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I received the link to this video from a fellow survivor who will having surgery at the end of the month and was looking up anesthetics, surgery, and CPTSD.  While it may be a little unnerving if you do need surgery at some point, it makes the point about how important it is to disclose that you have CPTSD and identify any medication/substances you may be taking.

Sadly, not all anesthesiologists may be savvy about this, so it may be necessary to advocate for yourself. The video gives you enough info hopefully to do that. (You could even show a dismissive anesthesiologist the video if you feel sassy enough  )

Link - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1wVfkdW4aU

There has been a bit of an uptick in swearing on the forum and if you read our guidelines you'll see we restrict members from swearing either full swear words of pseudo swear words (e.g., using symbols to create a swear word to get by the sensor like f%ck).  We do so because we found over the years that once swearing gets started it tends to catch on and spread. Because so many of us were sworn at by our abusers it can be really triggering so please look out for your fellow survivors and do not include any form of swearing in your posts.

Thanks!

Kizzie

Here's a link to some DV resources at our sister site Out of the FOG - https://www.outofthefog.net/forum/index.php?topic=39359.0 .

[A Word About Eligibility Criteria]

Hi Everyone:

Professor Colette Smart from the University of Victoria, Department of Psychology is conducting a study about the therapeutic value of expressive arts (movement, art & writing) on healing from CPTSD and is looking for participants. I went through a trial session and found it to be pleasant way of connecting with positive emotions, something we don't often do in talk or other kinds of therapy.

A Word About Eligibility Criteria

Given this is a first-time study of a therapeutic approach to CPTSD, Dr. Smart must look out for the safety of participants first and foremost.  Thus, the eligibility criteria may seem somewhat restrictive, but it is to ensure those participating are feeling fairly stable currently and will likely not need any intervention because of the sessions.  In her words:

In our eligibility requirements, we are looking for people who, while suffering with CPTSD, are fairly stable in their current situation. This is because we are prioritizing safety as the number one thing. This is a new intervention, and we are running a pilot study. Also, we are doing it virtually with people who are not physically in the same place or coming to an office to meet with us. If someone was struggling with stability or in crisis, it would be really hard to help them if they were at a physical distance from the research team.

Because of this, we want to test out the intervention first in a group of people who are most stable in their current situation. Then, based on that feedback, we can decide how to broaden to a more inclusive group of CPTSD survivors. This is fairly common and standard when testing out any new kind of intervention. There is no judgment about your current level of stability and we know everyone is doing their best. But the main priority is so that people will be safe the first time we do this study, particularly because this is a virtual study.

Timeline

The flyer for the study is attached. They are looking to recruit fairly quickly as the group will start Tuesday Oct. 15th and run for 6 weeks from 10am-12:30pm PST. The deadline to apply is Wed., Oct 9th.

Applying

Click on this link and it will take you to the study home page where you will find the eligibility quiz at the top of the page - https://linktr.ee/rhythmsofresilience . There are also some videos which give more information and an opportunity to meet Dr. Smart.

Questions

If you have any questions, please contact Dr. Smart or her student Nikoo Amini at smartlab@uvic.ca.

The forum was ungraded to a new platform yesterday so unfortunately you may find some posts have gone missing. I did not know this was happening and didn't put it in maintenance mode. GoDaddy made the move and did not for whatever reason tell OOTF or us. The posts from their IT person warning me it was going to happen at some point went to my Spam and I just found them now. 

I'm going to look into it and see if I can get those posts back.

In the meantime, please keep a copy of your posts until the OOTF IT and I ensure it's all clear to carry on as per usual.

Kizzie

This follows on to Part 1.

Hope added this in a post in another thread so I thought I would add it here also:

The Survivors Trust is an agency dedicated to helping not-for-profit agencies who dela with seual violence. Link -  https://thesurvivorstrust.org/members-operating-nationally/

Hi Folks:

I've noticed a tendency toward hijacking threads lately. This refers to taking the original poster's  (OP) thread over to talk about your own experiences with the topic/issue. IAW our guidelines I must ask that you not do so. The OP has asked a question or shared their feelings/experiences to get some feedback and I would ask that you honour that. It's OK to talk about how you feel or what you've experienced with respect to the topic, but in the context of the OP's concern or question.

Thanks,

Kizzie

 

Here is a thread in which you can record 3 good things, large or small that happened in your day.  It focuses us on the fact that even on bad days there are usually some good things that happen. On really good days it reminds us that we are moving out of the dark storm of CPTSD more and perhaps that our EFs are fewer and less intense. And how good is that?!

