Best Tweets for Trauma and PTSD Survivors is a weekly Friday feature. My selections are entirely subjective, and I know it will never be possible to include every great resource tweeted. But I can try! I’ve personally read all tweeted links, and believe them to be of great value.
Disclaimer: I am in no way responsible for content found on any other website. Stay safe, and don’t follow links if you believe you might be triggered by them. Also, I will not be re-checking links from older Best Tweets posts, and if the site’s archived URL is different from the one I’ve provided here, you may need to do a search on their site.
Please Share My Stuff! You can now “like” and “share” this post everywhere with the touch of a button or two at the end of the linked tweets! Feel free to do any or all of that! (And thanks.)
Twitter’s new ability to embed tweets so prettily inspired me to change my format here. Each week I’ll showcase one of my tweets, and several from other contributors. These include everything you need to follow or share. I’m loving Twitter even more now! Next week I will work on a format for embedded tweets with links.
I grow weary of defending against crap “science” that claims #DID is caused by therapists or clients too stupid to avoid media manipulation. — Sarah Olson (@SarahEOlson2009) February 15, 2012
Meditation practice is how we stop fighting with ourselves, how we stop struggling with circumstances, emotions, or moods.
@dylansmoosie TELL and TELL and TELL If you are being sexually abused, you need to choose an adult you trust and @JustTell. Help is here.
[SEO: An educational site for both children and adults. "JustTell was created to educate and empower children and adults around the issue of childhood sexual abuse. On the kids’ pages of the site, we encourage children who are being sexually abused to choose an adult in their life who they trust, and to tell that adult about the abuse." There is information for adults about what to do when a child tells about being abused. Don't assume that your kids, or kids entrusted to you (i.e., you're a teacher), know what to do. Tell them to tell. Be proactive.]
This is the go-to post for anyone wanting a clearer understanding of how to interact with a mentally ill person, and ancillary issues dealing with care-taking. As in the above quote, the post is sprinkled with links to other posts dealing in specifics for those issues. If you're the mentally ill person, give a copy of this, with the links, to your loved ones. It's that important!]
@SarahEOlson2009 Practicing Validation
[SEO: "Emotional validation means acknowledging and expressing acceptance of someone’s thoughts, feelings and behaviors as understandable. Sometimes understanding someone else’s thoughts and feelings requires a lot of work because the way they think makes no sense to you." If you're that person seeking validation, this post and others listed in its right sidebar can help you, and the people who care about you, to understand the importance of validation in every day life.]
@thethirdsunrise Recovering From Mental Illness is Exhausting
[SEO: Post examines the phases of mental illness, and how exhausting each one truly is. (The Diagnosis; Side Effects, Complications, From Medication; Life After Diagnosis.) But all of this, put into perspective, shows why recovery is worth the effort.]
@LillyAnn Self Kindness: Seven Habits That Will Help You Live a Happier Life
[SEO: Excellent article. Trauma survivors can benefit from these habits, perhaps even more than others. "Some people tend to focus a little too much on the outside world. They try to help the people there and be of service at the expense of their own lives and mental and physical health. Others tend to focus too much on their own thoughts and what is happening inside of their heads. And so much over-analyzing is done and beliefs that everyone cares more than they do about what you do are formed and strengthened. The solution here is to find a bit more balance."]
Best Tweets for Trauma and PTSD Survivors is a weekly Friday feature. My selections are entirely subjective, and I know it will never be possible to include every great resource tweeted. But I can try! I’ve personally read all tweeted links, and believe them to be of great value.
Disclaimer: I am in no way responsible for content found on any other website. Stay safe, and don’t follow links if you believe you might be triggered by them. Also, I will not be re-checking links from older Best Tweets posts, and if the site’s archived URL is different from the one I’ve provided here, you may need to do a search on their site.
Please Share My Stuff! You can now “like” and “share” this post everywhere with the touch of a button or two at the end of the linked tweets! Feel free to do any or all of that! (And thanks.)
@HealthyPlace “People take different roads
seeking fulfillment and happiness.
Just because they’re not on your road
doesn’t mean they’re lost.” ~ Dalai Lama
Six Standalone Tweets to Ponder
@zebraspolkadots “Awareness is the opposite of avoidance. To break behaviors that help us avoid life is to choose to live in awareness.”
@HealthyPlace “Acceptance and tolerance and forgiveness, those are life-altering lessons.” ~ Jessica Lange
@DrAthenaStaik “We cannot do everything at once, but we can do something at once.” ~ Calvin Coolidge
@PsychDigest “The bend in the road is not the end of the road unless you fail to make the turn.”
@PemaQuotes “So the challenge is how to develop compassion right along with clear seeing, how to train in lightening up and cheering up…”
@StevenHandel “We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.” ~ Kurt Vonnegut
Linked Tweets
@SarahEOlson2009 PTSD: Symptoms, Treatment and Self-Help (via helpguide.org)
[SEO: Extensive, well-organized resources for all things related to PTSD. A good place to start if you are new to the diagnosis, or to give loved ones to help them understand more about PTSD. The PTSD index is in the right column; other possibly related topics are in the left column.]
@HealthyPlace Supporting Someone with Bipolar: For Family and Friends
[SEO: This link provides a compendium of articles on Healthy Place pertaining to supporting a person with bipolar, whether by friend, spouse, or other family member. An excellent resource that anyone diagnosed with bipolar should point their loved ones to for support.]
@PsychCentral Healing Together: Why Can’t We Speak About Rape? Finding a Voice
[SEO: Although found in a blog focused on couples, this comprehensive, thoughtful look at rape and its impact is for anyone dealing with it, whether as part of a couple or not. It also can help anyone wishing to better understand rape's devastating effects upon a loved one.]
@SarahEOlson2009 Psychiatric News Alert: Antipsychotics May Cause Diabetes By Thwarting Crucial Pathway
[SEO: "Antipsychotics -- some of the most prescribed medications in the United States -- can interfere with normal metabolism by activating a protein in the transforming growth factor beta pathway.... Moreover, antipsychotics known to cause obesity and diabetes were found to activate this pathway, whereas antipsychotics that are not known to raise risk of obesity and diabetes did not."
