When trauma bonding occurs, it can be confusing, overwhelming and difficult to leave the abusive situation. This can also happen to anyone! You shouldn’t feel embarrassed, weak or incapable.
Read MoreEmotional wounds, or deep-seated psychological and emotional pain, can develop in a number of ways. Some wounds happen immediately, such as after witnessing the death of a friend. Others develop over time as a result of repeated experiences like parental neglect, unhealthy relationships, and systemic racism.
Emotional wounds impact the way we perceive and interact with the world around us, yet they can often go undetected, even by ourselves. Internalizing and externalizing behaviors often show up as a result of emotional pain but to the untrained eye can often be excused as personality traits like shyness or aggression. Instead of dismissing or shaming ourselves and others, we can learn to recognize the following four symptoms as alarm bells signaling the existence of pain and the need for healing.
Read MoreGrowing up, I never thought of myself as racist. In fact, I thought of myself as fundamentally not-racist. The neighborhoods I lived in were always somewhat diverse, and my mom, my sister, and I all have friends of color. I have black cousins and Chinese cousins. My parents raised me with good values. “Never judge anybody by the color of their skin,” they said.
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