than I ever have, like how my mom watched me attempt suicide and told me not to fail because she was worried that I'd be a burden as a coma victim. I thought he would...

Hi all, I've been trying to not be so codependent and am trying to mind my own business. But I've been tempted for a long while to give feedback to my bf about his ex and the way she parents her child. I never even met her, so here I am speculating about her from hearsay, but the struggles that...

There was a codependent thread maybe a couple of years ago. I wanted to see if anyone was interested in posting about issues relating to this. A little background: I was married to a gambling addict, and divorced like 14 years ago. I only learned about and embraced the label of codependency...

I got some bad news recently and it has sent my ptsd into overdrive. I've been trying to meditate and am re-reading Heller's Healing Developmental Trauma. I was reading the section on how trauma is freezed and stored in the body. I swear that in one episode of feeling fearful and catastrophizing...