Trauma
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Chronic Pain, Trauma, and Easter: Let Hope Arise
I am no stranger to chronic pain. I used to joke that the gift my ex-husband gave me for our first anniversary was an ulcer. I realize now that my misplaced sense of humor about it was a way of minimizing the very real stress I endured. But even though my mind suffered through the traumas of narcissistic abuse, the toll on my body remains long after the emotional pain left. Doctors have known for a long time that stress can cause illness. Stress puts pressure on all of the body’s systems, causing inflammation, heart disease, and digestive disorders. For me, like many others, lower back pain seems to flare…
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From Trauma Bond to Freedom: Our Family’s Journey
During a conversation about the trauma bond with my oldest, she challenged me to write a post that dealt honestly with the difficult journey my four daughters and I took from years of abuse to a healthy and loving blended family unit. The original trauma bond belonged to me and my ex-husband. For reference, a trauma bond is a seemingly iron-clad tie between an abuser and his or her victim. The result of the cycles of abuse that revolve around reward and punishment, the trauma bond has the same psychological effect as a trap has on the leg of a wild animal. Lured by the promise of something good, we…
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The Anchorage Earthquake: A Lesson in Aftershocks
The Anchorage earthquake of 2018 wasn’t my first rodeo, though it felt like it. I remember the Northridge quake decades ago while I was in college. I lived too far away to feel much except a jolt as I walked through the apartments at the University of California, Irvine. I remember the pictures, of course. Broken bridges and crumpled asphalt roads shock the eye and alarm the heart, even if one isn’t personally affected. But this one frightened me. I should say terrified. I realize now that I have never been properly terrified. The car accidents I have been in, even a severe one, started and stopped too quickly to…