When TV commercials rattle off potential side effects of specific drugs, pay attention to "may raise blood sugar" or "may cause weight gain". If I were not already an overweight diabetic (in which case, those drugs will never be offered to me), I'd never want to take on the risk of becoming one via these drugs. Be your own best advocate. Know what you are being prescribed, and what the risks are. Discuss it with your doctor.]
@LillyAnn The Pause Upon Which All Else Relies (via @zen_habits)
[SEO: "When we fail, it’s because we act on urges without thinking, without realizing it. ... What if instead we learned to pause after each urge? What if we stopped, looked at that urge, paid close attention to what it feels like inside our bodies, but didn’t act? The urge would no longer control us. We would be able to make conscious choices that might be healthier for us, help us be happier. If we can pause, we create space. Space to breathe, to think, to be without acting."]
@PTSDandYOU We Are Failing Our Veterans With PTSD: The Life and Death of Sonny Mazon (via @HuffingtonPost)
[SEO: "He didn't get the help that he needed to heal the pain of his memories from Afghanistan, and as he withdrew from his friends and family he descended into an abyss of sadness. His relationship with his girlfriend had always been problematic, but it became violent. He hurt her badly in a fit of rage, was arrested for domestic abuse, and chose to end his life. We shouldn't whitewash over the violence of his actions, but the context of his life story does help us to see his crime in a different light."
These issues -- increasing suicides, substance abuse, potential for domestic abuse -- are not going away any time soon. It is in everyone's best interests that the U.S. Government do far more than it currently is to provide timely effective treatment -- without the stigma attached -- to our service members.]
@kbellbarnett Gawker Confessions of a Therapist: Are psychologists allowed to publish their clients’ secrets? (via @slate)
[SEO: "Can your shrink spill your secrets? Yes, if your identity is concealed." Article discusses ethics involved and potential violations, and the difference between ethics required of a "therapist" vs. a "psychologist". Long before my personal story was published in my book, I expressly gave my therapist permission to discuss my case in whatever format he deemed appropriate. If this is an issue for you, discuss it with your clinician.]
@Mindful_Living Getting Unstuck from Automatic Negative Thinking
[SEO: "Simply the knowledge that your thoughts are more inclined toward the negative primes your mind to begin to question these thoughts as they come. For example, in a moment you find your mind swirling on negative details you may start to also have a thought arise, 'my mind has a bias toward the negative.' This thought pops you into a mindful space, a moment of clarity and choice that I call The Now Effect."
"In this space you will have the awareness to ask the question 'Is this thought true? What evidence do I have for this thought? Is there another way I can see this situation?' This opens the door to see opportunities and possibilities you never knew existed."]
@natasha_tracy Acceptance of Bipolar [or any Mental] Disorder is a Process
[SEO: (While the original post is aimed at bipolar diagnosis, its author also tweeted the post using the more generic "mental disorder" descriptor. Anyone recently diagnosed with any mental disorder can benefit from this post.) "The diagnosis of a mental illness is a loss. No, it’s not the loss of your mind, but it’s a loss. It’s a loss of your understanding of who you are. It’s a loss of how you see yourself. It’s a loss of control. It’s a loss of many things depending on the impact of your personal illness. And losses beget grief. Or losses beget grieving, and grieving is a process."]
Best Tweets for Trauma and PTSD Survivors is a weekly Friday feature. My selections are entirely subjective, and I know it will never be possible to include every great resource tweeted. But I can try! I’ve personally read all tweeted links, and believe them to be of great value.
Disclaimer: I am in no way responsible for content found on any other website. Stay safe, and don’t follow links if you believe you might be triggered by them. Also, I will not be re-checking links from older Best Tweets posts, and if the site’s archived URL is different from the one I’ve provided here, you may need to do a search on their site.
Please Share My Stuff! You can now “like” and “share” this post everywhere with the touch of a button or two at the end of the linked tweets! Feel free to do any or all of that! (And thanks.)
@Tamavista “Think you’re escaping
and run into yourself.
Longest way round is
the shortest way home.” ~ James Joyce
Six Standalone Tweets to Ponder
@StevenHandel “There are years that ask questions and years that answer.” ~ Zora Neale Hurston
@PsychDigest “The person you were always meant to become is waiting for you just on the other side of the things you fear.” ~ Tom Wright
@WisdomalaCarte “The only real person you need to know is you.” ~ Alice Cooper
@PsychCentral “Speak thy thoughts, declare the truth thou hast, that all may share; Be bold, proclaim it everywhere: They only live who dare.” ~ Voltaire
@iamwun “We cannot be present and run our story-line at the same time.” ~ Pema Chodron
@soulseedz “From the perspective of responsibility, it’s always your move.”
Linked Tweets
@VA_PTSD_Info Returning home and coping with combat stress. Learn about issues facing returning troops. Hosted by Tom Brokaw.
[SEO:"These videos aim to help promote wellness in this returning group of veterans and to prevent chronic mental health issues resulting from combat and other war-zone stress. It is available both as a video for veterans, active duty service members and their families, as well as a version with provider perspectives." At site, see link to either download the video or a transcript in .PDF format.]
@BobbiEmel Giving Up vs. Giving In: Is There A Difference? | Bounce Back: Develop Your Resiliency
[SEO: "Herein lies the common misunderstanding: letting go is not so much about giving up as it is about giving in. It’s not about just standing by, doing nothing, as your house goes into foreclosure. But it is about giving in to the reality of your current situation and letting go of judgments and expectations you might have about the outcome. ... The trick is to be able to work toward your goals or out of a difficult situation without being completely locked into just one result being acceptable."
@OneLifeTherapy If "Eternity Is Now" Then What Will You Do With It?
[SEO: "There’s a saying that you might have heard floating around a bit like that: 'Eternity is now.' If it’s true, then what will you do with this gift of now that’s somehow, miraculously, inexplicably, landed in your lap? This now. And this one." Post discusses various therapies (existential, gestalt, mindfulness) that focus on the "now", and asks what you will do with your moment of "now", right now.]
