mental health posting

What do you mean I have to do a productive thing and coach myself on how to feel accomplished from it?

What do you mean I have to do a fun activity and forcefully allow myself to enjoy it?

What do you mean I have to do relaxing things and coax myself to actually relax?

it’s standing over your kitchen sink and crying while doing the dishes because you just want to go back to bed but the dishes need done. and you don’t know why you’re crying but you're trusting you need it. and you aren’t listening to the music that pulls you into a spiral; you’re listening to some cheerful shit your friend sent you. it’s getting up and staring at your fridge and closing your eyes and then cooking yourself food even though you hate it and it’s miserable. because you know that you’d cook for your friend, and you are trying to befriend yourself. it’s dragging yourself into the shower because you know you’ll feel better afterwards. it’s doing mundane tasks with patience, cursing under your breath, trying desperately to give yourself grace. grace is the beginning of care. care is the beginning of love.

Other autistic people who act childlike or have childlike interests are NOT the reason you get infantilized.

The rainbow-haired, plushie-hugging, stim-dancing autistic you saw on tiktok is NOT hurting you by existing.

Let your fellow autistic people be themselves in public.

And STOP blaming autistics who express themselves differently than you for society's ableism.

(We haven't read the full academic paper yet, but the summary is neat). Seems potentially relevant to dissociative system stuff as well--like, we know that CPTSD can also be caused by "death by a thousand papercuts"-type trauma (where any individual incident "wasn't so bad" but cumulatively it builds up), but/and adding this on top of that suggests that the "threshold of adverse-ness" for events that could lead to posttraumatic reactions like PTSD and dissociative disorders could be quite a lot lower than generally thought, especially for (apparently, according to this study) autistic populations, which may (and this is speculation) also be true for related types of neurodivergence like ADHD and schizophrenia etc.

"Oh yeah thats actually talked about in our trainings and stuff too. The thing with autism, even outside of ableism against ND individuals, is that sensory cues and the common language and social differences / issues - especially in early life - can directly result in things that are not even abusive to be experienced as trauma Cause if you have a need but you can't effectively communicate it in a way your parents can understand you are likely not going to get your need met or met properly even with the best parent trying their best And if you dont get your need met, that can and will likely result in that being felt as neglect because as a toddler and what not, you are TRYING to communicate but not having it received. And while from an adult lens we can rationalize and go "well my parents literally could not have reasonably known", as a toddler that is not what is something they are capable of understanding And add onto that this would occur during the infantile pruning area and it likely wont be explicitly remembered later in life So there wont likely be any direct memory to process or any direct "trauma" that could even be uncovered through trauma processing or lowering dissociative barriers So an autistic person could very realistically have chronic infantile neglect trauma and genuinely never be able to recall it or speak to it, and the parents wouldn't necessarily be anything close to horrible, but this person as they grow older - despite not having any form of traditional trauma or neglect and good parents would have still experienced chronic childhood trauma from a young age, all of which would STILL have affects on the long run developing brain but the explicit memories would be removed due to infantile synaptic pruning. Even with great parents this could still happen, and by the nature of how it occurs, the parents would likely deny the child having gone through any trauma as well without it being an intentional cover up or anything (as the nature of if it was or wasn't trauma is subjective to the child and how they experienced it at that point and if it was trauma, its covert trauma) Then adding onto that, there is also the sensory issues which DEFINITELY worsens it, but like, its something anyone who works with young autistic populations very much are aware of and have to pay attention to Plus note like infantile amnesia happens around 3-4 years of age but can continue even later into life iirc so a child could have three or four years of chronic neglect trauma from their formative years and, by the time they are 16, have no ability to recall it for non-dissociative reasons and have no signs that they experienced chronic trauma as an infant / toddler but still have the symptoms of C-PTSD and DID"

