Sitemap - Website content outline

Page contents...

Get help! ^{^}

• Need immediate help? - Here's what to do.

• Get help! - First considerations

  • Is it a crisis or a problem? - How to find out

  • SELF HELP:

    • Create a feeling of safety - Use guided imagery to stop fear
    • Get calm - Use Step Down Tension Relief (SDTR) breathing to calm the body & quiet the mind
    • Ground yourself, to stop dissociation and emotional pain, and improve focus - Use this "Conscious orienting" grounding procedure to temporarily calm emotions and move to a present-centered focus
    • When all else fails - Regain control with a powerful shift of focus
    • SEE ALSO: Anxiety and mindfulness meditation - A self-managed intervention with no noxious side effects

  • Help from other people

  • ==> Friends, family

    • ==> Hotlines
    • ==> Should I see a therapist?
    • ==> How to find a therapist
    • ==> Problem solving - a straightforward, powerful approach

Topics ^{^}

• Topics - Overview

  • ==> Introduction: How to find answers to questions

To get you thinking... ^{^}

• To get you thinking... - What would it take? Perhaps this...

  • Thinking - about beginning anew - "...if you have not suffered, there is no way you can learn"
  • Thinking - about chronic abuse, captivity, and trauma - the effect being controlled on the victim is too often quite misunderstood
  • Thinking - about courage, control, and anxiety - Fear need not stop you
  • Thinking - about development of sense of "self", integration, and dissociation - Normal integration of experience into our sense of self can fail, resulting in serious psychological disorders
  • Thinking - about diagnosis and the pursuit of understanding - Diagnosis is the beginning of treatment
  • Thinking - about priorities in responding to trauma memories in psychotherapy - Practical priorities in dealing with trauma memories in psychotherapy
  • Thinking - about self-care - Know yourself - care for yourself
  • Thinking - about trauma and difficulty connecting with others - Chronic childhood trauma makes connections difficult or impossible
  • Thinking - about trauma or neglect in childhood - It creates an unreal, inaccurate sense of self
  • Thinking - about your many selves - All of us are plural in many ways

Psychology, psychopathology, and trauma ^{^}

• Psychology, psychopathology, and trauma - overview

Psychology of trauma ^{^}

• Five genetic groups underlie 14 mental disorders - New data support suggest new classifications and treatment possibilities
• Threat detection can be an automatic, unconscious brain activity - Managing this is particularly important in trauma and dissociation disorders
• Memories of trauma are unique because of how brains and bodies respond to threat - A traumatic memory can be nearly impossible to shake
• Trauma, PTSD and OCD - Trauma can cause or increase Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) symptoms
• PTSD in sexual assault victims differs from that in combat veterans - Our picture of PTSD is inaccurate due to an overwhelming focus on PTSD in combat veterans

Trauma and dissociation disorders and their causes ^{^}

• ==> Trauma- and trauma-related diagnoses - It's more complex than you may think
• Dissociation and dissociative disorders: Trauma, controversy, and clarifying evidence - R. J. Loewenstein's "Dissociation debates..." article
• SEE ALSO: DID (Dissociative identity disorder) myths - corrected - distinguishing facts from fiction
• Complex post-traumatic stress disorder explained - Many experts recognize that complex PTSD is a disorder in its own right
• Dissociative Identity Disorder explained by Bethany Brand - Front-rank researcher and clinician talks about dissociation, trauma, and treatment
• ==> PTSD: Who gets it and why - There are distinct and contrasting differences
• ==> Childhood influences adulthood - It matters more than you may think
• Verbal abuse of children has serious life-long impacts - Negatively affected are mental health, relationships, and multiple brain processes
• Childhood adversity is a ‘cause of causes’ of adult illnesses and mental health problems - This public health hazard hides in plain sight

Psychotherapy and other interventions for psychological trauma and related mental disorders ^{^}

