Creating a collage is another way of allowing your internal system parts to tell more about themselves. Pictures can be a powerful way of communicating. And a collage - a collection of pictures - can tell a lifetime of stories. Most trauma survivors were repeatedly told by their abusers, "Do not tell". Violence, threats, abuse, and pain often accompanied these rules. How many times did you hear "don't say … [Read more...]
25 Ways to Avoid Self-Injury and Prevent Self-Harm
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...]
50 Treatment Issues for Dissociative Identity Disorder
"I have DID. How long will it take for someone with Dissociative Identity Disorder to feel better?" As a clinical therapist, I hear that question frequently. It's a reasonable question. I certainly understand that when dissociative trauma survivors are deeply hurting and struggling in their life, they want to feel better as quickly as possible. However, the clinical treatment for someone with Dissociative … [Read more...]
Understanding Dissociative Identity Disorder – From Separated Splitting to Safe Solidity
Do you feel like you can be very different people? Do you have trouble remembering what happened through your week? Do you have minimal memories of your childhood? Do you feel a lot of conflict within yourself, and have unexplainable extremes in your behavior, thoughts, or attitudes? Do you have conversations in your head, and do the voices in your … [Read more...]
SAFETY FIRST: Assessing Safety of Sexual Abuse Survivors
The violence must end for healing to truly begin. Current safety is the foundational building block of healing for people who have been sexually abused. It is a known fact that children are being abused and exploited on a daily basis by sexual predators. Any child trapped in an abusive situation will naturally continue to use trauma-based coping strategies. They need safety in order to develop … [Read more...]