Since I'm actually looking closer at these papers I might actually go ahead and read some of the more interesting ones directly, highlighting ones that seem interesting cause I MIGHT actually read and chat about it on here cause I'm currently waiting for the unit I'm supposed to work on to open and technically dont "have to" do more studying or what not but I also feel weird getting paid to do nothing so... I might say "hey yeah I finished all the mandatory trainings plus like 15 hrs of optional ones I just started reading research papers haha" /hj

@indigochromatic @seasidewanderers

General Resources

ACE Study Questionnaire -http://www.ncjfcj.org/sites/default/files/Finding%20Your%20ACE%20Score.pdf(opens in a new tab)

CDC’s Developmental Milestones - https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/actearly/milestones/index.html(opens in a new tab)

National Child Traumatic Stress Network - https://www.nctsn.org/(opens in a new tab)

Trauma Resources for Families - https://www.aap.org/en/patient-care/trauma-informed-care/resources-for-families/(opens in a new tab)

Zero to Three - https://www.zerotothree.org/(opens in a new tab)

Child Abuse and Mandatory Reporting Laws - Mandatory Reporting of Child Abuse and Neglect https://cwig-prod-prod-drupal-s3fs-us-east-1.s3.amazonaws.com/public/documents/manda.pdf?VersionId=Gm9t7CW5XdPolnEMHHR3wCnsw782WZQ1(opens in a new tab)

State Child Abuse Laws https://www.findlaw.com/state/family-laws/child-abuse.html(opens in a new tab)

References

American Psychological Association. (2023). What is child abuse and neglect? Understanding the warning signs and getting help. https://www.apa.org/topics/children/abuse-neglect-resources

Bartlett, J., & Steber, K. (2019). How to implement trauma-informed care to build resilience to childhood trauma. Child Trends. https://www.childtrends.org/publications/how-to-implement-trauma-informed-care-to-build-resilience-to-childhood-trauma#_ftn40

Barnett, E. R., & Hamblen, J. (2022). Trauma, PTSD, and attachment in infants and young children. U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs: National Center for PTSD. https://www.ptsd.va.gov/professional/treat/specific/attachment_child.asp

Campbell, K. A. (2022). The neurobiology of childhood trauma, from early physical pain onwards: As relevant as ever in today’s fractured world. European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 13(2), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1080/20008066.2022.2131969

Canale, C. A., Hayes, A. M., Yasinski, C., Grasso, D. J., Webb, C., & Deblinger, E. (2022). Caregiver behaviors and child distress in trauma narration and processing sessions of trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy (TF-CBT). Behavior therapy, 53(1), 64–79. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.beth.2021.06.001

Choi, K. R., Records, K., Low, L. K., Alhusen, J. L., Kenner, C., Bloch, J. R., Premji, S. S., Hannan, J., Anderson, C. M., Yeo, S., & Cynthia Logsdon, M. (2020). Promotion of maternal-infant mental health and trauma-informed care during the COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Obstetric, Gynecologic, and Neonatal Nursing, 49(5), 409–415. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jogn.2020.07.004

Clark, C.A., Nadeem, E. Caregiver Factors in Children’s Trauma Treatment: A Review of the Literature. (2023). Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal, 40, 773–786. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10560-021-00812-6

Cole, P., Trexberg, K., & Schaffner, M. (2023). State of babies yearbook 2023. https://zerotothree.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/SOBY2023_Yearbook_Full_v4.pdf

Cruz, D., Lichten, M., Berg, K., & George, P. (2022). Developmental trauma: Conceptual framework, associated risks and comorbidities, and evaluation and treatment. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 13, 800687. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2022.800687

Cudzik, M., Soroka, E., & Olajossy, M. (2019). Dissociative identity disorder as a wide range of defense mechanisms in children with a history of early childhood trauma. Current Problems of Psychiatry, 20(2), 117–129. https://doi.org/10.2478/cpp-2019-0006

