Distressing experiences

People who have experienced developmental trauma (meaning abuse and neglect during childhood) frequently do not feel good enough. They believe they are not as good as everyone else. They believe they are damaged. Flawed. … [Read more...] about Will you ever feel good enough?

A number of the adult clients that I work with in my private practice experienced developmental trauma (meaning neglect and abuse) as children. Adults who experienced developmental trauma have different areas of the brain light up during brain scans than adults who were safe from neglect and abuse … [Read more...] about Adrenaline spikes in adults

People who have experienced developmental trauma (meaning abuse and neglect as children) will usually say that they are quick to anger when I ask. They will say “Yes,” when I ask them whether they would describe their anger as rage. … [Read more...] about Anger and rage in adults

People who experienced developmental trauma, meaning abuse and neglect as children, frequently become adults that need a high degree of control over their environments. These adults can accurately be described as controlling and inflexible. Rigid is another word that can fit.  … [Read more...] about Controlling and inflexible adults

A psychologist recently told me one of his clients was ready to finish therapy. He said she had recovered from the abuse she had endured as a child. He said she was 65-years-old. The psychologist said his client was grieving because she was now fully aware of how much she had missed out on in her … [Read more...] about After therapy, life becomes really good

Understand why you behave the way you do. A significant number of the clients I work with as a psychologist experienced developmental trauma, which means neglect, emotional abuse, sexual abuse, and/or physical abuse as children. In many cases, they were born into families where their parents did … [Read more...] about Fight, flight, attachment cry, freeze or submit: Adult responses to childhood trauma

The experience of having a pet die can be difficult. When the death is anticipated, it is typically accompanied by grief during the lead up to the death. When the death it is sudden, the shock can feel overwhelming. Both anticipated and sudden deaths involve grief, which is most intense initially, … [Read more...] about It’s painful when a pet dies

There is a stigma attached to seeing a psychologist. It’s warped and it’s inaccurate. My clients say this after they’ve met with me once. And many say they would say so after we’ve worked together for a while if there wasn’t a stigma attached to doing so.  … [Read more...] about Stigma attached to seeing a psychologist

Yes, victims of abuse sometimes forget the abuse they endured. This is called “Betrayal Blindness.”  For example, Betrayal Blindness can happen to people who were sexually abused as children, even in situations where the child was old enough to remember other events from the same period of time that … [Read more...] about Childhood trauma: Forgetting and later remembering is possible

When a child is abused by their mother or father, the child will often develop “Betrayal Blindness.” Children who are being abused are frequently not able to recognize that their experiences are abusive because accurately seeing what is happening to them would further jeopardize their ability to … [Read more...] about Abused children cannot recognize they are being abused