Lesser known effects of trauma that don't ever get acknowledged
Cw: mentions of csa, sa, despair, depression, & generally dark content that some may find hard to read. Please interact & read with care.
"bed rotting" (which I hear is gaining attention on TikTok these days) ie the process of becoming bedridden due to your body being stuck in freeze response (paralyzed w fear, too scared to move)
Needing to cut your hair bc it keeps getting matted down, because you can't shower or wash it or keep up with it anymore
Gaining weight (i gained over 200lbs in a year), losing all the clothes you once fit in, and feeling guilty when all you see everywhere all the time is fat shaming
Losing weight (and subsequently all your clothes start falling off 😭) eating disorders and struggling with body image
Existing off of God knows what at this point. Is that milk spoiled? Yeah but how many days is it spoiled? Mmm, nah, nevermind, I'll just eat air.
Losing track of time. Losing months to years of time because of extreme dissociation, fatigue, stress, and the inability to move
Brain & body "shut down" or go into sleep mode for long periods of time
Self hygiene becomes non existent. Showering? Brushing teeth? Changing clothes? Don't know her.
House cleaning becomes non existent. "If It's Not In The Vacinity, It's Not Getting Done."
Lying to everyone about what's going on because it's easier than telling the truth
Not being comfortable with having your pictures taken, go through a phase where you destroy any evidence you ever existed anywhere at all
Isolating & ghosting all ur friends periodically to make sure they're not gonna leave you (lol makes perfect sense, if you know you know)
Animal upkeep goes to shit. Litter box goes neglected for long periods of time.
Noise & light sensitivity goes haywire. Noise & light triggers get amplified especially once you start to feel any sense of "safety" and start decompressing. An alarm goes off, the stove beeps, the cat meows, anything that makes even the slightest noise in the foreground and you have a whole ass panic attack and find yourself in bed for the rest of the day
Agoraphobia. You never go outside ever again. Too much paranoia, too many eyes staring at you, too many reasons to panic and stay in bed
Life becomes so non existent that the only thing that matters is whatever you're currently doing to cope & survive. If you're addicted to something, well, it's a fucking miracle you even wake up anymore
Couch surfing and inevitable homelessness when people get tired of housing you. Having to confront the way society frames government assistance as "the lazy man's income" & hope disability goes through. Which it won't. Wait-lists out the ass, section 8 takes 5 years or more to kick in. Disability doesn't even go through bc they always deny the first time you apply. The process is littered with appeals and court dates and what the fuck, I can't even get out of bed. What the fuck. What the fuck.
Leaning into your despair because, despite what everyone on social media will shout at you about resilience and "not allowing yourself to fall into despair," they will never understand that concept that despair is there for a reason too. Youre looking at someone who was raped at 5 years old and youre telling them to "stay positive." Yeah okay.
The anger, the bitterness, the resentment at the world & everyone in it. The cold blooded urge for revenge & justice. Especially when there's nothing you can do about the fact that your abusers are still free to live and roam this world as they please.
Not being able to "talk about it." Not being able to "trust a safe space." That's bullshit. I was beat and abused my whole life, what the fuck you mean "safe space?" The absolute mind fuckery that you have to sit with and undo and learn the fact that they fucking lied to you. It is enough to kill you.
Everything you learn in therapy just pisses you off even more because why the fuck wasn't there someone there as a kid to teach you this shit???? Why the fuck do I have to learn this as an adult???? Where was this when I actually fucking needed it????
Nothing helps. Nothing soothes, because there is no soothing. There is only pain. It's like ripping your skin off.
Losing everything. Losing all your friends. Losing all your "cool status" points. Losing your reputation. Losing all the things that once brought you great joy and passion. There is nothing anymore. Pain and isolation and desolation and despair.
Learning that no one can relate. Except that's not entirely true at all. People can relate. It's just such a stigmatized topic that no one talks about it out loud, because no one else in society really gets it.
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"maybe that didn't actually happen the way I remember it"
"maybe my memory is just exaggerating it"
"maybe it's not worth getting so upset over"
"maybe it's not as big as I'm making it out to be"
Oh, so gaslighting is okay now all of a sudden because it seems like you're the one doing it to yourself? WRONG!
