The Borderline in My Daughter’s Personality – Part 2

This post is the second entry in a three-part blog.  The third part will run tomorrow.  The first part ran yesterday; you can read it here. by:  Julie Beem “Borderline feels like I’m going to lose my mind You just keep on pushing my love over the borderline…” Madonna As I read further into this […]

The Borderline in My Daughter’s Personality – Part 1

Today’s post is the first in a series of three blogs about Julie’s daughter and borderline personality disorder.  Parts 2 and 3 will run Thursday and Friday. by:  Julie Beem “Borderline feels like I’m going to lose my mind You just keep on pushing my love over the borderline…”  Madonna We’ve been at this whole […]

Ghost Ship

by:  Deborah A. Novo I hear you speaking and sense no depth. I hear you repeatedly lying, while looking me dead in the eye, and see you so broken. Lying is your normal and truth is the enemy. It has become more comfortable to control your life by sustaining lies rather than tell the truth. […]

The Amygdala – Stopping Flight or Fight at its Source

by:  Craig Peterson What on earth is the amygdala? Most people have no idea. Even less can say it correctly. Let’s start with the pronunciation. Amygdala contains four syllables with the accent on the second one. Just remember to say “ah” three times. ah-MIG-dah-lah Now that I’ve made you look silly, let’s move onto the […]

Tuesday Toolbox — Mama’s Room and Mama’s Bed

by:  Gari Lister Yesterday’s Good Morning America featured a story on co-sleeping based on controversy a blogger sparked when she admitted to sharing a bed with her six year old son.  The piece opened with a clip of a little girl whining that she was scared and wanted to sleep with mommy — and the […]

ADHD versus Anxiety

by:  Craig Peterson A recent article about the misdiagnosing ADHD in children with early trauma has been making the rounds. Before everyone jumps on the bandwagon, let’s remember that many mental health issues are at play. Not all children are the same. Each needs to be carefully diagnosed. For traumatized children who haven’t begun to […]

Lessons Learned: Good People Still Exist

by:  Craig Peterson GOOD PEOPLE STILL EXIST And thank goodness they do. Here’s why. After three days of dealing with her past trauma and feeling overwhelmed, my young adult daughter told me she couldn’t take any more stress. She had to escape. She put the key to her apartment under the doormat and left – […]

It’s Not Your Fault

by:  Gari Lister I spoke with a mom yesterday for close to an hour.  She wasn’t asking for help for her children — instead, she was desperate for help for herself.  Why?  Because she was frustrated that she hadn’t been able to accept that her children weren’t loving to her.  She blamed herself — the […]

Jody McVittie: How to Teach Self-Regulation and Why You Should

October 2, 2014 by:  Gari Lister The interviews on Day 3 of  ATN’s Educating Traumatized Children Summit are all about helping kids learn to regulate themselves — and be regulated enough to not only learn in school, but succeed in life. Jody McVittie, who works with a nonprofit Sound Discipline, offers us a number of […]

Dr. Robert Anda: Childhood Adversity – the Nation’s Largest Public Health Crisis

September 30, 2014 by:  Gari Lister So — wow! — ATN‘s Educating Traumatized Children Summit kicked off with some blockbuster interviews today! Throughout the Summit, the ATN Blog will bring you some of the insights the nearly two dozen experts being interviewed offer about ways we can work together to help traumatized children learn. Some […]