Does anyone here understand bots? Every day I have a number of Russian registrations and today it was 6.  I don't let them on because they have such a bad rep and I want to keep the forum safe.

I'm just curious why they would keep on trying when I have never let registration from Russia go through. Why on earth do they keep trying?  Even if it's a bot they must get report saying "Nope this web site will not accept any of our tries to register."  It's a bit of a mystery to me.  The only thing I can think is that they somehow earn money for pinging a site?

 

[Please note you will need to contact the researchers at smartlab@uvic.ca for a code to start the study]

Hi Everyone:

Professor Colette Smart from the University of Victoria, Department of Psychology is conducting a study on trauma and I have agreed to her recruiting participants from OOTS.  As the information suggests below she is looking for Canadians and this is because the resulting report will be forwarded to Canadian institutions. The study is entirely online starting with a screening (3 minutes) which she and her staff will look at.  If you are selected then you will go on to complete questionnaire (30 minutes) and some cognitive tasks (30 minutes). Once you complete the study you will receive a $20 Amazon gift card. There is a flyer attached to this post which has a QR code to scan for more details.

Please note you will need to contact the researchers at smartlab@uvic.ca for a code to start the study or for more information or questions.

A basic outline of the study is as follows: 

Study objective:

This study aims to examine how exposure to different types of traumatic events can impact our thinking and our emotional functioning. Different types of trauma can be single events (e.g., natural disasters, car accident, assault, adverse medical event such as heart attack, stroke, and brain injury) or complex (e.g., experiencing child abuse/neglect or abuse within a relationship).
 
We aim to recruit adults:

• Aged 19-65 in Canada who can communicate fluently in English.
• Who have had 1+ trauma exposure after birth (e.g., car accident, assault, natural disaster, sudden death) AND/OR
• Whose trauma exposure was a major medical event (e.g., stroke, brain injury, heart attack, ICU stay) OR
• Have a complex trauma exposure such as childhood abuse and/or neglect, abuse in a relationship, being part of a religious or political cult, or being a refugee or someone subject to forced migration.

All participants must have access to a personal computer/laptop with a mouse and keyboard.
 
Commitment from participants:

This study is entirely online, and participants can take breaks between sections. The screener takes approximately 3 minutes, followed by 30 minutes of questionnaires, and cognitive tasks should take no more than 30 minutes.

I just saw an article about a famous author here in Canada, Alice Munro, who it seems denied her daughter was sexually abused by her stepfather. This came to light recently when Munro died in May and her biography was published with no mention of the CSA even though the biographer knew about it apparently.  Here's a link to a story about this not uncommon denial on the part of a parent - https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/alice-munro-biographies-1.7268296.

Another Alice who did the same thing was Alice Miller, renowned for her writing about childhood trauma. Her son wrote a book about her abuse and her denial - https://www.amazon.com/True-Drama-Gifted-Child-Phantom/dp/1980668949html

The mind boggles at such deep betrayal of one's own children, especially Alice Miller whose life was dedicated to educating people about childhood trauma.

It speaks to how deeply society's denial of child abuse, sexual or otherwise is and why it is so important for us to drag it out into the light, again and again if we must.   

So I am experiencing some issues with remembering the word I want to use. It's in there somewhere but I can't quite get it out. This has been going on for about 3 months so I went in to see my doc and true to form she did not panic, but asked me about it and then said let's see you back here in 3 months and see how it's going.

She said medications sometimes can cause this and I did start on two new ones so fingers crossed that's it. Also, I haven't noticed any issues with thinking. I am involved in two projects and the writing and organization part is as sharp as it was when I was teaching/researching in the past so I doubt it's dementia or anything but of course having CPTSD I expect the worst. 

We'll see I guess.     

Every once in a while we notice one of our guidelines is not being followed and in this case it is swearing.  As per the Member Guidelines, swearing in any form is not permitted. We do have a censor but there are ways of getting around it (f*%$, SOB). 

The reason for editing out any form of swearing is because once it starts, it takes off and then the board becomes replete with it. It's a good way of expressing anger, etc., but because so many of us were subjected to swearing as part of our abuse, we do our best to keep it out of posts because it is triggering for many and we want to keep OOTS as safe as possible.

Thanks,

Kizzie

Every once in awhile I see something concerning on the forum, behaviour that isn't quite enough to warn a member or ban them, but enough that I feel it's important to point out a potential issue. 

From time to time we get people at OOTS who are here for the wrong reasons. They want attention or to troll members by running them in circles trying to help them. I'm seeing a bit of that going on at the moment so I'd just like to suggest to members that you trust your gut and if you sense that someone is not here for quite the right reasons maybe stand clear for a bit and see if you pick up on anything. I know it can be hard to tell, but part of recovery is sussing out people who are a bit off so we protect and care for ourselves.

