Confronting repressed experiences requires cracking open the person you think you are and reassembling a new personality. — Trigger warning, child sexual abuse mentioned. Confronting repressed experiences requires cracking open the person you think you are and reassembling a new personality. In Memories, Dreams, Reflections, Psychologist Carl Gustav Jung’s semi-autobiographical work, he recounts personal anecdotes from his time as a clinician. In one instant he warns fellow psychologists against digging up repressed material from the psyche.

Healing from trauma started with accepting that it happened. That’s when I met my shadow. — Healing from trauma started with accepting that it happened. That’s when I met my shadow. Trigger warning: Suicide and child sexual abuse are discussed. A baby spider scurries up the wall and then freezes in place. Perhaps it saw me looking. This morning I saw two other baby spiders as I swept the bathroom floor. One I saved with the flat end of a Neosporin…

After a fall from the high-dive that might’ve killed me, I’m finally learning to fly. — After a near-fatal fall from the high-dive, I’m finally learning to fly. When I was about eight I took swimming lessons at the community pool. It had a high dive with a twenty-foot drop. My handsome swimming teacher and his friends would frequently fly from its edge in the most graceful dives I’d ever seen. I had a crush on him and…

I’m endeavoring not to give up on my therapist. There’s value in forgiving her, and maybe that’s a lesson in self-forgiveness. — Trigger Warning, discussion of child sexual abuse ahead. Preeminent Swiss Psychologist, Carl Gustav Jung wrote, in Memories, Dreams, Reflections, that the psyche is far less accessible than the body. The psyche is distinctly more complicated and inaccessible than the body. It is, so to speak, the half of the world…

Loneliness. For child abuse survivors loneliness drives us into some of the greatest disasters of our lives. I once thought it was fear. — Trigger Warning: Child abuse referenced. Loneliness. For child abuse survivors loneliness drives us into some of the greatest disasters of our lives. I once thought it was fear. I realize now it’s the fear of loneliness. There’s a little girl inside of me with her face buried in her arms…

When we’re traumatized, the panic and fear we experience remains trapped in the body until its released. — Trigger warning, child sexual abuse discussed. When we’re traumatized, the panic and fear we experience remains trapped in the body until its released. If we don’t release it in healthy ways, we may not be releasing it at all, but perpetuating a cycle of self-abuse. Over the weekend I was…

Today is Mother’s Day and I don’t have a mother and I’m not a mother but both of those statements are only kind of true. I have a mother… — Today is Mother’s Day and I don’t have a mother and I’m not a mother but both of those statements are only kind of true. …

Learning to listen to and believe your body when it’s telling you that something is wrong can feel strange and even bring on guilt. — Trigger Warning: Child sexual abuse mentioned and the “f” word dropped. If you’ve been sexually assaulted or abused, chances are you’re not able to differentiate the various stimuli your body is responding to in your surroundings. Up is down and down is up and your body is used to carrying…

Mother’s Day is fast approaching and for the poorly mothered among us, Mother’s Day notifications, ads and loving social media posts… — Mother’s Day is fast approaching and for the poorly mothered among us, Mother’s Day notifications, ads, and loving social media posts celebrating them can trigger depression, guilt, and anxiety. …