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By Sarah Ward Bruce Perry defines trauma as “an experience, or pattern of experiences, that impairs the proper functioning of the person’s stress-response system, making it more reactive or sensitive” (Perry & Winfrey, 2021). In other words, trauma occurs when the experience is prolonged or at a high intensity that impacts the development of the brain. Trauma is interesting because for one person an event might produce low stress and the same event might cause a high level of stress and be difficult to cope with for another person. This has to do with an individual’s window of tolerance. If a person’s window of tolerance is smaller, they will be triggered to go outside of the window more easily. As a result, treating trauma is a

By Allyson Guilbert, LCSW View original article published in Psych Central– I’ve been a mental health therapist for over 10 years and in the social work profession for more than 20. I have been pregnant 8 times, with 4 living children. I consider myself to be pretty self-aware, intelligent, and inquisitive. And yet… I had some form of perinatal mood and anxiety disorders (PMADs) with each of my pregnancies. I just didn’t know it. Oh, sure, I got sad and I got angry and with my older son, I couldn’t let myself fully bond to him until he was 9 months old, but I was fine, right? I even took medication, but that’s normal, right? I was introduced to PMADs last year when a friend of a friend posted about it on social media. I was intrigued. This

Every time Angie (four-years-old) would come in the playroom, she would go directly to the dollhouse. Without saying a word, she would play with the doll family, enacting scenarios of her family going to bed and waking up. Every week, she played the same themes. She played in silence and her play therapist allowed Angie to lead the way. Her play therapist didn’t solve problems for Angie. She validated Angie’s feelings and let her know she was there watching and listening. Her therapist provided a safe environment for her to express her feelings and explore her surroundings so she could find the toys that she needed to tell her story. Her play therapist showed her that she was present in the moment and that she cared and understood. She ackn