Survival Memoir Release!

This is it folks. The first book I’ve published in nearly a decade. It was a very difficult decade, thus the pause. Throughout the past ten years, I’ve survived assault, loss, and divorce…and rebuilt my life from a very dark place. During that time, reading other survivors’ stories kept me going. They helped me realize…

Love Bombing & Oxytocin Addiction

Love bombing is a term widely used within the context of a romantic relationship. It’s essentially a form of manipulation that attempts to artificially create intimacy. When someone love bombs you, it means they lavish you with intense affection, attention, and praise in an attempt to win your trust and affection early in the relationship….

Manage Your Emotions With This Simple Tool

Last week I published a post called “3 Tips to Help You Cope With PTSD” in which I listed three distress tolerance tools: Wise Mind, Name Your Emotions, and Radical Acceptance. Today I’d like to focus a little more on Name Your Emotions. Naming emotions is a very useful and helpful exercise. It allows you…

Misogyny Defined

Nearly 10 years ago, I wrote a post on my alter-ego’s blog Caught in the Cogs called “Misogyny Defined.” I’d like to share that post with you today…. The meaning of the word “misogyny” is literally “hatred of women.” Although that is the actual definition of the word, most misogynists think they love women. Misogyny…

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…

Misogynistic Myths

I’m quickly growing weary of people defending Johnny Depp. My mind spins as I try to sleep. Victim-blaming rhetoric bounces around in my brain. The words I read online are the same ones people said to me when I spoke out. Insomnia leads to loss of focus, which then leads to hyper-focus. I drop onto…

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…

Of Course, #MeToo

The past few months have been many things. Inspiring. Validating. Triggering. Infuriating. Gratifying. Of course, I’m talking about the growing #MeToo and #TimesUp movements. At long, long last, survivors of sexual violence, abuse, and assault in all its forms are not only being heard, they’re being believed. Although I’ve been moved to write about this many…

F*CK FEELINGS

F*CK FEELINGS, by Michael Bennet & Sarah Bennet, might’ve been the best purchase I’ve made all year. The book’s premise falls somewhere between Nihilism and Buddhism, which is exactly where I fall, so it speaks to me. It’s about “managing expectations, accepting limitations, and wrangling Assholes,” and it’s done in a very frank and often hilarious way…

Danser Sur Ta Tombe

“Danser Sur Ta Tombe” Original Painting Acrylic & Mixed Media on Canvas Board by Christine Rose Daphne was in deeply love, but her lover was just very good at pretending to be, which afforded him the opportunity to delight in her destruction, piece by piece. Heart, mind, body, and soul. Then, discarded her. After a…