@HealthyPlace Life Before and After the Diagnosis of Mental Illness
[SEO: "The person you were before, the person you are working to become, is still the same person, but accepting that it takes work to become well, to believe that you will, allows you to both merge your past and present. To become a whole person. A person defined by both times in your life."]
@ssanquist 6 Ways to Stay Resilient in Stress (via Beyond Blue)
[SEO: "It’s an awful lot easier to stay resilient, even if you have a severe mood disorder, when you’re not encased in stress. When you have all that cortisol—the backstabber hormone—mucking around in all of your biological organs, staying sane is about as easy as getting off a chair lift for the first time, or so it feels.]
@SarahEOlson2009 Write Your Heart Out | The Gentle Self
[SEO: Post gives many reasons why writing/telling/sharing your story is valuable. This is just one of them: "Putting thoughts into words and words on paper has a meditative quality to it: Writing creates awareness of who we are and why we do certain things. It’s a way to explore and analyze the self, and we learn more about what drives us and what we want from life."]
@Kkellbarnett “They Are A Part Of Who I Am”: A Reader’s Experience with Meds
[SEO: Post describes comments made by a reader answering specific questions about the when and why of starting/finishing psychiatric meds, and how the reader felt about using them, in terms of necessity, stigma, and outcomes. The reader has a very balanced viewpoint regarding a hot topic. The title is a bit misleading in that the meds which helped her to become who "she is" are part of her past. She states that she is no longer on psychiatric meds, with her psychiatrist's blessings.]
@HealingToolKit Unbreakable Blog Helps Rape Victims Heal [through art]
[SEO: Sometimes a seemingly small idea resonates so strongly as to create a movement. "Grace Brown, a freshman photography student at New York's School of Visual Arts, started her Tumblr blog, Project Unbreakable, in October, after a friend shared a story of sex abuse. Brown came up with the idea to photograph victims holding posters with quotes from their own attacks, featuring words said to them by their attackers." Participants feel more empowered and can take back control over those words that have haunted them.]
@ssanquist Coping With A Stressful Situation: Manage Your Emotions
[SEO: "Whether you’re dealing with an emotional bully (see previous post about adult bullies) or other difficult situation, one of the first steps is to comfort yourself and manage your emotions. The part of the brain that is responsible for decision-making and planning cannot function as well when you are filled with emotion. Acting on emotions without the thoughtfulness of the logical part of the brain usually means trouble." Post describes the "What Skills" and "How Skills" of mindfulness practice.]
Best Tweets for Trauma and PTSD Survivors is a weekly Friday feature. My selections are entirely subjective, and I know it will never be possible to include every great resource tweeted. But I can try! I’ve personally read all tweeted links, and believe them to be of great value.
Disclaimer: I am in no way responsible for content found on any other website. Stay safe, and don’t follow links if you believe you might be triggered by them. Also, I will not be re-checking links from older Best Tweets posts, and if the site’s archived URL is different from the one I’ve provided here, you may need to do a search on their site.
Please Share My Stuff! You can now “like” and “share” this post everywhere with the touch of a button or two at the end of the linked tweets! Feel free to do any or all of that! (And thanks.)
@WisdomalaCarte “Your current safe boundaries
were once unknown frontiers.” ~ Anonymous
Six Standalone Tweets to Ponder
@LillyAnn “You cannot save people. You can only love them.” ~ Anaïs Nin
@Tamavista “It is in retrospect that we realize the brevity of life. Knowing this, take a moment each day to live in the present.” ~ Kitamori
@Carlolight “The way you look at things is the most powerful force in shaping your life. In a vital sense, perception is reality.” ~ John O’Donohue
@WisdomalaCarte “Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.” ~ A Course in Miracles
@HealthyPlace “To free us from the expectations of others, to give us back to ourselves — there lies the great, singular power of self-respect.”
@800273TALK “Don’t let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.” ~ John Wooden
Linked Tweets
@SafetyStar What’s Your Excuse [to not discuss child sexual abuse with your children]? “My Body Belongs to Me” (video about the book)
[SEO: This short but essential book provides a bridge by which parents can talk with their young children about a subject most parents would prefer having a root canal instead. If your children don't clearly understand about good touch/bad touch, they are vulnerable.]
@drludygreen Stunning article by actor Patrick Stewart on domestic violence.
[SEO: "As a child I witnessed [my father's] repeated violence against my mother, and the terror and misery he caused was such that, if I felt I could have succeeded, I would have killed him. If my mother had attempted it, I would have held him down. For those who struggle to comprehend these feelings in a child, imagine living in an environment of emotional unpredictability, danger and humiliation week after week, year after year, from the age of seven. My childish instinct was to protect my mother, but the man hurting her was my father, whom I respected, admired and feared.”]
@ssanquist Dr. Deb: January is Stalking Awareness Month (via @Deborahserani)
[SEO: Information regarding research, statistics, and what to do if you are being stalked. Protect yourself, and be your own best advocate.]
@goodthingz 10 Life-Changing Facts About Anger (via @aflourishinglif)
[SEO: Good, useful considerations and strategies for looking at anger and its role in your life differently. Constructively. Perhaps even beneficially. Lots to think on if anger is an issue for you.]
@HealthyPlace In Recovering From Mental Illness, Patience is a Virtue
[SEO: It took 38+ years for me to fully understand the role of mental illness in my life, and then I wanted it done and over with yesterday. (Actually, I still do.) This post discusses why patience must be a factor in your mental wellness plan. "Work to understand that being patient, learning how to be patient, aids in your recovery."]
Best Tweets for Trauma and PTSD Survivors is a weekly Friday feature. My selections are entirely subjective, and I know it will never be possible to include every great resource tweeted. But I can try! I’ve personally read all tweeted links, and believe them to be of great value.
Disclaimer: I am in no way responsible for content found on any other website. Stay safe, and don’t follow links if you believe you might be triggered by them. Also, I will not be re-checking links from older Best Tweets posts, and if the site’s archived URL is different from the one I’ve provided here, you may need to do a search on their site.
Please Share My Stuff! You can now “like” and “share” this post everywhere with the touch of a button or two at the end of the linked tweets! Feel free to do any or all of that! (And thanks.)
