If you have been through something that left your nervous system on high alert, you have probably been told to relax. Breathe. Meditate. Try yoga. Maybe you tried. Maybe it made you want to put your fist through a wall. I want to say something that might come as a relief. You are not failing at calming down. Your body is doing exactly what it learned to do, and it learned it for a reason. Your body is not broken. It is armed. When people talk about fight, flight, or freeze, m

Veterans, trauma survivors, and other individuals who have gone through great adversity may develop PTSD and not know it. Sometimes, maybe more often than people realize, an individual with PTSD can be diagnosed, see the list of criteria in front of them, and still not recognize that it applies to them. In fact, the person with PTSD is often the last to know. A spouse, a parent, a close friend, or a coworker usually notices something first. They may not have a name for it. Th