#ptsd

The observer self, a part of who we really are, is that part of us that is watching both our false self and our True Self. We might say that it even watches us when we watch. It is our Consciousness, it is the core experience of our Child Within. It thus cannot be watched—at least by anything or any being that we know of on this earth. It transcends our five senses, our co-dependent self and all other lower, though necessary parts, of us. Adult children may confuse their observer self with a kind of defense they may have used to avoid their Real Self and all of its feelings. One might call this defense “false observer self” since its awareness is clouded. It is unfocused as it “spaces” or “numbs out.” It denies and distorts our Child Within, and is often judgmental. ↗

— Charles L. Whitfield

#disassociation #dissociation #healing #ptsd #self-help

PTSD is a whole-body tragedy, an integral human event of enormous proportions with massive repercussions. ↗

— Susan Pease Banitt

#healing #mental-health #psychology #ptsd #spirituality

Trauma does not have to occur by abuse alone... ↗

— Asa Don Brown

#psychologist #psychology #ptsd #recovery #research

We are Craiglockhart's success stories. Look at us. We don't remember, we don't feel, we don't think - at least beyond the confines of what's needed to do the job. By any proper civilized standard (but what does that mean now?) we are objects of horror. But our nerves are completely steady. And we are still alive. ↗

— Pat Barker

#mental-illness #ptsd #trauma #war #mental-illness

Resiliency is the essence of a global positive framework... ↗

— Asa Don Brown

#psychologist #psychology #ptsd #recovery #research

It is as though some old part of yourself wakes up in you, terrified, useless in the life you have, its skills and habits destructive but intact, and what is left of the present you, the person you have become, wilts and shrivels in sadness or despair: the person you have become is only a thin shell over this other, more electric and endangered self. The strongest, the least digested parts of your experience can rise up and put you back where you were when they occurred; all the rest of you stands back and weeps. ↗

— Peter Straub

#terror #experience

Loving someone but not trusting them is a spiritual emergency. ↗

— S. Kelley Harrell

#ptsd #spiritual-emergency #trust #love

Yes, she fears the cuffs, the cross and the whip, but she will get past this. Such problems, even with time, do not go away on their own. They must be addressed. André Chevalier ↗

— Nikki Sex

#fear #ptsd #sexual-abuse #whip #bdsm

If only I could tell someone. The humiliation I go through when I think of my past can only be described as grace. We are created by being destroyed. ↗

— Franz Wright

#doubt #faith #life #ptsd #death

A few days later, Tuesday quietly crossed our apartment as I read a book and, after a nudge against my arm, put his head on my lap. As always, I immediately checked my mental state, trying to assess what was wrong. I knew a change in my biorhythms had brought Tuesday over, because he was always monitoring me, but I couldn't figure out what it was. Breathing? Okay. Pulse? Normal. Was I glazed or distracted? Was I lost in Iraq? Was a dark period descending? I didn't think so, but I knew something must be wrong, and I was starting to worry...until I looked into Tuesday's eyes. They were staring at me softly from under those big eyebrows, and there was nothing in them but love. ↗

— Luis Carlos Montalván

#dog #dog-lover #dogs-loyalty #iraq #iraq-war