@healingtrauma “Rowing harder
doesn’t help if the boat is headed
in the wrong direction.” ~ Kenichi Ohmae
Six Standalone Tweets to Ponder
@WisdomalaCarte “An intention is a quality of consciousness that you bring to an action.” ~ Gary Zukav
@ArrInspirations “The only way to change the future is by inhabiting the present moment.” ~ Jon Kabat Zinn
@soulseedz “One of the reasons we struggle with endings is because we engage in mortal combat with time.”
@GabeBerman “Spirituality, then, is nothing more than giving up your resistance to what is.” ~ Annemarie Postma
@back2incomplete “When you deal with people, always consider whether you are spreading light and love, or whether you are limiting it.”
@DrAthenaStaik “Your presence in heart and mind is one of the most precious gifts of love you can give.”
Linked Tweets
Depression in the News
@SarahEOlson2009 [Low] Vitamin D Levels Linked to Depression Risk
[SEO: If you don't get out into the sun much, or drink milk, vitamin D supplements are not expensive. Doctors seldom test for vitamin D levels; ask your doctor to include that test in the next batch of basic blood tests you're given. And always ask your doctor before starting any kind of supplement. There may be contraindications from prescription meds you take.]
@SarahEOlson2009 Treatment Integration for Depression, Diabetes Increases Success for Both
[SEO: People with diabetes are at higher risk of becoming depressed, and people who are depressed have a higher risk of becoming diabetic. "In the end, 60.9 percent of subjects who received the integrated approach [of treating diabetes and depression as correlated, with a special program aimed at education and compliance] had improved blood sugar levels, compared to only 35.7 percent of patients who received only the usual primary care. Also, patients in the integrated care group were more likely to show fewer depression symptoms in comparison with patients in the usual care group (58.7 percent vs. 30.7 percent, respectively).”]
The Rest of the Best
@AshleyJudd More on why we must prevent child abuse: “You can modify behavior, but you can’t rewire disrupted brain circuits.”
[SEO: "'Toxic stress', or adversity, in early childhood can lead to a lifetime of mental and physical problems -- including disruption of the body’s metabolism or brain development -- and pediatricians should take a leading role in providing care that addresses the problem...." Includes several links to articles which discuss the research behind this conclusion.]
@NAMIMass Do you know the signs that you or someone you know are in an abusive relationship?
[SEO: "Noticing and acknowledging the warning signs and symptoms of domestic violence and abuse is the first step to ending it. No one should live in fear of the person they love." A comprehensive resource, this post includes signs of being in an abusive relationship; the relationship of financial or economic abuse to emotional abuse; tactics used by abusers; the cycle of violence in domestic abuse; and what to do if you or someone you know is caught in this situation.]
@MentalHealthV Picking a therapist
[SEO: If you are looking for a therapist, it's not as easy as picking a name out of the phone book. Be your own best advocate. It's in your interests to make an informed choice. This article provides an excellent primer in how to ensure that you find the right therapist for you.]
@DCoEPage Yoga: an alternative therapy for wounded warriors with PTSD (via @WarriorCare)
[SEO: Yoga: also not just for veterans. Yoga has been used for years in trauma care, regardless of what caused it. "Bessel A. van der Kolk, M.D., a PTSD author, clinician, researcher and teacher since the 1970s, asserts that therapists treating psychological trauma need to work with the body as well as the mind. He states that yoga may provide a safe and gentle means of becoming reacquainted with the body and allowing people to confront their internal sensations."]
@Mindful_Living Mindfulness Over Mood: The Now Effect and Your Mental Health
[SEO: "Every moment of our lives our brains are rapidly taking in information and making snap judgments, interpretations and decisions based on what we see, hear, smell, touch, and taste. Depending on how we’re feeling we’ll interpret it differently."
"Even though we believe our thoughts represent reality, the truth is, our thoughts are not facts. A lot of us live without an awareness of this, operating mostly from a state of auto-pilot, sleepwalking through life. The good news is we can train our minds to become more aware of this automaticity, get perspective and tune into what really matters."]
@Vdkeck Mental Illness as a Disability (via @Natasha_tracy)
[SEO: A thoughtful analysis of why mental illness can be considered a disability, and why resistance to the label may be misplaced. "I don’t have anything against people with a disability. Why would I? Being disabled means nothing about the individual, it simply indicates their situation. It would be like being against people with siblings. It would just be silly."
"Nevertheless, when considering my own bipolar disorder, I bristled against the word 'disability.' I know; this is hypocritical of me and a double standard. It’s OK for someone else to be disabled but not me? I’m embarrassed to even think it."]
Best Tweets for Trauma and PTSD Survivors is a weekly Friday feature. My selections are entirely subjective, and I know it will never be possible to include every great resource tweeted. But I can try! I’ve personally read all tweeted links, and believe them to be of great value.
Disclaimer: I am in no way responsible for content found on any other website. Stay safe, and don’t follow links if you believe you might be triggered by them. Also, I will not be re-checking links from older Best Tweets posts, and if the site’s archived URL is different from the one I’ve provided here, you may need to do a search on their site.
Please Share My Stuff! You can now “like” and “share” this post everywhere with the touch of a button or two at the end of the linked tweets! Feel free to do any or all of that! (And thanks.)
@Carlolight “Above all else
I want to see things differently.”
~ A Course in Miracles
Six Standalone Tweets to Ponder
@WisdomalaCarte “Your standard of living somehow got stuck on survive.” ~ Jewel
@PsychDigest “Your core values should be the blueprint for everything else in your life. Recognize what your values are.”
@SarahEOlson2009 “It’s funny how we feel so much but cannot say a word. We are screaming inside, but can’t be heard.” ~ Sarah McLachlan #FavoriteLyricOfAllTime
@EFTdoc “Any change, even a change for the better, is always accompanied by drawbacks and discomforts.” ~ Arnold Bennett
@CarePathways “That’s right. You have a part of you that has never been wounded.”
@Mindful_Living “Be passionate about what you do, treat others with compassion, and take actions to make the world a better place.” ~ The late Shirley Levine
Linked Tweets
@pourmecoffee This Denver Post photo essay of Scott Ostrom’s battle with PTSD is fantastic, and brutal to read.
