However, if you do not believe your clients, they may sense your doubt and never fully trust you. As Bruce Goderez (1986), director of a PTSD inpatient unit says, It is important for the clinician and counselor to be willing to be made a fool. In other words, it is better that you believe a client who is lying or distorting the truth than to disbelieve a hurting trauma survivor who may never seek help again if your attitude is one of disbelief or disdain. Even if that client were to continue in therapy, they would never fully trust you.

~ Aphrodite Matsakis

Aphrodite Matsakis Counseling Disbelief Disclosure Doubt Lying Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Psychotherapy Ptsd Trauma Memories Traumatized

Victims”, by definition, are those that have just experienced a trauma of some sort. They are going through an entire array of emotions and circumstances that are happening to them internally and/or externally. They are trying to wrap their mind around what just happened to them. They are trying to regain some sort of balance in their mind. They feel violated, cheated, confused, scared, insecure, ashamed, guilty, impotent and at a loss for words/actions/thoughts. Many times, they even feel numb and in shock. Their mind is in a state of crisis and chaos. They are in the “victim stage”. They are truly a “victim” by definition.

~ Melisa Mel

Melisa Mel Abuse Survivor Abused An Encouraging Role Model Ashamed By Definition Cheated Confused Drugs Guilty Insecure Rape Victim Rape Vivtims Readied Scared Traumatized Using Crutches I E Alcohol Victim Victim Mentality Victimhood Victimized Victims Victims

You are no longer human, with all those depths and highs and nuances of emotion that define you as a person.There is no feeling any more, because to feel any emotion would also be to beckon the overwhelming blackness from you. My mind has now locked all this down. And without any control of this self-defence mechanism my subconscious has operated. I do not feel any more.

~ Jake Wood

Jake Wood Combat Ptsd Dehumanization Dehumanized Dissociated Dissociation Dissociative Dissociative Ptsd Mental Health Military Ptsd No Longer Human Traumatized

Most of us feel isolated and paranoid during stressful times. We feel alone in the wilderness.

~ Patricia Cornwell

Patricia Cornwell Afraid Mental Health Normal Reaction Paranoia Paranoid Stressed Stressed Out Stressful Suspicious Traumatized

Without trauma-informed treatment, traumatized clients may not respond optimally and they may even be re-traumatized by the mental health system if they are labeled as “treatment resistant” because the treatment does not address the core issue of trauma; some may be misunderstood as fabricating or exaggerating their trauma history or symptoms.

~ Bethany Brand

Bethany Brand Abuse Survivors Fabricating Mental Health Mental Health System Ptsd Re Traumatized Trauma Informed Traumatized Treatment Resistant

In this paper I propose the existence of two distinct presentations of DID, a Stable and an Active one. While people with Stable DID struggle with their traumatic past, with triggers that re-evoke that past and with the problems of daily functioning with severe dissociation, people with Active DID are, in addition, also engaged in a life of current, on-going involvement in abusive relationships, and do not respond to treatment in the same way as other DID patients. The paper observes these two proposed DID presentations in the context of other trauma-based disorders, through the lens of their attachment relationship. It proposes that the type, intensity and frequency of relational trauma shape—and can thus predict—the resulting mental disorder. - Through the lens of attachment relationship: Stable DID, Active DID and other trauma-based mental disorders

~ Adah Sachs

Adah Sachs Active Did Attachment Dissociation Dissociative Identity Disorder Mental Disorder Mental Health Repeating The Past Revictimisation Stable Did Traumatized

Denial forces victims to retreat in lifeless existence, dieing in the shadows of buried trauma and painful memories.

~ Trudy Metzger

Trudy Metzger Child Sexual Abuse Denial Rape Rape Culture Sexual Abuse Sexual Assault Shame Society Denial Survivor Survivors Of Abuse Trauma Traumatic Experiences Traumatized Victim Victim Blaming

Much, much later. when I am back home and being treated for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). I will be enabled to see what was going on in my mind immediately after 11 August.I am still capable of operating mechanically as a soldier in these following days. But operating mechanically as a soldier is now all I am capable of.Martin says he is worried about me. He says I have the thousand-yard stare'.Of course, I cannot see this stare. But by now we both have more than an idea what it means.So, among all the soldiers here, this is nothing to be ashamed of. But as it really does just go with the territory we find ourselves in. it is just as equally not a badge of h

~ Jake Wood

Jake Wood Acute Stress Reaction Army Army In Afghanistan Army Quote Automaton Casualty Of War Combat Ptsd Crock Of Shit Dead Inside Depersonalised Depersonalization Depersonalized Detached Dissociated State Dissociative Dumb Emotionless Flashback Flashbacks Idolisation Idolized Mechanical Military Military Psychiatry Military Quote Naive Naive Soul No Longer Human Nothingness Numb Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Posttraumatic Posttraumatic Stress Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Ptsd Robotic Soldier Stare Thousand Yard Stare Traumatic Stress Traumatized True Warrior Unemotional Warrior Warrior Qoutes Wounded Warriors

Dr. Peter Levine, who has worked with trauma survivors for twenty-five years, says the single most important factor he has learned in uncovering the mystery of human trauma is what happens during and after the freezing response. He describes an impala being chased by a cheetah. The second the cheetah pounces on the young impala, the animal goes limp. The impala isn’t playing dead, she has “instinctively entered an altered state of consciousness, shared by all mammals when death appears imminent.” (Levine and Frederick, Waking the Tiger, p. 16) The impala becomes instantly immobile. However, if the impala escapes, what she does immediately thereafter is vitally important. She shakes and quivers every part of her body, clearing the traumatic energy she has accumulated.

