Dissociation

May is Mental Health Awareness month. As psychologist I don’t feel the need to highlight this as it’s something I am always talking about here. What I do want to point out is the profound impact that our social circumstances have on our mental health…

   I’m currently listening to the book The Pain We Carry: Healing from Complex PTSD for People of Color by Natalie Y. Gutiérrez. In it, she writes something that really resonates with me in my work with those who have Dissociative Identity organization: “If you…

   I recently read the book Inflamed: Deep Medicine and the Anatomy of Injustice by Rupa Marya & Raj Patel and found it really thought provoking. It wove together a lot of what I’ve been learning in my decolonization journey.  “The modern individual has been…

As an EMDR therapist it is not uncommon for a client to ask me why we are going back to their childhood when we are taking a history or identifying target memories to reprocess. This is a valid question, especially if they are coming into…

Not everyone who experiences trauma develops PTSD — but why? Here are a few factors that can make a big difference: Strong social support – Feeling seen, heard, and supported by loved ones helps regulate stress and build resilience. Healthy coping skills – Mindfulness, grounding…

Dissociation and PTSD are strongly related responses to trauma. They are often experienced and diagnosed together. It would be highly unlikely to have a diagnosis of Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) or OSDD without having a PTSD diagnosis. Dissociative symptoms and experiences are very common in…