by Elisabeth | Oct 28, 2020 | Defenders, Dissociation, Recovery
I have had a hell of a week. I packed up our belongings while throwing half of them away, loaded the other half in a POD, put 6 months of essentials in a rental SUV (quite a big one), and drove 12 hours to a furnished house I had never seen before (other than the...
by Elisabeth | May 2, 2018 | Defenders, Dissociation, Freedom Fighters, Inner Children, Recovery, Relationships
When we grow up with complex trauma, we learn survival skills. These survival skills are incredibly useful when we are children. They may not be as helpful as we think they are, but they definitely help. They help avoid painful abusive experiences. But when we...
by Elisabeth | Sep 6, 2017 | Defenders, Dissociation, Recovery
One of the most frustrating aspects of trauma recovery is the constant feeling we are torn in multiple directions. It renders decision-making almost impossible. And it feels like we are crazy. As a matter of a fact, many people believe that holding two opposing...
by Elisabeth | Aug 2, 2017 | Defenders, Freedom Fighters
Our rebellious inner freedom fighters are absolutely critical to our success as human beings. They exist despite horrific experiences that taught us to conform and seek approval no matter what the cost to our integrity. They are the keepers of our true selves. They...
by Elisabeth | Mar 2, 2016 | Defenders, Dissociation, Memory Repression
Hello everyone. This is the Inner Defender here. I sometimes go by Beth, but defender, protector and all sorts of relatively derogatory names have been used. Some days I mind. Some days I don’t. I like to keep it as inconsistent as possible. That really gets under...
