It’s the Fourth of July, and the whole city sounds like war. In my husband’s head, it is war all over again, battles he thought he left behind in the Iraqi desert years before I met him.
Inside, our home is no retreat. Nothing drowns out the thunder of gunfire…
In our individualistic society, therapists, counselors, and researchers tend to focus on individual people, not their families or relationships. …
As a person who’s been through her share of trauma, it’s taken me a long time to learn how to say a few things I should’ve been able to say years ago, things that mean I respect myself.
What does a woman say when she wants better for herself? …
Across cultures and geographic locations, natural disasters have always affected poor families more than they have affluent people, and the California fires are no different. Poor families are more vulnerable to these blazes and the devastating effects they have on lives.
“When it comes to disasters, differences in vulnerability can…
Some stories feel impossibly difficult to write, let alone publish, but those are usually the ones people like the most. Those are the stories that get people talking, which is exactly what I’m trying to do — start a conversation.
So here goes.
This year, the world has changed, and so has the way we look at it. The things we say reflect that change, and I think a handful of new phrases will continue to shape who we are and how we think and act long after the pandemic is over.
Here…
Deborah Huffing, 66, from Dripping Springs, Texas, kept a secret well into adulthood. She constantly picked at her skin, peppering her back with scars and legions, and she managed to hide it from everyone, even her husband of 21 years, who she slept with in the dark to hide the…
In the summer of 2009, I traveled abroad in northern India for six weeks. The experience was spiritual, heartwrenching, and humbling. …
When it comes to my veteran husband’s PTSD, there’s one symptom that haunts him more than the others. It follows him into his dreams and pounces without warning. Some nights it’s all he can talk about. What hurts him the most is his survivors’ guilt.
“Two [of his friends] were…
Whether we called it “shellshock” or the “thousand-yard stare,” we’ve been aware of the ways that trauma impacts the human mind and body for about six thousand years. …
Sarah Sharp writes about mental health and social injustice. You can find more of her work at soldiers-wives.com and www.sarahsharp.us.
