Too often, widely covered violent traumatic situations, like a mass shooting, become highly politicized, including the victims and survivors. In the case of the Parkland shooting, for example, a nationwide political campaign, as well as an activist movement, survivors are being criticized. Not only are they being criticized, they are being criticized on an international,Read More
Military personnel are suffering from trauma. Our basic understanding of trauma and the development of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder comes from veterans who returned from war. Ongoing research on PTSD is always focused on veterans or military personnel who are the most affected. Interestingly, connections between some of the symptoms military personnel are experiencing andRead More
Unfortunately, trauma nightmares can start a cycle of sleeplessness, difficulty coping, and lead to more nightmares. “The less sleep a person gets, the more difficult it is for the brain to process a traumatic event,” writes Good Therapy. “Sometimes the symptoms that are present due to trauma are the very barriers that get in theRead More
Trauma changes the way we see ourselves and our place in the world, which can be as simple as a dysfunctional focus on our physical form. Our trauma might change the way we physically see our physical selves and the way we physically fit into the physical world. Many people who experience trauma develop bodyRead More
There was a time in our cultural lives when the idea of a motion picture, let alone a moving picture that was in real life culture, with voices, sounds, or any kinds of effects, was fantasy. Movies, as we know them today, are ubiquitous to being alive. Dozens upon dozens of movies are written, produced,Read More
You never had a problem with your body before. Nothing in your world told you that you had to consider your body, or any part of your body, any particular way. Then one day, you are bullied for some part of your body. Bullies relentlessly tease and taunt you about a part of your body,Read More
Jack and Jill went up a hill to fetch a pail of water. Jack fell down and broke his crown and Jill came tumbling after. Needless to say, the day that Jack and Jill went up that hill to fetch a pail of water, it probably didn’t turn out the way they thought it would.Read More
Wearing a helmet is important. The skull acts like a helmet around our brain, which is a soft, squishy muscle essentially sloshing around in a bunch of liquid. Our skulls can be broken or penetrated. As well, when we hit our skull, we don’t stabilize our brain. Meaning, our brain goes sliding around our skull,Read More
During episodes of violence like a mass shooting, we talk about the experience of the victims. We designate the victims as the people who were there at the scene at the time of the violent episode itself. Rarely do we talk, on a mainstream media level, about the second group of people to arrive onRead More
Trauma is is one of the most isolating experiences we can have, even though trauma is a remarkably shared experience. Most people alive on earth will encounter some kind of trauma during their lifetime. Some of us will quickly move on without much issue. Others of us will develop symptoms which indicate that we’re havingRead More