Evans, K. E., Schmidt-Sane, M. M., Bender, A. E., Berg, K. A., & Holmes, M. R. (2022). Children’s exposure to intimate partner violence and acceptance or appraisals of IPV: A systematic review. Journal of Family Violence, 37(3), 1301–1319. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10896-021-00318-w

Fennig, M., & Denov, M. (2021). Interpreters working in mental health settings with refugees: An interdisciplinary scoping review. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 91(1), 50–65. https://doi.org/10.1037/ort0000518.supp (Supplemental)

Forkey, H., Szilagyi, M., Kelly, E. T., Duffee, J., The Council on Foster Care, Adoption, and Kinship Care, Council on Community Pediatrics, Council on Child Abuse and Neglect, & Committee on Psychosocial Aspects of Child and Family Health. (2021). Trauma-informed care. Pediatrics, 148(2), e2021052580. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2021-052580

Fredrickson, R. (2019). Trauma-informed care for infant and early childhood abuse. Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma, 28(4), 389–406. https://doi.org/10.1080/10926771.2019.1601143

Healthcare Toolbox. (n.d.). Pediatric medical traumatic stress: What is culturally-sensitive trauma-informed pediatric care? Retrieved January 18, 2024, from https://www.healthcaretoolbox.org/cultural-considerations.

Huang, C. X., Halfon, N., Sastry, N., Chung, P. J., & Schickedanz, A. (2023). Positive childhood experiences and adult health outcomes. Pediatrics, 152(1), e2022060951. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2022-060951

Hung K. L. (2020). Pediatric abusive head trauma. Biomedical Journal, 43(3), 240–250. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bj.2020.03.008

Irfan, N., Nair, A., Bhaskaran, J., Akter, M., & Watts, T. (2022). Review of the current knowledge of reactive attachment disorder. Cureus, 14(11), e31318. https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.31318

Lahousen, T., Unterrainer, H. F., & Kapfhammer, H. P. (2019). Psychobiology of attachment and trauma-some general remarks from a clinical perspective. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 10, 914. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2019.00914

Lekas, H. M., Pahl, K., & Fuller Lewis, C. (2020). Rethinking cultural competence: Shifting to cultural humility. Health services insights, 13, 1178632920970580.

Loveday, S., Hall, T., Constable, L., Paton, K., Sanci, L., Goldfeld, S., & Hiscock, H. (2022). Screening for adverse childhood experiences in children: A systematic review. Pediatrics, 149(2), e2021051884. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2021-051884

McGuire, A., Steele, R. G., & Singh, M. N. (2021). Systematic review on the application of trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy (tf-cbt) for preschool-aged children. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 24(1), 20–37. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10567-020-00334-0

Naeem, N., Zanca, R. M., Weinstein, S., Urquieta, A., Sosa, A., Yu, B., & Sullivan, R. M. (2022). The neurobiology of infant attachment-trauma and disruption of parent-infant interactions. Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, 16, 882464. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnbeh.2022.882464

National Child Traumatic Stress Network. (n.d.a). Screening and Assessment: Screening and Assessment Within Multiple Systems. Retrieved January 8, 2024, from https://www.nctsn.org/what-is-child-trauma/trauma-types/early-childhood-trauma/screening-and-assessment

National Child Traumatic Stress Network. (n.d.b). Trauma-informed care. Retrieved January 8, 2024, from https://www.nctsn.org/trauma-informed-care

National Child Traumatic Stress Network. (n.d.c). Resilience and child traumatic stress. Retrieved January 16, 2024, from https://www.nctsn.org/sites/default/files/resources/resilience_and_child_traumatic_stress.pdf

Parker, M. M., Hergenrather, K., Smelser, Q., & Kelly, C. T. (2021). Exploring child-centered play therapy and trauma: A systematic review of literature. International Journal of Play Therapy, 30(1), 2-13. https://doi.org/10.1037/pla0000136

Ryan, K., Lane, S. J., & Powers, D. (2017). A multidisciplinary model for treating complex trauma in early childhood. International Journal of Play Therapy, 26(2), 111.