[SEO: For veterans, and for anyone struggling to understand how PTSD manifests in daily life. This is a series of 49 photos, each with a paragraph caption, of former Marine Brian Scott Ostrom, who's been dealing with the aftermath of his service in Iraq for the last six years. Note: The symptoms he describes are not unique to war veterans. They are unique to anyone dealing with PTSD from whatever cause.]
@Dr_StevenG Preserving Mental Health During Unemployment (via @drmelanieg)
[SEO: "Many psychological variables are adversely affected by unemployment, including perceived control, belief in one's own competence or self-efficacy, self-esteem, identity, life satisfaction, and sense of meaning and purpose in life." All of this is made even more difficult if you are also dealing with PTSD. Having a support structure in place if you are unemployed -- or fear your job might vanish -- is priceless. Seek help before you think you need it.]
@Mindful_Living Whether you’ve done this before or not, take a minute to become present
[SEO: A guided exercise in mindfulness by Dr. Elisha Goldstein. "This short mindfulness practice is meant to be sprinkled throughout the day to support you in becoming more present, reducing stress, and being more effective in every day life."]
@DrAthenaStaik A Key Aspect of Being Authentically You — Identifying Your Triggers
[SEO: "Awareness is key when it comes to living -- and loving -- authentically. A key aspect of awareness is getting to know, and understand your self and life around you, and one thing that involves is being aware of what triggers you." Includes a writing exercise to help identify triggers. If you are in therapy or feeling especially vulnerable, don't do this without some support lined up.]
@SarahEOlson2009 How to Train Your Brain to Alleviate Anxiety
[SEO: Read the entire article; it's both fascinating and important. What you think and focus on physically alters your brain. Includes three anxiety-alleviating practices to try. Here are just a few snips from the post. "...Individuals who are constantly stressed (such as acute or traumatic stress) release cortisol, which in another article Hanson says eats away at the memory-focused hippocampus. People with a history of stress have lost up to 25 percent of the volume of their hippocampus and have more difficulty forming new memories.
"The opposite also is true. Engaging in relaxing activities regularly can wire your brain for calm. Research has shown that people who routinely relax have 'improved expression of genes that calm down stress reactions, making them more resilient,' Hanson writes. ... Also, over time, people who engage in mindfulness meditation develop thicker layers of neurons in the attention-focused parts of the prefrontal cortex and in the insula, an area that’s triggered when we tune into our feelings and bodies."
"Other research has shown that being mindful boosts activation of the left prefrontal cortex, which suppresses negative emotions, and minimizes the activation of the amygdala, which Hanson refers to as the 'alarm bell of the brain.'"]
@psychcentral Introducing a new blog: “Bounce Back: Develop Your Resiliency”
[SEO: “Resiliency is a key psychological trait that differentiates people who can overcome adversity with only a dip, and those where adversity throws them into a state of stress, feeling overwhelmed, or even depression. That’s why it’s a key trait to learn more about and cultivate in your own life.”
Here’s the direct link to “Bounce Back: Develop Your Resiliency. It “will cover key concepts such as: learning how to gain perspective and ultimately acceptance over events and things that happen in life; looking for the hidden gifts in seeming adversity; learning not to resist; and becoming comfortable with failure including seeing the lessons it provides.”
Best Tweets for Trauma and PTSD Survivors is a weekly Friday feature. My selections are entirely subjective, and I know it will never be possible to include every great resource tweeted. But I can try! I’ve personally read all tweeted links, and believe them to be of great value.
Disclaimer: I am in no way responsible for content found on any other website. Stay safe, and don’t follow links if you believe you might be triggered by them. Also, I will not be re-checking links from older Best Tweets posts, and if the site’s archived URL is different from the one I’ve provided here, you may need to do a search on their site.
Please Share My Stuff! You can now “like” and “share” this post everywhere with the touch of a button or two at the end of the linked tweets! Feel free to do any or all of that! (And thanks.)
Special Notice: Best Tweets for Trauma and PTSD Survivors will be on hiatus throughout the month of December. I’ll be taking the time to rest and recharge, and hopefully complete some lingering projects. I’ll still be available by email or on Twitter. Thanks so much for your support year-round!
@Mindful_Living “As we learn to drop down
from the busyness in our minds and into the now,
we can cultivate self-trust and self-reliance.”
~ The Now Effect
Six Standalone Tweets to Ponder
@WisdomalaCarte “I sabotage myself for fear of what my bigness could do.” ~ Alanis Morissette
@DrAthenaStaik “To attain knowledge, add things everyday. To attain wisdom, remove things every day.” ~ Lao Tzu
@Tamavista “Gratitude is the completion of thankfulness. Thankfulness may consist only of words. Gratitude is shown in acts.” ~ Amiel
@PsychDigest “Grateful people experience less envy, anger, resentment, regret, and other stress-related feelings. Today, be more grateful.”
@Mindful_Living “When you think about it, there is no other time than now.” ~ The Now Effect
@LillyAnn “Don’t postpone joy until you have learned all of your lessons. Joy is your lesson.” ~ Alan Cohen
@thethirdsunrise Depression is Terrifying
[SEO: Written completely in a "you are there" voice, this post chronicles what the day to day experience of depression feels like, and how it alters perspective and perception. After being prescribed a new antidepressant, the description of coming out of depression over a number of weeks rings true. In fact, all of it rings true, and achingly honest. This would be a good post to give to a friend or family member who doesn't get why you can't just snap out of it.]
@LisaKiftTherapy 4 Ways to Build Emotional Resilience
[SEO: "If you don’t feel particularly resilient, know that you can deepen your sense of well-being and begin to build your own emotional resilience toolbox. The more you practice, the more you can literally change the way your brain is wired to facilitate a happier and more peaceful life. It can be developed in anyone."]
@psychcentral 9 Ways to Have a Simpler but More Satisfying Holiday
[SEO: "Keeping things simple this holiday season can help you stave off stress and focus on what counts. Each person may have a different idea of what a simple holiday looks like, depending on your traditions, family life and financial situation. But we can probably all agree that a simple holiday is one with fewer obligations and headaches and more relaxation and joy."]
