Most people who have PTSD don't think they have PTSD. They think they're stressed. They think they're anxious. They think they're not handling things as well as they should be. They think that what happened to them wasn't bad enough to count. This is one of the most persistent and damaging misconceptions in mental health. And it keeps a lot of people suffering far longer than they need to. What PTSD Actually Is PTSD is not a character flaw or a sign of weakness. It is a nervo

You've Googled the symptom seventeen times. You've asked the same question to three different people. You've run through every possible outcome so many times you could recite them in your sleep. And you still don't feel better. This isn't a willpower problem. It isn't overthinking in the way people casually mean when they say that. It's something more specific — a genuine difficulty tolerating uncertainty — and it's one of the most common drivers of anxiety that rarely gets n

If you've been researching your symptoms and stumbled across the term "Complex PTSD," you're not alone. Searches for Complex PTSD have grown dramatically in recent years — driven, in part, by people who recognized themselves in descriptions that standard PTSD accounts didn't quite capture. Complex PTSD is real. It is clinically recognized. It is distinct from — though related to — PTSD. And it is treatable. This post will explain what Complex PTSD is, how it differs from PTSD

Avoidance is one of our most natural responses to discomfort. When something makes us anxious, overwhelmed, or fearful, our instinct is...