• Psychotherapy and other interventions - overview

Starting psychotherapy ^{^}

• Finding a good therapist - How to solve this problem thoughtfully and efficiently
• Checklist for finding a suitable DID (dissociative identity disorder) therapist - Treating dissociative identity disorder requires special skill and experience
• Managing the cost of therapy - You have more options than you think
• DID (dissociative identity disorder) psychotherapy: What keeps people from getting it? - the need is clear, so why isn't it happening?
• Deepening self-awareness in the early stages of psychotherapy - Knowing more enables doing more

What you can do yourself ^{^}

• Organic rule-outs - Six top-priority concerns to attend to when you're having a bad day
• Journaling as trauma therapy - New research validates the effectiveness of expressive writing
• Feelings - is there more going on than you know? - How to discover ALL that you are feeling
• Anxiety and mindfulness meditation - A self-managed intervention with no noxious side effects
• Didn't have the mother you needed? - Some constructive options to consider
• ==> Parenting with unresolved posttraumatic stress
• ==> Depression first aid - How to help yourself or another person who is depressed
• SEE ALSO: Self help section of Get help!]

Psychotherapy process and results ^{^}

• ==> Online education clearly helpful for psychotherapy clients - Unwanted symptoms were reduced and use of coping skills increased
• Challenge walking - Using your positive body sense to transform negative emotional learning and memory
• Psychotherapy for dissociative disorders has a long-term benefit - Assessment over a six-year period provides clearly positive results
• Dissociative identity disorder: Advances in treatment and cultural acceptance emerge from neurobiology - New findings push us past old barriers

Helping others to understand you ^{^}

• About my PTSD (Posttraumatic Stress Disorder) - For YOU to give to other adults, to help them understand your PTSD
• Explaining your PTSD to your children - A little gentle reassurance can be so very helpful

Medication and other non-psychotherapy interventions ^{^}

• ==> Psilocybin treatment of depression: Current state of knowledge and practice - Promising early results have led to ongoing research
• Antidepressant side effects vary critically from drug to drug - Careful consideration of individual patient wants and needs is now possible
• MDMA for PTSD not rec/ommended by US Federal Drug Administration scientific advisory panel - FDA approval still possible, but unlikely
• SSRI antidepressants can lead to emotional blunting - Effect seen in healthy subjects after 3 weeks of medication
• Medication problems? - How to find the best solution
• Successful treatment of PTSD by transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) - Clinical validation and treatment access improvements needed
• Hydrocortisone and stress reduction - implications for PTSD - Post-stress hydrocortisone reduces intrusive memories
• ==> Dissociation medication - Essential considerations
• ==> Feelings - how to make sense of what motivates us and gives our lives meaning
• ==> PTSD/ASD Treatment Guidelines, from the Australian Centre for Posttraumatic Mental Health (ACPMH)
• ==> About suicide
• ==> Are you experiencing posttraumatic stress?
• ==> Emotionalized learning - A range of acquired emotional reactions which includes traumatic stress
• ==> Identifying your challenge
• ==> Normal emotional healing for our brain

Culture, society and trauma ^{^}

• Culture, society, and trauma - overview

Children ^{^}

• How to terrify a child - Abduct or kill their parent, preferably while acting as threatening as possible
• Children must be protected in their earliest years - Serious mental and physical health risks in later life can be minimized if we do this
• Joël Le Scouarnec's sexual abuse of children - why was it not stopped sooner? - A single, simple answer appears impossible
• Young children who are survivors of sexual abuse are not being heard - TheMeToo movement has not included young sexual abuse victims
• School shootings: At least 377 have occurred since Columbine - Well over a quarter of a million children have been exposed to this violence since 1999
• Parental violence against children has consequences - ...And none of them are good
• Physicians urged to check siblings of suspected child abuse victims - Children living in the same home or in contact with the same caretaker are also at risk
• SEE ALSO:
  • ==> Childhood influences adulthood - It matters more than you may think
  • Verbal abuse of children has serious life-long impacts - Negatively affected are mental health, relationships, and multiple brain processes
  • Childhood adversity is a ‘cause of causes’ of adult illnesses and mental health problems - This public health hazard hides in plain sight

