Mental Health First

17/05/2023

ℹ🌿 MANAGING ABANDONMENT DEPRESSION IN COMPLEX PTSD | BY PETE WALKER

Here is a map of the layering of defensive reactions to the underlying feelings of abandonment typically found in Complex PTSD. This territory is best viewed through unwinding the dynamics of emotional flashbacks. Flashbacks are at the deepest level painful layers of reactions - physiological, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral - to the reemerging despair of the childhood abandonment depression. One very common flashback-scenario occurs as follows: Internal or external perceptions of possible abandonment trigger fear and shame, which then activates panicky Inner Critic cognitions, which in turn launches an adrenalized fight, flight, freeze or fawn trauma response (subsequently referred to as the 4F's). The 4F's correlate respectively with narcissistic, obsessive-compulsive, dissociative or codependent defensive reactions.

READ MORE ⬇️
http://pete-walker.com/managingAbandonDepression.htm

Image: Poppy Leigh Social Media

01/11/2020

The Modern Clinician's Guide to Working with LGBTQ+ Clients is a ground-breaking resource for therapists working with LGBTQ+ clients whose identity expressions span all gender-, s*x-, and relationship-diverse groups. Combining the author’s extensive clinical experience with contemporary evidence-...

25/10/2020

Absolutely. It takes practice but it can be done ❤️

I don't know about you, but this has been a tough parenting season for us. The fear is real, the hard conversations are in full swing, and it seems like the smallest things require significant cost/benefit analyses.

I thought it might be a good time to dig back into The Gifts of Imperfect Parenting research. It's been helping us (huge thanks to all of the research participants).

This first learning is a reminder of the core finding from this research: Some of the best strategies rely on modeling the behaviors we want to see. Turns out that we need to be the adult that we want our kids to grow up to be. Dammit.

There is immeasurable power in our children watching us practice self-kindness vs. berating ourselves or putting ourselves down when we stumble, fail, or make mistakes. And, no matter how we encourage them to talk to themselves, they are definitely watching to see what really matters.

And, letting them in on our process is equally as powerful: "I really dropped the ball today and I'm struggling to be kind to myself about it and talk to myself the way I'd talk to someone I love." Modeling, normalizing that it isn't easy, and connecting.

Y'all have a great weekend! Awkward, brave and kind, folks.

12/10/2020

She candidly shares her personal battle with perfectionism and tells us how we can all overcome it to live a more meaningful, authentic life

11/10/2020

I can relate to most of these? How about you? Or any new ones to add? ❤️

10/10/2020

COVID-19 and the lockdown have had a huge impact on all of our lives. Some parts of the LGBT community have been particularly hard hit. But there are organisations and support services ready to listen and give advice, however you have been affected. Some are LGBT specific and we are...

10/10/2020

Excellent words here x

10th October, 2020 is World Mental Health Day 💚 Covid-19 has impacted on each and everyone of us and you are not alone 🙏🏻

Through the uncertainty and winter months, supporting mental health is everyone’s business 🤗

How can we help each other? By making every contact count, having a virtual cup of tea, checking in on each other because it’s good to talk and supporting each other where we can 🙏🏻🙏🏻

We are in this together 🌍 💚 💚

06/10/2020

Excellent skills for everyone. Mindfulness Emotional Regulation Distress Tolerance and Interpersonal Effectiveness. ❤️

Review “DBT skills are useful not only for individuals who suffer from persistent emotion regulation difficulties, but also for individuals in extreme circumstances and people who have ordinary problems. This updated manual provides the ‘flexibility within fidelity’ in teaching these skills th...

28/09/2020

What’s your thoughts on this article? As someone who has always struggled with seasonal depression I’d like to write something further about this concept of simply ‘changing our mindset’ to manage mental health conditions. I’m interested in the views of people who have been through SAD to quote in my article. Thanks in advance for your input. ❤️

Studies show people living in the Arctic Circle are armed with a mindset that helps combat the long ‘polar night’. It might come in handy for us all…

28/09/2020

Trauma 😓 it affects us all very differently and can affect us at different times in our lives.

23/09/2020

18/04/2020

Check out Elephant’s Continually-updating Coronavirus Diary. ~ Waylon During this unprecedented and peculiar time of COVID-19 and the subsequent quarantines in place, I have seen a post doing the ...