~ Marilyn Van Derbur

Marilyn Van Derbur Fight Flight Freeze Play Dead Survivors Trauma Trauma Experiences Traumatic Experiences Traumatic Stress Traumatized

In 1973, Jan Erik Olsson walked into a small bank in Stockholm, Sweden, brandishing a gun, wounding a police officer, and taking three women and one man hostage. During negotiations, Olsson demanded money, a getaway vehicle, and that his friend Clark Olofsson, a man with a long criminal history, be brought to the bank. The police allowed Olofsson to join his friend and together they held the four hostages captive in a bank vault for six days. During their captivity, the hostages at times were attached to snare traps around their necks, likely to kill them in the event that the police attempted to storm the bank. The hostages grew increasingly afraid and hostile toward the authorities trying to win their release and even actively resisted various rescue attempts. Afterward they refused to testify against their captors, and several continued to stay in contact with the hostage takers, who were sent to prison. Their resistance to outside help and their loyalty toward their captors was puzzling, and psychologists began to study the phenomenon in this and other hostage situations. The expression of positive feelings toward the captor and negative feelings toward those on the outside trying to win their release became known as Stockholm syndrome.

~ Rachel Lloyd

Rachel Lloyd Hostage Situation Stockholm Syndrome Trauma Trauma Bonding Traumatized

In order to believe clients' accounts of trauma, you need to suspend any pre-conceived notions that you have about what is possible and impossible in human experience. As simple as they may sound, it may be difficult to do so.

~ Aphrodite Matsakis

Aphrodite Matsakis Abuse Survivors Denial Disbelief Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Society Denial Trauma Traumatic Experiences Traumatized

Complexly traumatized children need to be helped to engage their attention in pursuits that do not remind them of trauma-related triggers and that give them a sense of pleasure and mastery. Safety, predictability, and fun are essential for the establishment of the capacity to observe what is going on, put it into a larger context, and initiate physiological and motoric self-regulation.

~ Sarah Benamer

Sarah Benamer Abused Child Abused Children Attachment Theory Attachment Trauma Childhood Trauma Childhood Traumas Complex Ptsd Healing From Abuse Self Regulation Sense Of Safety Trauma Traumatic Stress Traumatization Traumatized

TRAUMA STEALS YOUR VOICE People get so tired of asking you what's wrong and you've run out of nothings to tell them. You've tried and they've tried, but the words just turn to ashes every time they try to leave your mouth. They start as fire in the pit of your stomach, but come out in a puff of smoke. You are not you anymore. And you don't know how to fix this. The worst part is...you don't even know how to try.

~ Nikitta Gill

Nikitta Gill Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Ptsd Survivors Trauma Trauma Survivors Traumatized Voiceless

It registers that I am sitting there topless, but this body I am in doesn't feel like mine anymore so the half-nakedness seems irrelevant, like a rumor, something I'm supposed to care about but don't.

~ Lauren Miller

Lauren Miller Coping Mechanism Detachment Disassociation Trauma Traumatization Traumatized

We don't go back to wallow, we go back to undo the lies that are back there that are holding its captive from living a wondrous and full life.

~ Darlene Ouimet

Darlene Ouimet Abuse Survivors Get Over It Ptsd Revisiting The Past Trauma Trauma Survivors Traumatized Wallow

Unspeakable feelings need to find expression in words. However... verbalization of very intense feelings may be a difficult task.

~ James A. Chu

James A. Chu Cutting Emotional Pain Emotional Regulation Healing From Abuse Healing Trauma Overwhelmed Self Destructive Behavior Self Destructiveness Self Harm Self Injury Trauma Trauma Survivors Traumatized Unbearable Unspeakable Verbalization

When experiences or emotions become too overwhlming, the mind clevely encapsulates the material and stores it for safe-keeping. Many people respond this way in the face of trauma, but the additional step that occurs in this process, in the case of DID, is the formation of distinct ego states that carry the experience.

~ Deborah Bray Haddock

Deborah Bray Haddock Alter Personalities Compartmentalization Coping Dissociation Dissociative Dissociative Identity Disorder Dissociative Parts Memory Fragmentation Multiple Personalities Ptsd Trauma Traumatic Experiences Traumatized

I found myself in a pattern of being attracted to people who were somehow unavailable, and what I realized was that I was protecting myself because I equate the idea of connection and love with trauma and death.

