Category: Personal
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PTSD: Dissociation & Derealization
In the wake of trauma, many people develop PTSD, or in the case of sustained or repeated trauma, it could become Complex PTSD. Those around us (who we need more than ever) will often distance themselves, mostly because they don’t know what to do. People are terrified to step into another’s hell, even for a…
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This is My Reality Now
CW: mentions of domestic and sexual violence It was 2010. My best friend had just assaulted me. I didn’t understand what had happened and why he wouldn’t stop no matter how many times I had said no and pushed him away. It was a deep betrayal and a traumatic event that affected me deeply. Overcoming…
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Pet Sitting with TrustedHousesitters: Everything You Need to Know
In 2015, I moved all of my worldly possessions into storage and took off for London to begin my journey as an international pet sitter. Over the next 18 months, I worked remotely while living in 7 different countries and experiencing life like never before. From snowshoeing in the Austrian Alps to strolling through the…
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Psychiatric Injury vs. Mental Illness
Over the past decade, I’ve been amazed at how the conversation around mental health has evolved. I remember back in 2011 after a colleague assaulted me, another colleague-turned-friend called Jaymee was very supportive. Through conversations with her, I was able to call the encounter what it was: sexual assault. Jaymee also openly talked about her…
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The Trauma Bond
In May 2011, I published a post about the “Betrayal Bond,” also know as the “Trauma Bond.” It’s also known as Stockholm Syndrome, but unlike that suggests, it’s not people bonding with their kidnappers. It’s an incredibly strong bond with one’s abusers. The Trauma Bond is often the reason women can’t leave a relationship rife…
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Textbook Abuse
The trial between Amber Heard and Johnny Depp has been difficult to watch, as I suspect it has been for all survivors of male violence. In fact, some male friends that are survivors of domestic violence with women perpetrators are finding it difficult to watch, too. They see their abuser in Amber and women see…
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The #MeToo Memoirs
When I was in the early days of recovery from sexual violence, I read all day, every day. I read and read and read and read everything I could about Rape Trauma Syndrome (RTS), rape culture, consent culture, predators, sociopaths, and especially survivor stories. I devoured the content on the Yes Means Yes blog. This…
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Gaslighting
The ongoing saga between Amber Heard and Johnny Depp has filled the news over the past few weeks. Whoever’s side you believe, I think it’s undeniable theirs was an abusive, toxic relationship. With descriptions of physical violence, verbal and emotional abuse, and defecating in their shared bed, it sounds like a nightmare. Regardless of who…
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C-PTSD From Emotional Abuse
Ten years ago I wrote a post called “PTSD from Emotional Abuse” on O. M. Grey’s blog, a name under which I published Steampunk romance. At that time, I was writing prolifically about matters of mental health, psychiatric injury, and the effects of trauma, mostly to process and understand my own experience. I wrote this…
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See Animals by the Sea
Today I wrote a homonym poem. 🙂 Oh how I would like to seeSome animals by the sea!I could ride a burro across the landAnd watch a crab burrow in the sand. I would pause to watch some dogsAnd wipe off their sandy paws!I’d boop their nose,‘cause everyone knowsA dog has a boopable nose!There are…
Christine Rose 