Society in general ^{^}

• ==> Compassion for others - Reducing the trauma we cause need not stop with our own species
• ==> Epidemiology of mental illness
• Chronic illness at work has a major effect of employees and their workplace - Effects have been hidden and minimized
• Mental and physical health of mothers appears to be declining - The decline shows up in all socio-economic groups, but strongest in the poor
• Rape - it's effectively decriminalized in England and Wales - Why do so many men get away with rape? Police officers, survivors, lawyers and prosecutors on the scandal that shames the justice system
• Sexual abuse rampant in U.S. federal prisons - Bipartisan federal report finds abuse in the majority of prisons
• LGBTQ in America? That's dangerous!- Americans violently abuse LGBTQ people 9 times more often than non-LGBTQ people

Cultural views ^{^}

• Mental Health and treatment - American views are becoming distinctly more positive
• Calling prostitution "Sex work" makes the problem worse - It's cover-up language
• DID (Dissociative identity disorder) myths - corrected - distinguishing facts from fiction

• SEE ALSO: Dissociative identity disorder: Advances in treatment and cultural acceptance emerge from neurobiology - New findings push us past old barriers

• ==> Genetic vulnerabiliity to PTSD - Early research using rats offers clear indicators of genetic vulnerability

Book reviews ^{^}

• Book reviews

  • Book review: 8 Keys to Safe Trauma Recovery - Take-Charge Strategies To Empower Your Healing Babette Rothschild - While you are moving toward recovery, there are things you can do to make it a better journey
  • Book review: The body keeps the score - Bessel van der Kolk - a highly original contribution from a trauma research pioneer
  • Book review: Coping with trauma-related dissociation - Teaching ideas and skills for us all
  • Book review: The harm reduction guide for psychological trauma survivors - Strong support for the healing journey
  • Book review: Resolving the anxiety dilemma - Dylan M. Kollman - Anxiety is your friend...until it isn't, at which point you will do well to have this book at hand

Get healthy! ^{^}

• Get healthy! - Practical, focused ideas for achieving and maintaining a life that works

  • ==> Women, menopause, and how we manage both: We can do much better, starting immediately
  • Improve your mood by improving your sleep - Six critical steps
  • Getting happy: A basic strategy - Evidence-based tactics for individuals
  • Gratitude - getting started on a gratitude practice - Recognizing what you can be grateful for will powerfully improve your state of mind and mood
  • A simple body-weight workout- Easy to start, easy to stick with
  • Back pain - Overview and recommended exercise interventions
  • ==> Multivitamins - Yea! or Nay? - How to make sense of a challenging question
  • ==> Personal journaling - How and why to get started with journaling

Site authors ^{^}

• Site authors - Researchers, psychotherapists, and journalists passionate about supporting trauma recovery and prevention

Resources for further learning... ^{^}

• Essential Internet Resources - A library of essential information, available to everyone
• Glossary - Essential terms and concepts
  • Glossary focus term\: Multiplicity of selves - A compendium of concepts and definitions
  • Glossary focus term\: Psychological trauma -A compendium of concepts and definitions
  • ==> Glossary focus term\: PTSD (posttraumatic stress disorder)
  • ==> Graphs and charts - Mental health and mental illness
  • ==> Blog: Coming Home - Finding our family and making a home for all of us
    • ==> 2023-06-17 About our families... - External, internal, birth, or constructed - the different families of our lives make us who we are

Site help ^{^}

• Site help - An overview

  • First time here? - A quick website orientation
  • About the Get Trauma Information (GeTI) project - Why we do it - ...and why you may want to join with us
  • How to participate - If you're interested, there's a place here for you!
  • About our TDEA (Trauma and Dissociation Education and Advocacy) Facebook community - Visit us - contribute!
  • TDEA Facebook community demographics - We are international - here are the specifics
  • Contact us - We want to hear your thoughts and suggestions
  • Disclaimer - We offer information but it's your decision what you do with it

 

☀   ☀   ☀

 

page author: Tom Cloyd | reviewed 2026-05-25:1300 Pacific Time (USA)