Multiple Voices

The Body Pays The Price

Leonie was very tired. Her shoulders have dropped and her head had fallen forward resting on her chest. Unable to muster the strength needed for balancing her head upright on her fatigued body, Leonie feels the floor opening and becoming a vortex inviting her into the never ending downwards spiral.  She hears a seductive whisper beckoning her to succumb, “Let go, let go. You have fought long enough. You can rest now!”

Child Abuse Linked To Cancer

I have just come across a new study that has stirred up in me a great concern. In this study the researchers found that people who have experienced abuse in childhood have a 46% higher chance to develop cancer later in life. It made it clear to me that those organisations that fight publicly against child abuse may need more support and involvement from those who have experienced abuse in their childhood.

Please, take the time to read the publication and then see how you can involve yourself in the fight against child abuse.

Poor Medical Treatment Because You Have A Mental Health Diagnosis?

I have just published an interesting post about the discrimination experienced by clients with a mental health diagnosis when they seek medical treatment. Go here to read the post and the article.

Love Is In The Air

Love is a particular difficult emotion for survivors of sexual abuse, because most of the time love becomes contaminated by the abuse. When trust has been broken, often people find it very very difficult to open themselves up to being vulnerable and let another person become important in their lives.

My latest newsletter focuses on love and some of the articles can be found here! If you want to be on my mailing list for my newsletter, sign up using the box in the side panel.

How Can You Get Over Childhood Stress?

I have been asked how people get over childhood stress. In my mind it is a question of recovering from whatever stressors have been present in people's lives. Because it's a generic question and not specifically aimed at DID, I posted it on my therapy blog. It's the first article in a series of two that explains the physiological processes involved in being affected by childhood stresses such as abuse, neglect, or other forms of trauma. If this topic interests you, pop over and read on ....

10 Positive Steps To Have Mental Health

Do you want to start the new year with a clear plan of how you maintain and improve your mental health? I hope you'll say yes. How about you print out this poster about 10 positive steps to achieve mental health. You can pin it somewhere handy to remind yourself daily of the steps necessary to help yourself and push on with your recovery.

Making Wise Decisions

Making a good decision is often experienced as being very difficult for abuse survivors. Too much of the traumatic past intrudes into the 'here and now' situation and colours one's judgement. Danger is felt in situations that are now perfectly safe. Yet it appears very hard not to react to those 'danger signals'. Decisions are often made on the basis of THEN and don't take into account that NOW is different. Now you are not a helpless child anymore, now you have a brain that can link cause and effect much clearer, now you have access to support.

Relaxation Exercise

You might find it helpful to try out the relaxation exercise that I have just posted on the 'Gudrun Frerichs' blog. Click on the symbol at the right hand bottom of the screen and you'll have the video on full screen. I found it really relaxation. What do  you think?

Becoming Your Own Best Friend

There comes a time in everyone's recovery - whether you are a multiple or a singleton - where you have to become your own best friend. It always amazes me to see how much head ache is caused by the fact that survivors of sexual abuse go way out of their way to 'be there for others', helping family, friends, neighbours, or colleagues while they run out of time to attend to their own needs. They don't have time to get the rest they need, the relaxation, or the fun. They practically don't get any 'me-time'.

Confronting the Abuser: Learned Helplessness

I just saw the last comment by ..... to the first post of confronting the abuser. You wonder why you weren't able to stop the other kids to hurt you because you were the same age. Let me explain the concept of learned helplessness. Its a hideous dynamic that leads to a sense of helplessness and giving up.

It has all to do with knowing that you have control over the outcome. They've done heaps of research with humans and animals whereby the research subject has been given electro shocks independently from what they did, whether they completed a task successfully or not. The subjects learned that whatever they did or didn't do, nothing would prevent them from being hurt. They had no way of controlling whatever happened to them. As a result they gave up, became passive, and did not make any attempt to protect themselves. They have learned no matter what they did, they wouldn't be able to affect the outcome.