Survivors News and Reviews

In the News

Blaming Social Media for Mental Health Issues is a Cop Out to Avoid Harder Decisions
ByMikeM April 10, 2024April 9, 2026 Reading Time: 3 minutes

What I read in this matches what I see in real life. Some people spend a lot of time on social media doing things that are bad for their mental health. (Comparing their lives to the ultra-filtered images they see on social media, filling their feed with information that is bad for their mental health, etc.) while others use social media to connect with an online support network.

Given that, the calls for banning social media use for kids seem odd, but they are based on that being the easy thing. Blaming big tech will never be unpopular, and there is a possibility that some people might be better off not using social media as much.

Read More Blaming Social Media for Mental Health Issues is a Cop Out to Avoid Harder Decisions
In the News | Links

Sharing – Touch can reduce pain, depression and anxiety, say researchers
ByMikeM April 9, 2024April 9, 2024 Reading Time: 1 minute

The more I see research like this, the more I become convinced that one of the most significant losses many sexual abuse survivors suffer has to do with how complicated touch becomes for us as adults.

Read More Sharing – Touch can reduce pain, depression and anxiety, say researchers
Links

Sharing – The Importance of What Wasn’t Provided
ByMikeM April 4, 2024April 4, 2024 Reading Time: 2 minutes

The impact of what you weren’t given as a child can be just as real as the impacts of physical and sexual abuse. The struggle to navigate relationships and work, emotional immaturity, the lack of trust, the inability to be vulnerable, etc. Those are all things we should be learning throughout life, and they are all something we can learn throughout life. It sure would have been nice to have been able to start that process in childhood, though.

Read More Sharing – The Importance of What Wasn’t Provided
In the News

40% of Americans are Covered by Medicare or Medicaid and Struggle to Access Mental Healthcare
ByMikeM April 3, 2024April 3, 2024 Reading Time: 2 minutes

We talk a lot in the advocate community about not being alone with mental health issues. I try to encourage anyone to see others who are dealing with the same issues around mental health and childhood abuse and recognize that they are not in this alone. There are many of us out here dealing with the same thing. Many in the US and other countries are alone in accessing care. That should shame us all.

Read More 40% of Americans are Covered by Medicare or Medicaid and Struggle to Access Mental Healthcare
In the News

Sharing – Are Adult Survivors of Child Abuse Ever Fully Healed?
ByMikeM March 27, 2024March 27, 2024 Reading Time: 2 minutes

This is why I look for the definition when I read anything about being fully healed. What does being healed mean to you? Is your definition possible? A definition that includes the abuse having zero impact on who you are today? Because that’s not realistic. But it also doesn’t mean you can’t go on to have a healed life while acknowledging that it is still part of who you are.

It was a traumatic event; they became part of us. They don’t have to rule us, though. That’s healed.

Read More Sharing – Are Adult Survivors of Child Abuse Ever Fully Healed?
Book Reviews

Reviews Elsewhere – Hold on to Your Kids: Why Parents Need to Matter More Than Peers
ByMikeM March 20, 2024March 19, 2024 Reading Time: 4 minutes

I’ll repeat what I’ve said many times. Kids are often vulnerable because they have no close adults to trust and lean on for support. No one is there modeling what a mature sense of self is, so they aren’t learning it. I don’t necessarily agree with everything Drs. Maté and Neufeld said in this interview that I’m sure I wouldn’t agree with everything in their book, but on this point, I agree. Kids need trusted adults who make them feel safe and loved.

Yet we keep creating a society that makes it harder to provide that for kids. We are paying a price for that.

Read More Reviews Elsewhere – Hold on to Your Kids: Why Parents Need to Matter More Than Peers