Finding Mental Health Support After a Breakup Leaving was not just about heartbreak. It was about survival. Dear Survivor, A woman once told me that after she left, people treated it like a typical breakup. They asked if she was dating again. They encouraged her to get over it. What they did not see were […]
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Sometimes silence feels more threatening than chaos. Dear Survivor, One woman I worked with described how anxious she felt in her first healthy relationship. There were no raised voices, no sudden mood swings, no punishments for speaking her mind. On the outside, everything looked calm. But inside, she was panicked. Her body could not relax,
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It is not weakness. It is conditioning. And it is trauma. Dear Colleague, One of the most painful things providers witness is when a survivor returns to a harmful relationship. It can feel heartbreaking and disorienting. But what looks like regression is often part of a powerful trauma pattern called intermittent reinforcement. This pattern keeps
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