~ Zachary Quinto

Zachary Quinto Abuse Survivors Attraction Avoiding Commitment Avoiding Pain Dysfunctional Love Dysfunctional Relationship Healing Insights Relationship Problems Self Protection Trauma Traumatized

I believe that we belittle survivors by assuming that they will fail.

~ Toni Bernhard

Toni Bernhard Abuse Survivors Trauma Trauma Survivors Traumatized

One of Coin's men lays a hand on my arm. Its not an aggressive move, really, but after the arena's I react defensively to any unfamiliar touch. I jerk my arm free and take off running down the halls. My mind does a quick inventory of my odd little hiding places and i wind up in the supply closet, curled up against a crate of chalk.

~ Suzanne Collins

Suzanne Collins Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Ptsd Trauma Traumatized

People who have survived atrocities often tell their stories in a highly emotional, contradictory and fragmented manner.

~ Judith Lewis Herman

Judith Lewis Herman Atrocities Ptsd Survivors Survivors Of Abuse Trauma Trauma Memories Traumatized

The culture and heritage should stay intact and be maintained as it provides the individuals with some degree of resiliency. The effects of the trauma is what should be focused on and treated. Improving the quality of life for survivors is the focus of treatment. It is not to erase the past.

~ Thomas Hodge

Thomas Hodge Trauma Traumatic Experiences Traumatized

Traumatic events challenge an individual's view of the world as a just, safe and predictable place. Traumas that are caused by human behavior. . . commonly have more psychological impact than those caused by nature.

~ American Psychological Association

American Psychological Association Cognitive Distortions Just World Psychological Trauma Ptsd Sense Of Safety Trauma Trauma Survivors Traumatic Experiences Traumatized World View

Triggers are like little psychic explosions that crash through avoidance and bring the dissociated, avoided trauma suddenly, unexpectedly, back into consciousness.

~ Carolyn Spring

Carolyn Spring Dissociated Flashback Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Ptsd Trauma Traumatized Trigger Triggers

July 15, 1991Nita: My mother was a paragon of our neighborhood, People always come up to us with hugs, saying You have the most wonderful mother. l'd think. “Don't you see what's going on in this house?” To this day, if somehow even in jest raises their hand to me, I will do this (raises hands to protect face and cowers) I cringe. Then they look at me like, what's your probem? You don't get that from a great childhood.

~ Sarah E. Olson

Sarah E. Olson Defensive Hypervigilance Jumpy Overreact Overreaction Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Ptsd Trauma Trauma Survivor Traumatic Stress Traumatized

Trauma is any stressor that occurs in a sudden and forceful way and is experienced as overwhelming.

~ Stephanie S. Covington

Stephanie S. Covington Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Psychological Trauma Ptsd Stressors Trauma Traumatic Stress Traumatized

Understanding trauma and that we each respond to it differently will help us be supportive and nonjudgmental toward each other.

~ Stephanie S. Covington

Stephanie S. Covington Judgmental Mental Nonjudgemental Ptsd Trauma Traumatized

The initial trauma of a young child may go underground but it will return to haunt us.

~ James Garbarino

James Garbarino Child Abuse Child Sexual Abuse Child Trauma Childhood Abuse Childhood Trauma Haunted Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Ptsd Trauma Traumatized

Yolanda Gampel utilizes an expanded concept of the uncanny to outline the results of violence: Those who experience such traumas are faced with an unbelievable and unreal reality that is incompatible with anything they knew previously. As a result, they can no longer fully believe what they see with their own eyes; they have difficulty distinguishing between the unreal reality they have survived and the fears that spring from their own imagination.

~ Nicole Waller

Nicole Waller Denial Derealization Disbelief Ptsd Self Doubt Trauma Memories Traumatic Experiences Traumatized Unreal

A refusal on the part of psychiatrists and therapists to validate the horrors of their patients' tortured past implies a refusal to take seriously the unconscious psychological mechanisms that individuals need to use to protect themselves from the unspeakable. Such a denial is, however, no longer ethical, for it is in the human capacity to dissociate that lies part of the secret of both childhood abuse and the horrors of the Nazi genocide, both forms of human violence so often carried out by 'respectable' men and women.

~ Felicity De Zulueta

Felicity De Zulueta Abuse Deniers Abuse Survivors Child Abuse Childhood Abuse Complex Ptsd Denial Denial Of Child Abuse Dissociate Dissociation Dissociative Dissociative Disorders Dissociative Identity Disorder Genocide Hidden Pain Horror Of Incest Horror Of War Ignore What Is Wrong Invalidation Misdiagnosis Mpd Nazis Not Serious Psychiatrists Psychiatry Psychological Defence Psychologists Ptsd Respectable Men Respectable Women Society Denial Survivors Survivors Of Abuse Therapists Torture Survivors Traumatized Unethical