First of all, it's the mental battles speaking, not you, so don't even try to guilt yourself. You got mentally exhausted and they wrestled the mic from you. That's not your fault.
Secondly, if you felt that way, it happened that way. That's it. No more buts! Shush!
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What Does PTSD Hypervigilance Look Like?
Tw: activating language, body triggers, nervous system dysregulation, & fight/flight/freeze/fawn responses listed below. Please read with care.
Constantly checking outside by slightly peeking out the hole in the blinds so no one knows youre looking out the window
Listening & memorizing footstep patterns of those who live with you
Memorizing schedules & when people leave the house to know when you can move through the house alone
Tip-toeing or walking in a certain way to make your steps have less noise
Holding your breath or controlling your breathing to make as little noise as possible
Being extra aware of how everything is laid out on the table, where every single item in the pantry, fridge, etc is so when you take something you can put it back undisturbed
Eating food or taking things out of the fridge in a way that makes it seem like you never took anything out
Being constantly aware of how loud your own body is (ie chewing too loud, breathing too loud, walking too loud, not laughing, not crying, mastering the art of being silent)
Making sure the TV was on the same channel/app it was before you turned it on (this one's for us older gens, before we had these smart TVs there was a time when analog TV left a trail of previously watched channels so you'd have to wipe the remote clean before you got caught)
Erasing texts
Having people stored in your phone under false contacts bc your parents/abusers/etc would search your phone
Not able to keep personal photos on your phone for same reasons
Not being able to keep things in your room bc your parents would search your room
Not being able to keep things hidden in your backpack either for the same reasons
Keeping everything hidden at school or asking someone else's to keep them
Not able to keep a diary or journal bc someone would read it even if you asked them not to they wouldn't care and read it anyway
Not having a door on your room or having the door removed
Being told you have no privacy because you "belong" to them
Erasing your tracks with everything you do
Listening for car noises, car door slams, and memorizing the way the engine sounds so you can instantly hear when people get home
Memorizing car sounds or always looking out the window to see if someone has pulled up
Checking every house window in your field of view every second of the day
Constantly watching the front door even though it's closed and locked
Constantly watching your room door
Not being comfortable with things out of your line of sight
Constantly having the TV silent or low volume so you don't make too much noise & also so you can hear better
Memorizing daily life schedules, like when your housemates eat, use the bathroom, get up & walk around so you can be constantly aware of everyone at all times
Not making direct eye contact out of fear that it will spark a conflict
Being constantly aware of tone of voice, inflection, etc in case they're going to verbally abuse or degrade you or humiliate you
Being hyper aware of someone entering your personal space
Flinching
Flinching when someone walks by you
Flinching when someone reaches over you
Flinching when anticipating to get hit
Freezing & paralysis anytime something goes off pattern
Never being able to tell tone over text/ always needing to clarify if someone is mad at you
Not being able to physically get up and walk around the house unless you know you're in a safe position to do so
Not being able to physically get up to use the bathroom unless you're in a position to know it's safe to move around the house undetected
Waiting until everyone goes to bed in order to move around the house or relax
Holding your breath & tensing your muscles
Dissociation & brain fogs
Agoraphobia
Fear of being perceived
Fear of being abandoned
Fear of being seen
Fear of being judged
Fear of being hit
Fear of being alive
Fear of failing
Fear of being alone
Fear of not being good enough
Fawning
Grovelling
People pleasing
Staying silent because it will be less likely to cause a conflict
Hiding your emotions & masking
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Mental battles are draining.
"I can't remember what I did yesterday"
They make you forget things.
"Wait, which one is my toothbrush again?"
They confuse you.
"Did I bring in the laundry basket? I guess I forgot. I'll go check... It has been here all this time."
They make you constantly doubt if you completed your tasks or not.
"I've always loved buying books but why is the euphoria fading away?"
They take away the pleasure you used to experience from doing things you love.
"Why am I so sleepy all the time?/ Why can't I sleep after such a day?"
They disturb your sleep, either by making you sleep too much or not letting you sleep at all.
"Why is getting out of bed or making a piece of toast so exhausting?"
