-
Because I’m Happy! (In Spite of Everything)
Everything I know about how to be happy and productive I learned from my therapists. Of course, that’s not something I discuss regularly in my blog or even in the book I’ve written. ... Read More
-
The Childhood Trauma I Didn’t Know I Had
My story starts at age 9. Both my parents were depressed and my family moved a lot. As the oldest of four children, I carried a lot of responsibility, even at such a young age. When I started ... Read More
-
Bipolar Parenting: From Struggle to Stability
Three years ago I found myself pregnant with our seventh child, just a few months after already giving birth to our sixth. At first, we were ecstatic to be having another baby; we had always ... Read More
-
Understanding My Fear of Abandonment
I am a 59-year-old female. Just recently have I come to understand the consequences of being abandoned over and over again while growing up. Sadly, history repeated itself with my own daughter, ... Read More
-
From Hell to Hope: Recovery Is Honesty
Can you tell I have a cat just by looking at me? Can you tell I have a mental illness just by looking at me? I began to change in my early teens—blame it on hormones and my shifting ... Read More
-
Facing Love: The Difficulty of Loving and Being Loved
I find that situations easily send me into depression. I am dysthymic with some social anxiety. I work hard everyday to be grateful. I was 29 when I met my first boyfriend. We would go ... Read More
-
Fear of Abandonment Continues to Hold Me Back
The pervasive challenge of overcoming fears of abandonment is similar to always having to walk uphill under leaden skies carrying an umbrella heavy as stone. The head-shaking irony of the ... Read More
-
‘Why Me’: A Story of Physical and Mental Abuse in Childhood
Editor’s note: This article is an excerpt from Sarah Burleton’s New York Times bestselling child abuse memoir Why Me. The article contains sensitive detail about physical violence and ... Read More
-
Getting Ready for Therapy after a Childhood of Emotional Abuse
My adoptive mother had lost her father to brain cancer while in adolescence, and developed borderline personality (“between neurosis and psychosis”) due to unresolved loss, being vulnerable ... Read More
-
Paws for Thought: Tails of a Therapy Cat
Meow! I am a cat therapist. No, I don’t have the fancy degree and years of experience like my human does—but like other pets in animal-assisted therapy settings, I collaborate with ... Read More
-
When the Protector Needs Protecting: The Trauma of Protecting Others
Editor’s note: This story contains sensitive material and descriptions of childhood abuse and trauma that may be triggering to some readers. My story focuses on two areas of trauma: ... Read More
-
How I Learned I Was in an Abusive Relationship
I started my relationship with a very intelligent registered nurse in 1984. I was a clerk going to college part time and work full time to be able to afford college. She seemed very caring, ... Read More