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Sharing – The idea that many people grow following trauma may be a myth
Over the years of having this website, I’ve had many people suggest that my abusive childhood made me more compassionate and a kinder human being. Or, maybe it gave me a better sense of humor or made me more spiritual.
Or maybe it didn’t. No version of me wasn’t abused. If there had been a version of me that wasn’t abused, he could be more compassionate. He could be a complete narcissist. He could be funnier or kinder. He could be a selfish ass.
No one knows. That version of me is Schrodinger’s cat. It’s all the possibilities because the box can never be opened to see what’s inside.
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Shared Links (weekly) Oct. 9, 2022
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How to Protect Children from Sexual Abuse and Grooming, with Feather Berkower
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9 more ways to show your friends you love them, recommended by NPR listeners
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Reducing sexual violence could be key in reducing rates of teenage mental ill-health
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Loneliness and unhappiness may accelerate aging faster than smoking
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Sharing – I’m a psychologist – and I believe we’ve been told devastating lies about mental health
Of course, he’s right. What he sees in the UK is the same thing I see from my “much less qualified but simply paying attention” seat in the US, and I’m sure many of you see where you live as well. Our current mental health resources are designed to help “fix” something wrong with us. I can’t say they even do that well, but at least that is the plan, and that plan makes sense for many mental health struggles.
It is only part of the picture, though. In all seriousness, how would the 6-8 therapist sessions a good insurance plan covers help someone escaping domestic abuse or trying to feed a family on a minimum wage job? How is the teenager being abused at home, bullied at school, and overwhelmed by the bleakness of what the world might look like when they are an adult supposed to find hope in one crisis text line conversation?
How will we provide hope and connection to people without first understanding their world and how they navigate it every day?
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Sharing – Schema-Focused Therapy: Uses, Principles, & Techniques
I especially identified with the section on maladaptive schemas that may have developed during childhood because I’ve always been a big believer that children growing up in abusive situations will develop whatever mechanism they need to survive and then carry those same mechanisms into adulthood instead of learning the things they should learn as kids.
That’s a maladaptive schema if there ever was one.
Read, and learn more below:
