So here we go again. The second season of the Showtime series "United States of Tara" starring the Emmy Award winner Toni Collette has begun. The first season was full of controversial episodes, and most of the survivor population with dissociative identity disorder was disappointed and angered by the series. Even though some of the best-known trauma psychiatrists were allegedly acting as advisors for the show, … [Read more...]
50 Benefits of Having a Therapist for Dissociative Trauma Survivors
There have been some interesting discussions and comments from various trauma survivors about how much their therapists have meant to them. These readers have shared some very tender moments with their therapists and have talked openly about the depths of their heart-warming connections and healing moments. Clearly, these survivors have found their therapists to be important and significant people in their … [Read more...]
The Layers of Halloween Weekend
It’s Halloween weekend. This is a difficult, heavy weekend for a lot of dissociative trauma survivors. I’ll say right upfront – and please hear this clearly -- that it is NOT a difficult or triggery weekend for every DID trauma survivor. To assume that every dissociative survivor has experienced the same kinds of abuse is completely wrong, and I will be the first trauma therapist to say that not everyone … [Read more...]
Being Hated, Feeling Hated, Overcoming Self-Hatred
Practically every dissociative trauma survivor that I have spoken to has said to me that at some point in time or another, they have felt hated, truly hated. What's worse, they didn't feel hated by strangers -- they felt hated by their loved ones. These trauma survivors felt hated by their mothers, their fathers, their siblings, their spouses, their children, their friends. They felt hatred from the … [Read more...]
Protecting Your Inner Self from Perpetrators
Trauma survivors know all about perpetrators. Dissociative trauma survivors know all about sadistic perpetrators. Dissociative trauma survivors with a background in ritual abuse, or mind control, or sex slavery organizations know all about truly evil perpetrators. Those of us in the world who were not directly exposed to such darkness have a hard time grasping its depth. It seems surreal to us. … [Read more...]