@SarahEOlson2009 It’s Not the Most Wonderful Time of the Year…
[SEO: "It's [perhaps] not the most wonderful time of the year if your partner has a mental illness. … While it can be challenging, and may mean making sacrifices and disappointing people, being deliberate about how you and your partner with mental illness approach the upcoming holiday season can make the difference between your partner staying stable versus needing serious interventions come January (if not right in the middle of the festivities–no one wants to be in the ER on Christmas, trust me!).”]
@zebraspolkadots When holidays aren’t happy for us…
[SEO: To a lot of people with mental illness, the holidays are more than just extra stressful. They can kick in painful memories, cause one to regress to about age five, and be left with the same empty holes long afterward. This post discusses the reasons why and how of not putting yourself in that position again. You can decide to not go. You can choose to not become enmeshed in old family dysfunction again. It's very empowering once you conquer your fears about not going. From my own experience, it was also quite liberating, even though it meant I chose to be alone.
"I didn't explain myself to them because that gave them power to again question my decisions and tell me something was wrong with me for not wanting to spend the holidays with them. And in the end they did that anyway - but I no longer felt the obligation to apologize and try to fix it."]
"How would it be to consult your inner hat-rack like this? To allow for a full exploration of one aspect of something at a time, and to really hear yourself out before the argumentation kicks-in to silence a thought mid-way? And then to explore another aspect. And another."]
Best Tweets for Trauma and PTSD Survivors is a weekly Friday feature. My selections are entirely subjective, and I know it will never be possible to include every great resource tweeted. But I can try! I’ve personally read all tweeted links, and believe them to be of great value.
Disclaimer: I am in no way responsible for content found on any other website. Stay safe, and don’t follow links if you believe you might be triggered by them. Also, I will not be re-checking links from older Best Tweets posts, and if the site’s archived URL is different from the one I’ve provided here, you may need to do a search on their site.
Please Share My Stuff! You can now “like” and “share” this post everywhere with the touch of a button or two at the end of the linked tweets! Feel free to do any or all of that! (And thanks.)
Special Notice: Best Tweets for Trauma and PTSD Survivors will be on hiatus throughout the month of December. I’ll be taking the time to regroup and recharge, and hopefully complete some projects that have been whispering in my ear for awhile. I’ll still be around, available by email or on Twitter. Thanks so much for your support year-round!
@soulseedz Nerves and butterflies are fine –
they show you’re ready.
You just have to get the butterflies
to fly in formation. ~ S. Bull
Six Standalone Tweets to Ponder
@JoySoldiers “I’m afraid sometimes you’ll play lonely games too, games you can’t win because you’ll play against you.” ~ Dr Seuss
@visityourself “Unpleasant feelings are not the problem. The problem is the belief that having such feelings is not okay.”
@WisdomalaCarte “It’s an inside job to learn about forgiving, it’s an inside job to hang on to the joy of living.” ~ Don Henley
@Crenelation “A life lived by choice is a life of conscious action. A life lived by chance is a life of unconscious reaction.” ~ Neale D Walsch
@Carlolight “Presence — a state of clarity, simplicity of pure beingness — a very deep allowing of this moment to be as it is.” ~ Eckhart Tolle
@Tamavista “Your conscience is your compass; your reason is your map.” ~ Kitamori
Linked Tweets
International Survivors of Suicide Day, November 19, 2011
@NAMIMass 11/19 Sat. ~ 13th Annual Internat’l Survivors of Suicide Day. A Day Healing for Bereavement After Suicide
[SEO: "Survivors of suicide loss gather at hundreds of simultaneous healing conferences around the world every year on International Survivors of Suicide Day to connect with others who have survived the tragedy of suicide loss, and express and understand the powerful emotions they experience. If you don't live near a participating city, or you find it difficult to attend in person, you can watch online and join in a live chat immediately following the program."]
@pourmecoffee While everyone blah-blah-blahs for a while, child abuse enablers just keep getting away with it.
[SEO: This was a big deal when first announced: "Bishop Robert Finn, the leader of the 134,000-member [Kansas City] diocese, is the highest-ranking Catholic official ever to face U.S. criminal charges in a child sexual abuse case.” The charges stem from his not reporting a priest when he had evidence of abuse. Now he’s essentially made a plea deal for “supervision”.]
@psychcentral Healing Together: The Penn State Scandal: The Complicated Impact on Victims of Child Sexual Abuse
[SEO: "For many [adult survivors of child sexual abuse] the Penn State Scandal is emotionally complicated. Whether they have identified and come forth as victims, embraced the power of healing or live with the memory of abuse on the edges of awareness, they are watching a nation grapple with an unthinkable crime — child sexual abuse, a crime of betrayal and the destruction of innocence — ‘soul murder.’ For them the response to this scandal carries with it the possibility of both positive and negative impact.”
If you’re a survivor of child sexual abuse, this is an excellent article outlining the issues for survivors: bearing witness; cynicism and doubt; retraumatizing vs revisiting; stigmatized vs supported; and the meaning of healing.
There are so many issues about Penn State that could send a survivor into depression, rage, or anxiety. The one that stands out starkly for me is that the grad student who reported the rape to Paterno indicated that the child (and Sandusky) saw him. Then the child (and Sandusky!) saw him walk away and do nothing. (Telling Paterno was equivalent to doing nothing.) Sandusky learned he had nothing to fear by doing this in a very public place. But the level of betrayal and mistrust of adults ratcheted up exponentially for that child in that moment. Don’t be that person.
@DrCarlHindy Child Abuse: Why People So Often Look the Other Way
[SEO: "'Despite stereotypes of creepy-looking men in white vans, child abusers are actually usually the most likeable, gregarious people around,' Issa said. 'They get close to kids not only by charming them, but by charming the people protecting them.'"
It's no doubt true about charming those who are supposed to do the protecting, but I'm beyond fed up with rationalizations that provide cover for people who fail to do the right thing. See the next post about that, in plain language nobody can weasel out of.]