Kizzie

We're always interested to hear how you came up with your name for the forum so let us know!

Hi Folks:

The book group are at the end of the book and we're looking for some more pieces between 1 and 5 paragraphs on the topic of hope and healing.  We want to end the book on a positive note so if you can help out we'd really appreciate it.  You don't have to be the best writer ever to do this, what we're looking for are authentic reflections about hope and healing. You are welcome to use your forum name, real name or a new pseudonym. (Note: Any proceeds from the book will be going toward the running and maintenance of OOTS.)

Please send your pieces to me at l.herod@yahoo.ca by June 9th if possible.

Many thanks!

Kizzie

A PhD student, Dawn Davis from Glasgow Caledonian University is looking for volunteers to participate in a study about Complex Trauma survivors' experiences with healthcare. "The aim of the study is to explore what those who identify with having Complex PTSD want health professionals to know about their experience."

As you know this is an important topic we talk quite a bit about here at OOTS because CPTSD is still not well known in healthcare yet. The more information we have about what is missing from and what is working in healthcare, the better off we will all be. 

Dawn is hoping to get enough volunteers for 2 Zoom groups of 4 or 5 people. The dates/times planned for the groups are the 12th of June @ 10:30am PST/1:30pm EST and the 13th of June @ 10:30am PST/1:30pm EST so you'll need to get in touch with her ASAP. Her email is ddavis301@caledonian.ac.uk.

Much appreciated!

Kizzie

The term "coercive control" is relatively new but such an important shift in our justice/police understanding of more nuanced forms of relational trauma and emotional abuse.  This is a huge step forward in identifying abusers and holding them accountable.  Coercive control is a form of emotional abuse that seeks to take away a person's freedom and to strip away their sense of self. The person employing this type of emotional abuse creates a world in which the person experiencing coercive control is constantly monitored and criticized; their every move is checked against an unpredictable, ever-changing, unknowable rule book. Typically it is associated with emotional abuse in adulthood.

The following types of behaviour are common examples of coercive control:

•  Isolating the individual from their friends or family
•  Depriving of them of their basic needs
•  Monitoring a person via online communication tools or using spyware
•  Controlling how much money they have and how they spend it
•  Monitoring their everyday activities and movements
•  Repeatedly putting them down, humiliating them, calling them names, or telling them that they are worthless
•  Threatening to harm or kill them or their children or their pets
•  Threatening to publish information about them or to report them to the police or the authorities
•  Damaging their property or household goods
•  Forcing them to take part in criminal activity or child abuse

This above list is not exhaustive. Physical violence may be used alongside these other tactics of isolation, mind-games and the micro-regulation of everyday life or it may never be present other than as a threat or perceived.

• Coercive Control UK
• So What Exactly is Coercive Control? by Laura Richards
• Coercive Control, Office for the Prevention of Domestic Violence, New York State, USA
• Coercive Control Checklist: 14 Signs Your Partner is Trying to Control You, by Rhalou Allerhand

I like this!

Salter, M., & Hall, H. (2022). Reducing Shame, Promoting Dignity: A Model for the Primary Prevention of Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, 23(3), 906–919. https://sci-hub.se/10.1177/1524838020979667

Complex post-traumatic stress disorder (CPTSD) refers to the complex psychological and psychosocial sequelae caused by prolonged interpersonal abuse. Contemporary approaches to CPTSD are dominated by individualized psychological interventions that are long term and costly. However, accumulating evidence indicates that CPTSD is a high prevalence mental illness implicated in significant social problems, with a pattern of lateral and intergenerational transmission that impacts on already disadvantaged communities. Consequently, there have been calls for a public health model for the prevention of CPSTD; however, there has been a lack of clarity as to what this should entail.

This article argues that empirical and conceptual shifts framing CPTSD as a shame disorder offers new preventative opportunities. The article presents a series of interconnected literature reviews including a review of available prevalence data on CPTSD, the public health implications of CPTSD, the role of shame and humiliation in CPTSD, and current scholarship on dignity in public policy and professional practice. Drawing on these reviews, this article develops a social ecological model of primary prevention to CPTSD with a focus on the reduction of shame and the promotion of dignity at the relational, community, institutional, and macrolevel. A broad overview of this model is provided with examples of preventative programs and interventions. While the epidemiology of CPTSD is still emerging, this article argues that this model provides the conceptual foundations necessary for the coordination of preventative interventions necessary to reduce to the risk and prevalence of CPSTD.