Sleed, M., Slade, A., & Fonagy, P. (2020). Reflective Functioning on the Parent Development Interview: Validity and reliability in relation to socio-demographic factors. Attachment & Human Development, 22(3), 310-331.

Zero to Three. (2023). Safe babies. https://www.zerotothree.org/our-work/safebabies

Vanderzee, K. L., Sigel, B. A., Pemberton, J. R., & John, S. G. (2019). Treatments for Early Childhood Trauma: Decision Considerations for Clinicians. Journal of Child & Adolescent Trauma, 12(4), 515–528. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40653-018-0244-6

Vess, S. F., & Campbell, J. M. (2022). Parent–child interaction therapy (PCIT) with families of children with autism spectrum disorder. Autism & Developmental Language Impairments, 7. https://doi.org/10.1177/23969415221140707

Vizard, E., Gray, J., & Bentovim, A. (2022). The impact of child maltreatment on the mental and physical health of child victims: a review of the evidence. BJPsych Advances, 28(1), 60-70. https://doi.org/10.1192/bja.2021.10

Woolgar, F., Garfield, H., Dalgleish, T., & Meiser-Stedman, R. (2022). Systematic review and meta-analysis: Prevalence of posttraumatic stress disorder in trauma-exposed preschool-aged children. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 61(3), 366-377. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaac.2021.05.026

Alexithymia sucks. This chart helps!

How are you feeling? You don’t know? Me neither! So I look at this chart several times a day (got reminders set on my phone) to check in on how I’m feeling throughout the day. I’ve been doing it for a few months, and it’s actually getting a lot easier to identify how I’m feeling.

Pro tip: some people have to rely more on how their body feels to tell them what they’re feeling emotionally. Work on trying to identify how certain emotions feel in your body. Work in broad strokes at first, before working on identifying more specific emotions. For example, try to notice how sad, happy, angry, and afraid feel. Where in your body do you feel them? What physical sensations go along with the emotions? It’s different for everyone!

　⟢　Sweetheart NPD / NPD sweetheart　𓃉

One who has NPD, & is (or presents as) very nice / kind! This may be for social points, supply, or any other reasons! This may have ties into cute things (lolita fashion, pink, sugary foods, etc)

　— For @coinfight 2024. Revenge on @rwuffles! Not a gender, 9 total points.

homicidal ideation is the term for having active thoughts about murdering others. these thoughts can be intrusive, however they can also often be voluntary.

misconceptions:

‘people who have these thoughts either have killed someone or will kill someone in the future’ - this is false. most people who have these thoughts usually have disordered behaviours (most commonly as a result of personality disorders) and struggle to find healthy ways to cope with their emotions, therefore provocation and stress can easily cause thoughts of inflicting harm onto others. this doesn’t inherently mean these people are dangerous, nor does it mean that they’re going to act upon these thoughts. most people who experience homicidal ideation never act on it and use it more as a way to process their distress/frustration internally.

‘having these thoughts about people in your life means you can’t possibly care for them’ - also false. caring for someone doesn’t make them an exception to mental illness and it doesn’t stop your mental illnesses from existing. to think that someone’s love for you is only valid as long as they’re not displaying traits of mental illness is unfair and is hugely misinformed. to love and be loved by someone who is mentally ill is to accept that they will display symptoms of their mental illness. you are not the exception and they do not love you any less by showing traits of being unwell.

‘so you endorse murder’ - no. that’s not at all what this means and if you seriously think this then your grasp of severe mental health issues is too limited to be commenting on such topics.

‘you’re evil’ - for being unwell? don’t be a cunt. if you seriously think that having a disordered manner of processing emotions internally makes someone ‘evil’ then that sounds more like an issue with you being too sensitive and having a lack of understanding, not an issue with the mentally ill person experiencing these thoughts. don’t make your inability to understand mental illness into someone else’s problem.

No disorder is inherently abusive.

No disorder is inherently scary.