The Good News and the Bad News About Attachment
First the Bad News Dr. Mary Main and her associates at UC Berkeley have been conducting research since 1986 about how infants form their early attachments to their mothers during the first year of life. In her long-term follow-up studies with infants, she discovered that an infant’s attachment style at the age of 12 months predicts almost perfectly their attachment style for the […]
Treating Symptoms vs. Healing Anxiety, Stress & Trauma
What’s the Difference? What I read about helping people with anxiety, stress and trauma focuses mostly on the treatment model. Treating symptoms of anxiety, stress and trauma typically includes using tools such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and medication, and is typical of the Western medical model. The goal of the treatment paradigm is to reduce, relieve or eliminate symptoms. The […]
Mental Illness . . . REALLY?
This information from webmd.com really freaked me out! What Causes Anxiety Disorders? The exact cause of anxiety disorders is unknown; but anxiety disorders — like other forms of mental illness — are not the result of personal weakness, a character flaw, or poor upbringing. As scientists continue their research on mental illness, it is becoming clear that many […]
Change Your Beliefs, Change Your Biology!
A Health Psychologist Admits, “I was wrong about stress!” It’s not very often that a well-known psychologist confesses in a TED-X talk that she’s been practicing her craft in a way that’s been doing people more harm than good. So I give Kelly McGonigal credit for going very public with her confession. What she confesses to is […]
ACEs Are Traumas
The results of the 1998 ACE Study clearly show that ACEs are traumas. These interchangeable terms both describe how early abuse, abandonment and neglect impact children’s short- and long-term physical and mental health. Childhood maltreatment has now become a public health issue. High levels of childhood trauma increases the risk of many mental health issues, including […]
Adverse Childhood Experiences Study
The term “adverse childhood experiences” isn’t new, even though it suddenly has become widely used by the media. Also known as ACE’s, these early childhood traumas were the focus of a research project conducted between 1995 and 1997 in San Diego, California. One of the largest investigations ever conducted to assess the correlations between childhood […]
Freaked Out 101: An Online Course
Freaked Out 101: How Hidden Developmental Traumas Can Disrupt Your Life and Relationships, is an online designed to help you better understand why you get anxious and freak out in certain situations and around certain people. Our research shows that at least 90 percent of adults have some hidden developmental traumas that disrupt their lives in some significant way. […]
Hidden Traumas Affect Adult Health
Twenty years of consistent research shows that hidden traumas affect adult health. In addition to the original 1995 Kaiser Permanente research project, there have been over 65 other studies that validate the long-term impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences on adult physical health. In March 2015, a new study was published in the American Journal of Preventive […]