Archive for Anxiety, Panic & PTSD

Watch: Pop! Goes the Drama

IMG_1551

When I thought about the braced-for-disaster feeling that we carry with us, I thought, “It’s just like waiting for the joker to pop out of the Jack-in-the-Box can,” a continuous state of preparedness. I had to record this video. It’s my first video for GWNI. Watch: Pop! Goes the Drama GWNI Video: Pop! Goes the [...]

Yes, Adult Children of Alcoholics Can Suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Heal from PTSD

6a00d8341c692c53ef01538e4be3d9970b-320wi

Readers, you are in for a real treat. This winter I was fortunate enough to have two conversations about post traumatic stress disorder PTSD with trauma specialist Dr. Marylene Cloitre. The following article is based on our conversations. Do You Have PTSD from Childhood? Panic.  Anxiety.  Fear. Nightmares.  Insomnia.  Fuzzy-brain feeling.  Indecision.  Confusion.  Out-of-body numbness.  [...]

PTSD and the Adult Child: What is Post-Trauma Stress Disorder?

Blog art PTSD post I

You don’t have to be a soldier of war to experience post-trauma stress disorder.  If you’re reading this, you already suspect that statement to be true. I referenced post-trauma stress disorder in this post about the urge to flee, running (not running scared, but running anxious) away from our relationships, jobs, friends, homes, children, pets, and [...]

What if They Find Out?

Our fear of being found out couldn’t exist if we didn’t have a need to control our environments. Control issues. Our fear also couldn’t exist if we had ample self-confidence. It couldn’t exist if we fully accepted ourselves, as we are, and without apology.

Just When You Think, “I’m Cool,” You’re Actually Still Grasping for CONTROL

What does it look like when you’re at peace, and not behaving like someone obsessed with control? You don’t plan out conversations; you go with the flow when plans change because you are your own center-home, you say what you really think no matter what impression it may give others of you, you ask others for help because you don’t need to give off the impression of complete self-sufficiency, you can enjoy a movie even if you’re not sitting in the ‘perfect’ front-and-center seat; you apologize easily, you tell the truth, and you let others express their opinions freely, and you let them have the last word.