pain Archives - Page 6 of 7 - Discussing Dissociation

Current Day Abuse – When Dissociative Survivors are Trapped, Owned, and Exploited as Adults

Dissociative Identity Disorder is created from severe, chronic child abuse. Does that abuse automatically stop in childhood? Unfortunately, no, it does not. All too many survivors continue to be trapped in abusive environments long after their childhood has ended. Sometimes this abuse continues with the same family-related perpetrators that abused the survivor all throughout the childhood … [Read more...]

Denial — Does it help? Or does it hurt?

By Kathy Broady MSW 59 Comments

To any dissociative trauma survivor weighing heavy in denial.... Denial.... SO important for your years of survival.... SO very very crucial for maintaining your education, functionality, employment... Denial.... important, so very powerful... covers up the amnesia What time loss? Has anyone lost time? Denial... covers up the pain covers up the horror covers up the … [Read more...]

25 Ways to Avoid Self-Injury and Prevent Self-Harm

By Kathy Broady MSW 69 Comments

Survivors of sexual abuse often struggle with self-injury (SI). Survivors often use dissociative walls to contain and separate intense emotions from themselves. This allows them to stay numb, and to not feel. They can split off their unmanageable, uncomfortable, or conflicting feelings into other parts of themselves, as frequently seen in Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID/MPD). As those dissociative walls … [Read more...]

Working with Cult – RA – Mind Control and Extreme Torture and Abuse

By Kathy Broady MSW 41 Comments

"Have you worked with clients that have 'extreme torture' trauma history in cult-RA and/or mind-control (governmental experiments)? If so, what has worked?" Thanks for the question. What a doozy!!! Yes, I have worked with trauma survivors that have talked about extreme torture, cult / RA abuse, mind control and governmental experiment traumas. Bunches of clients through the years have … [Read more...]

Integration: A Requirement for DID Therapy – Or Not?

By Kathy Broady MSW 64 Comments

I am well aware that many trauma therapists are highly supportive of the treatment goal to integrate dissociative selves. I have a different approach to this topic. Please understand I am not at all opposed to the idea of integration if that is what the person wants. However, that is a very complicated topic, and I'll discuss the integration issue from that perspective at another time. In my experience, by … [Read more...]