trauma
At its core, trauma can be thought of as the psychological wounds that persist, even when the physical ones are long gone.
The Shadow Man
I’m standing there in front of everyone, of all my family. My Mother who seemed to not know how to be a mother but only a wife. My two older brothers who only saw me as a spoiled child. Then a shadowy figure with dark eyes looking over me, looking through me. The dream always starts the same. His eyes moving up and down my figure in an unnatural way. My brothers are playing video games while my mother is trying to figure out her life. She always had ideas you see but never accomplished them. She made goals with no actual start of achieving them. She’s present but not actually aware of her surroundings but maybe that's by choice. Or maybe something happened to her, for her to be so blinded by the Shadow man.
By Felicia Ledbetter3 months ago in Psyche
THE CARTOGRAPHER’S ERROR
There is a peculiar danger in expertise. The danger is not ignorance. The danger is believing your map is the territory. A person may spend decades studying narcissism, psychopathy, personality disorders, coercive control, or trauma. They may construct elegant theories, persuasive lectures, and detailed classifications. Those models may help thousands of people understand what happened to them.
By THE HONED CRONE3 months ago in Psyche
My Addiction Didn't Start at 25. It Started at 14.
When we talk about addiction, we often talk about it from a safe distance. We use words like "weakness," "bad choice," "lack of willpower." We unconsciously separate ourselves from the people we call addicts, because we believe it could never happen to us. But life is rarely that simple. Sometimes the only difference between "us" and "them" is the substance a person reached for. Because some people seek relief in illegal substances, and others - in medication prescribed by a doctor. In both cases, however, the question that moves me is the same: What pain is this person trying to silence? I'm not writing this to diminish the role of medicine. On the contrary - professional help is often vital. But I believe that when we treat only the symptoms without turning to the causes, suffering simply changes its form. I know because I lived it. As a teenager, I didn't know I was living with constant anxiety. I didn't know most people don't feel continuous tension in their body. I didn't know inner chaos is not the natural state of a human being. For me, it was normal. By accident, I discovered that certain medications could silence that noise. Suddenly I was braver. Calmer. More confident in communication. Less consumed by family problems. For the first time I felt something I couldn't name back then. Today I know that feeling was inner peace. Those teenage experiments didn't lead to addiction. But they left a very strong memory in me - that somewhere, there is a way for the pain to stop. Ten years later, I found that same feeling in illegal substances. That's when I understood something that changed the way I look at addiction. My addiction didn't start at 25. It started at 14. Not with the first use. But with the first moment I believed that peace could come from the outside. Today I am convinced that real prevention starts long before the first cigarette, the first glass of alcohol, or the first drug. It starts with teaching children to recognize their emotions. To be able to say: "I'm scared," "I'm lonely," "I'm hurting," without being afraid of being judged or misunderstood. Because two children can experience the same situation in a completely different way. One will move on, the other will carry a wound for years. And every unacknowledged pain seeks a way to be soothed. Sometimes that way is healthy. Sometimes - it is not. My work with energy psychology, EFT and Matrix Reimprinting helped me look beyond the symptoms. To meet the causes I had avoided for a long time. I didn't find an enemy to wage war against. I found a wounded girl who was desperately seeking peace. And maybe that's exactly what I want to leave after this text. Not an excuse for addiction. But an invitation to start looking with less judgment and much more humanity. Because behind every addiction there is a story. And every story deserves to be heard first, before it is judged. I
By nataliq ivanova (Нати)3 months ago in Psyche
New Reality After Betrayal
Betrayal doesn’t just break your heart; it messes with your memory. You wake up, remember what happened, and your brain instantly starts replaying the past few months or years. You realize the story you thought you were living wasn’t the actual story.
By Annam M Gordon3 months ago in Psyche
