I love a first appointment with a new client. I want to know everything all at once, but that’s not possible. There’s been a lot of living that has gone on long before anyone decides to come into my office. I’m settling in for the long haul. I want to be there...
Thinking I would be reassuring to veterans, I started telling them about this sign over my dryer several years ago. I am so aware of the stigma about the crazy vet or the angry vet. According to a recent survey by Cohen Veteran’s Network, the general public believes...
Trigger warning. Thinking about or talking about the day or event that haunts you increases anxiety, agitation, fears, depression, and other difficult thoughts and feelings you have about what happened. Doing these exercises will mostly likely have that same effect....
The odds of hitting your target go up dramatically when you aim at it. -Mal Pancoast What does it actually mean to recover from PTSD? It means having peace in your heart and mind, where now there is some measure of pressured thinking and turmoil. It means noticing the...
Trigger warning: If you have been thinking about ending your life, or just disappearing for a while, this blog may help you identify your risk level for attempting suicide. It may also increase the intensity of those thoughts and feelings. Start talking to a trusted...
Ten or more years after combat deployment. That’s how long it takes for combat veterans from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars to file a claim for PTSD with the Veteran’s Administration. I can’t “prove this” by research, but this is what I’ve been seeing since I started...
Remember that very old commercial from the 1980’s? Partnership for a drug free America? Yeah. So the same thing can be said about what makes PTSD different from any other mental health condition. The vivid sensory memory of traumatic events, called trauma...
As a mental health provider, I have been working closely with people experiencing post traumatic stress since 1981. By the mid-1990s, PTSD specialists and the general public accepted that violent, life threatening events profoundly affect the survivor, regardless of...
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