Sexual addiction doesn’t just affect the person suffering from the condition. It also has a significant impact on their partner, friends and family. Partners, in particular, are especially likely to suffer the consequences of sexual addiction. They can, in fact, be so profound that they too seek professional counselling to aid them with the healing [...]
If someone is habitually unfaithful to their partner, they or the people around them may question if they’re suffering from sex addiction. In some cases, people who have cheated have even used this condition as an excuse for their behaviour - even if they don’t actually have an addiction. If a person is keeping important sexual [...]
Unfortunately, we as human beings have been taught to believe that our minds are unitary. Our culture has led us to believe that any derivation from a solitary mind is called mental illness. It is quite possible that a lot of people have been wrongly diagnosed with multiple personality disorder (also called dissociative identity disorder). [...]
In the last post, we talked more in depth about the Parts, their role, and learning to empathize and understand them. In this post, I want to go a little deeper to help this concept make as much sense as possible. Everyone has Parts; but people who have lived through traumatic events are often more [...]
Witnessing can be a very important part of trauma therapy for those who want to tell the stories of their traumatic events. But please know that it is not always necessary or helpful for trauma victims to tell their stories. Sometimes there are benefits, and being witnessed is one of them. The reality is that [...]
The key to effective trauma therapy is helping clients learn the difference between a trigger and being threatened in the here and now. In order for a trauma victim to be able to process how unsafe they were when the traumatic event occurred, they have to be able to understand that they are safe now. [...]
Healing from trauma the right way requires people to learn how to “see from the Self.” This can take some practice, and it can be very helpful to do some exercises as a way to train yourself. This might not be something that you are able to do right away. But in time, you may [...]
There is no denying the fact that healing from trauma is a process. It can take some time, but there are different steps you can take – even baby steps – that will help move you closer to your goals. In his book, Introduction to the Internal Family Systems Model, Dr. Richard C. Schwartz discusses [...]
Relapse is unfortunately a common part of addiction. Statistics do in fact show that 40-60% of people treated for substance use disorders will relapse at some point. While relapse is generally most likely to occur within the first 90 days of recovery, the risk remains high for the first five years and can even occur [...]
It can be very painful for trauma victims to explore the memories that are related to the traumatic events they lived through. Unfortunately, trauma therapy has largely focused on reviewing these events in the past. But for the most part, the only thing that really ever accomplishes is retraumatizing the person all over again. That [...]