@SarahEOlson2009 Simple Wisdom from Penn State: If You See Child Abuse, Stop It! (by @DocJohnG, owner of @psychcentral)
[SEO: "If you see child sex abuse occurring — PUT AN END TO IT IMMEDIATELY. Don’t freakin’ pass it up the chain of command so that a half dozen aging white men can decide whether to do the right thing or not and report it, or do the wrong thing and temporarily extend their careers and livelihood." ...
"You don’t need to convene a grand jury to stop child sex abuse. You don’t need to have a meeting of the board of directors. You simply need to do the right thing, grow a backbone, step up, and stop the abuse." (All bold in original.)
If you cannot do anything more (like directly intervene) in the moment of discovery, at the very least call the police immediately. If you still need some sort of litmus test to make that decision, the easiest one is: Would you do this for your own child?]
The Rest of the Best
@psychcentral The Empty Chair at the Holiday Table
[SEO: Discusses, poignantly, the first year after the loss of a loved one; how the loss impacts every tradition in which the departed participated; and how with time, the loss softens but is never forgotten. The post provides pointers for the grieving person, and for those who are a family member or friend of that grieving person.]
@natasha_tracy You Don’t Have to Live With Side Effects but You Might Choose to
[SEO: "Today I still suffer with a range of side effects. Nothing quite so debilitating as not being able to wake up, but other things like headaches, cramps, fogginess, fatigue and body temperature dysregulation. But I have chosen these side effects. Which is to say that I prefer the side effects to not being on the medication. But that’s me. ... So yes, meds are a bitch. But bipolar is infinitely worse. I have chosen these side effects on purpose. I have chosen them because they are the best of all bad worlds."]
@OneLifeTherapy Perfectionism, Procrastination, And Preparing A Plan For Your Life
[SEO: "How will you know that you’re ready to start? Once you’ve planned and perfected and plotted all your goals on a graph, like we’re so often encouraged to do. How will you know you’re ready? ... Maybe you can plan to take the perfect step all you like. But the planning isn’t the stepping."]
Best Tweets for Trauma and PTSD Survivors is a weekly Friday feature. My selections are entirely subjective, and I know it will never be possible to include every great resource tweeted. But I can try! I’ve personally read all tweeted links, and believe them to be of great value.
Disclaimer: I am in no way responsible for content found on any other website. Stay safe, and don’t follow links if you believe you might be triggered by them. Also, I will not be re-checking links from older Best Tweets posts, and if the site’s archived URL is different from the one I’ve provided here, you may need to do a search on their site.
Please Share My Stuff! You can now “like” and “share” this post everywhere with the touch of a button or two at the end of the linked tweets! Feel free to do any or all of that! (And thanks.)
@DrJennifer “It helps all of us
when we give ourselves permission.
It’s so good to be real…”
Six Standalone Tweets to Ponder
@ariannahuff “Fearlessness is like a muscle. I know from my own life that the more I exercise it the more natural it becomes to not let my fears run me.”
@PsychDigest “While the old saying is, ‘What we resist, persists,’ in mindfulness it is, ‘What you accept, transforms.’”
@WisdomalaCarte “When one is out of touch with oneself, one cannot touch others.” ~ Anne Morrow Lindbergh
@Tamavista “Integrity is telling myself the truth. And honesty is telling the truth to other people.” ~ Spencer Johnson
@karenkmmonroy “What holds you to the past? You keep thinking/talking about it. So you keep re-creating it — so you keep talking/thinking ’bout it.”
@DrAthenaStaik “You cannot find peace by avoiding life.” ~ Virginia Woolf
Linked Tweets
@HuffingtonPost Staggering numbers: A veteran dies by suicide every 80 minutes, new study says.
[SEO: "Faced with the stigma of post-traumatic stress disorder, unemployment rates tipping 12 percent and a loss of the military camaraderie, many veterans report feeling purposeless upon returning home. ... The epidemic is raging among those who are currently serving too. From 2005 to 2010, approximately one service member committed suicide every 36 hours, the CNAS study revealed." Every 36 hours! The study makes 'big picture' recommendations which are years overdue.
Meanwhile, as we near Veterans Day (in the U.S. November 11th), think of ways you can support the veterans in your life throughout the year. PTSD doesn't take a holiday.]
@HealthyPlace Accepting Diagnosis of Mental Illness
[SEO: "At some point in our journey to wellness, most of us hear similar words—We Have a Mental Illness. The first reaction might be one of denial and then relief. Nobody wants to have a mental illness that is stigmatized and requires medication and consistent self-care, but if you have been struggling with the pain of untreated mental illness, having a reason for this is a relief. Knowing that treatment is available is scary but opens doors: life can be stable and productive. But it isn’t easy to accept, not yet. The diagnosis is just the first step many of us take in order to find recovery."]
@DorleeM 13 Surprising Ways To Fight Headache Pain
[SEO: Discusses alternative therapies including: biofeedback, accupuncture, massage, stretching, aerobics, meditation, yoga, relaxation exercises, heat and cold, avoiding nitrates and nitrites, botox injections (surprised me, too!), transcranial magnetic stimulation, and electrode implants. You never know what might offer some relief.]
@Mindful_Living If you have 10-Minutes somewhere today, go ahead, give yourself a gift and practice this right now. (YouTube)
[SEO: "This is a 10 minute practice to bring with you anywhere and anytime to begin training your mind to be more present to your life and recognize more clarity, opportunity, possibility and choice." Video by Dr. Elisha Goldstein (@Mindful_Living). I found it very relaxing, and I'm a hard case in that area.]
@HealthyPlace When to Disclose an Anxiety Disorder
[SEO: "Following on from last week’s article on why to disclose an anxiety disorder, I thought I’d say a little about when to disclose an anxiety because it is, perhaps, as important as why." Two excellent posts that provide criteria for the when and why of disclosing any mental health condition.]
@ssanquist 10 Steps to Starting Your Self-Esteem File
[SEO: "Five years ago I walked into my therapist’s office feeling like a Krispy-Kreme doughnut: I had no center. Everything I attempted both professionally and personally flopped. I had no sense of self, no confidence, and no faith in myself. I found nothing of value in my DNA. So she assigned me a project that I have since called “The Self-Esteem File.” Here are 10 steps for starting your own."
