The physical and emotional harm that comes from being abused by a loved one can have unexpected effects for survivors, even after the violence has stopped. If you’ve survived domestic or sexual violence as a child or adult, some everyday activities that used to be easy may now suddenly be difficult. If you find [...]
A few weeks ago I described some of the ways that people helped me talk about what had happened to me as a child and by talking about it, begin the healing process. These people weren’t clinicians, they just wanted to help me: people like my husband, friends and co-workers. As I mentioned in part [...]
April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month and Child Abuse Prevention Month. I am reposting this for those who know someone who has been abused. This is how you can help. We all know -- and many of us are close to -- people who have survived sexual abuse or rape. Chances are, many of [...]
Now after many years of healing I am happy, and not just on the surface. Despite how difficult it can still be to grieve and remember all I have been through, I am proud to say that I am better than I have ever been. I feel more stable. I believe this is because [...]
In Latino culture you aren’t supposed to talk about your problems. You aren’t supposed to think about yourself if you are a woman. You are supposed to think about your family and care for them. Discussions around consensual sex are not engaged in very easily. So what happens when you bring a group of [...]
I've been healing from the trauma of Child Sexual Abuse for years off and on. My work both personally and professionally has been to help others understand the impact of trauma and more recently to help people understand Dissociative Identity Disorder. My belief in my stregnth has been steadfast but recently I gave in [...]
My upcoming memoir, The Sum of My Parts: A Survivor’s Story of Dissociative Identity Disorder, emphasizes the healing process and the nature of resilience. These installments from Chapter One contain some descriptions of violence only for the purposes of illustrating why and how dissociative identity disorder is formed. Please take care in reading these [...]
We all know and many of us are close to people who have survived child sexual abuse or rape. Chances are, many of you reading this are survivors yourself. We often encourage survivors to speak about their experiences, to get it out. It’s cathartic, it helps us to move through the pain, it helps [...]
The more I think about it, the more I marvel at the skill of the psychiatrist who helped me heal from Dissociative Identity Disorder. As I look back on our work together, I can spot a number of creative strategies that he used. Let’s call him Dr. Summer. I don’t know whether Dr. Summer [...]
In order for me to learn how to stop dissociating, I first had to figure out when I was doing it. I had to recognize how it felt and learn to see the difference in how I felt when I wasn’t dissociating. My psychiatrist gently guided me through this process. He often stopped me [...]
