I Survived a Mother (I believe has) Munchausen Syndrome By Proxy
Trigger Warning: Child Sexual Abuse discussion ahead.
For many of us, lockdown changed our lives. It gave us, for better or worse, the chance to be alone with our thoughts. This has resulted in a massive shift in the employee/employer power paradigm as many workers refused to return to abusive bosses and inadequate pay once the lockdown ended. What’s more, any stigma that may have lingered over talk therapy has evaporated. Lockdown revealed to us that we’re not alone in our pain, what’s more, pain seems to be more the norm than the exception. And our old coping mechanisms: excessive consumption of alcohol, food, overworking, endless posting on social media and hanging out with friends, even religion, just doesn’t hold a candle to the actual work of facing the pain with a qualified professional.
After decades of struggling with triggers I could never explain to myself and all-consuming mental anguish that beleaguered my days and wrenched me from sleep each night, I found a therapist who could finally help me. Through trauma work and eye-movement desensitization and reprocessing EMDR, I am clawing my way back to balance and productivity. I always knew I came from an abusive home and that I suffered from poor parenting and sexual abuse. I didn’t, however, fully understand the scope of it, or my mother’s role in…