Each detailed step provided is a long term project, and can seem overwhelming to someone who needs help with self-esteem. But that's kind of the point. It takes a lot of time and practice of healthy thinking and actions to grow self-esteem. There is no overnight fix. This post provides a very useful road map in getting there.]
@DailyTamara Separating Life Stress from Mental Health Relapse
[SEO: "Part of mental health self-care involves identifying potential triggers and avoiding them or, at the very least, preparing for the impact they may have on your life. Those of us who have a mental illness have a harder time adjusting to life changes: relationships, starting a new job or losing an existing one, changing locations, the loss of a loved one. It is ironic, but positive life changes can also have an adverse influence on mood. It’s hard to find balance among all of the different cards that life deals us, but it’s crucial to be able to distinguish circumstantial stress from signs and symptoms of relapse."]
Best Tweets for Trauma and PTSD Survivors is a weekly Friday feature. My selections are entirely subjective, and I know it will never be possible to include every great resource tweeted. But I can try! I’ve personally read all tweeted links, and believe them to be of great value.
Disclaimer: I am in no way responsible for content found on any other website. Stay safe, and don’t follow links if you believe you might be triggered by them. Also, I will not be re-checking links from older Best Tweets posts, and if the site’s archived URL is different from the one I’ve provided here, you may need to do a search on their site.
Please Share My Stuff! You can now “like” and “share” this post everywhere with the touch of a button or two at the end of the linked tweets! Feel free to do any or all of that! (And thanks.)
@Tamavista “You can’t wake a person
who is pretending to be asleep.” ~ Navajo
Six Standalone Tweets to Ponder
@Pandys “In order to heal my wounds, I must have the courage to face them.” ~ Paulo Coelho
@Tao23 “No amount of devotion will make the untrue true. Always question, always investigate, never have all the answers.”
@DrAthenaStaik “Your emotions say about where you are in relation to where you want to be. Are you listening to understand?”
@karenkmmonroy “There is cold silence and peaceful silence … mistaking one for the other triggers loud.”
@Tamavista “Stress is who you think you should be. Relaxation is who you are.” ~ Tao
@DrJeffHowlin “It is not I who create myself, rather I happen to myself.”
Linked Tweets
@ssanquist How to Find a Therapist that is the ‘Right Fit’ for You
[SEO: "Even though evidence has shown that therapy can dramatically improve symptoms of anxiety, depression, and other emotional problems, clients need to find a therapist that is not only qualified, but a good fit." Good basic info here to help you find that person.]
@HealthyPlace Stop Minimizing Mental Illness: Worst Things to Say.
[SEO: There've been several articles of this nature lately, perhaps because so many otherwise intelligent people still don't get it. This post covers all the bases, and then some. Give it to anyone in your life who needs a nudge (or a push) toward thinking about their personal biases regarding mental illness. Or maybe ... that person is you?]
@Mindful_Living A Brief Insight into Everything
[SEO: Includes a 5 step mindfulness process to "then practice to get a front row seat into how your mind works."
"How does this give us a brief insight into everything? When you come to think of it the mind reacts in the same way to everything. There’s always a stimulus, whether it’s a new project at work, a fight with your friend, or the feeling of the sunshine splashing on your face on a cool fall day. The mind then reacts with a story about that stimulus that then leads to new feeling states. If you know this, it can help pop you out of the auto-pilot reaction and not take your reactions too seriously."]
@HealthyPlace I Choose Anger Instead of Depression
[SEO: I can admit this makes me a bit queasy, which is a reason I needed to include it here, because I think other people have the same struggles. I grew up with anger issues (mine and my abusers'), and got into trouble for it. Because I didn't understand my childhood context, anger was scary and punishing. Depression, still, seems so much safer. This post makes a case, with an important caveat, for using the energy and heat of anger to do constructive things, like writing, chores, and errands.
The caveat: "Now don’t get me wrong, I can’t actually get mad at anyone or anything because that would be unfair, and dare I say, crazy, but I can use that heat to move a little from the couch." Well, that's been a problem for me with anger. The reaction in the comments is mixed and interesting.]
@SarahEOlson2009 Was Sybil Faking Multiple Personalities?
[SEO: Ohhhh, where to start? This post by Dr. John Grohol covers very well what was already known about controversy over Sybil. (Meaning, much of this is old news.) I have a few personal observations.
In the last 20 years, I've met (online and in person) about 300 diagnosed multiples. I've yet to meet one who didn't outright wonder if they were making it all up, myself included. It would be so much easier, so much less painful, so much a relief to NOT be dealing with this chaos and anguish. Wondering -- or even wishing it -- doesn't make it so.
My therapist once said to me, "People who are diagnosed with DID [dissociative identity disorder] spend a lot of time trying to convince me they are ‘truly crazy’, as opposed to being multiple. People who are really crazy just don’t care.”
As noted in the convo on Twitter about this, Sybil’s story says much more about boundary violations, than about the validity of the diagnosis. MPD/DID was known many years before Sybil was born. Whatever Sybil did, or her therapist did, does not in any way challenge the validity of my diagnosis, or anyone else’s.
This seems to only happen in mental health. So substitute the word “cancer”. Does the person who rips everyone off by lying about their cancer to falsely obtain donations suddenly make everyone else’s cancer diagnosis suspect? Have all those other cancer patients been duped by their doctors, too? Think, people.]
@OneLifeTherapy Can Diet Diminish Depression? Helping Your Body Help Your Mind
[SEO: "So what kind of building blocks have you been giving [your body] lately? Some mental health researchers think all of this matters – a lot. Some feel that the quality of food you eat could be linked to the mental health problems you might face in the years ahead. Others point to common deficiencies in our current western diet, like Omega-3s (which are “related to a number of biological processes that have been found to be associated with depression“). And some highlight the dietary substances you can avoid to potentially ease depression and/or its symptoms ….”]
Congrats! MT @Mindful_Living Just walked into Barnes & Noble Santa Monica, The Now Effect was up front. Signed all the copies. Proud papa. ~ 21 hours ago
Next week I will work on a format for embedded tweets with links.