They make it so that even small tasks take extra effort and become draining.
"I can't force myself to eat, the sight of food is making me sick/ I am craving so many different things, I'm binge eating"
They reduce your appetite and induce weight loss or do the opposite.
"Why am I having this weird back pain all of a sudden?"
They create unexplained physical problems.
And so much more.
Mental battles are quite draining. So stop attacking yourself for feeling drained.
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The fact is that an unscrupulous tyrant mobilizes the suppressed fears and anxieties of those who were beaten as children but have never been able to accuse their own fathers of doing so. Their loyalty to these fathers is unswerving, despite the torments suffered at their hands. Every tyrant symbolizes such a father, the figure whom the abused children remain attached to with every fiber of their being, hoping that one day they will be able to transform him into a loving parent by remaining blind.
This hope may have been what prompted the representatives of the Roman Catholic Church to demonstrate their compassion for Hussein. In 2002, I turned to a number of cardinals for support when I presented the Vatican with material on the delayed effects of spanking and asked the authorities there to do what they could to enlighten young parents on this subject. As I have said, not one of the cardinals I approached with this request showed the slightest interest in the universally ignored but crucially important issue of physically abused children. Nor did I come across the slightest indication of Christian charity or compassion in connection with this issue. Today, however, those same representatives are eager to show that they are indeed capable of compassion. Significantly, however, this compassion is lavished not on maltreated children or on Saddam’s victims but on Saddam himself, on the unscrupulous father figure that the feared despot symbolizes.
As a rule, beaten, tormented, and humiliated children who have never received support from a helping witness later develop a high degree of tolerance for the cruelties perpetrated by parent figures and a remarkable indifference to the sufferings borne by children exposed to inhumane treatment. The last thing they wish to be told is that they themselves once belonged to the same group. Indifference is a way of preserving them from opening their eyes to reality. In this way they become advocates of evil, however convinced they may be of their humane intentions. From an early age they were forced to suppress and ignore their true feelings. They were forced to put their trust not in those feelings but solely in the regulations imposed on them by their parents, their teachers, and the church authorities. Now the tasks facing them in their adult lives leave them no time to perceive their own feelings, unless those feelings happen to fit in precisely with the patriarchal value system in which they live and which prescribes compassion for the father, however destructive and dangerous he may be. The more comprehensive a tyrant’s catalogue of crimes is, the more he can count on tolerance, provided his admirers are hermetically closed off from access to the sufferings of their own childhood.
(Source: The Body Never Lies by Alice Miller)
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now im not saying that q!bbh should go on an angst arc where he realizes that how people perceive him and take him for granted will not change and that it brings him to the point of Breaking rules on purpose to DEMAND being kidnapped and held hostage by the federation, DESPITE his worry over if dapper will be taken care of or not, so when he is everybody on the island realizes Oh. Oh fuck. Oh shit this is All off-kilter now What the fuck where IS he Where is his genius son Why did he leave us a book to go on a scavenger hunt to find him and is this just another silly prank (The end result is just him informing the scavenger hunters that he walked himself to the offices to be taken on purpose, He refuses to pour his true emotions onto the page no matter how much he wants to be mad he doesn't want to hurt anyone's feelings And being a doormat is just the unfortunate first domino to the topple of it all) Where the hell did he GO ...
... but im kind of saying that q!bbh should go on an angst arc. where he gets willingly kidnapped. because i mean we all wanted it so bad We'd get what we'd wish for in the most Messed up way And who knows if he'll be the same on his way out. Do you think the federation has a therapy service in there. I bet they'd just gaslight him and tell him that everything's fine and that he's overthinking things and that they're all his friends and they show appreciation in different ways and that he should just take what he's given Because god forbid he be selfish for once So he continues to be a doormat that makes people happy Leaving him to be the doomed unhappy islander for the sake of everyone else Leaving him to be alone without the one thing that the federation knows would make him happy Because then he wouldn't need everyone's approval because he'd have skeppy's approval Woah this post became a whole second thing that's fuckin crazy Anyway hahaha hey girl (q!bbh) please do have an angst kidnapped-by-choice arc You're so sexy ahaha
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