UNITED STATES—Alienated, disappointed, embarrassed, furious, humiliated, ignored, inadequate, jealous, judgemental, lonely, overwhelmed, powerless, resentful, scared, skeptical, suspicious, victimized, vulnerable, worried… What common feeling affects your SOUL as a result of the hand you were dealt?
To the left is an example I made myself, although ONE COULD NEVER legitimately create a “hierarchy” of what physical vs mental problems are “worse.”
REMEMBER: trauma is as much perception as it is experience. Look at it though, and note that all will alter a life. Whether the person develops positive perseverance OR PTSD WILL BE up to the strength and support of the person or people around them.
We know this because research shows it.
There are millions of survivors of trauma in America, each with his or her own individual “hand” of cards that play off each other to make unique experience and personality.
For one of my personal heroes, mental illness survivor and research psychologist Eleanor Longden, it was “sexual trauma and abuse” that led to “rage, shame, loss, guilt and low self-worth.”
SOUND FAMILIAR? I am sure.
When I read interviews or writings about her I cry because it is so familiar. Suddenly my brain is hit with a wham-like BOOM because there are so many just like her, just like me and maybe just like you. Living with adaptations in our lives that are SURVIVALISTIC to us, but make others find us weird, paranoid, or non-relatable.too
I can only speculate how many people can relate to her childhood experiences, with a reported minimum 42 million survivors alive today, according to National Association of Adult Survivors of Child Abuse (NAASCA) who also tells us: “one year worth of traumatized kids” cost American taxpayers $585 billion.
Let’s make this FACT more eye-catching for those who are creative-minded. We ignore the root of the problem, while combating the side effects like bullying and labeling. WE KNOW that what children learn at home SUPERSEDES all the schooling, laws, and public service announcements that you can throw your money at. 
It is the unwritten word now: mental illness survivors have MOST LIKELY been abused in some way whether they know it or the memories are repressed, because strong human minds can do that. Traumatic events will leave their scars on our psyche, summed up by Eleanor Longden when she says:
“An important question in psychiatry shouldn’t be what’s wrong with you but rather what’s happened to you.” She continues, “What happened to me was catastrophic, and I survived only because of luck…”
The luck was her psychiatrist who thought OUTSIDE THE BOX, helping her work around the luck of a bad draw. Longden says, “I’m not anti-medication; I’m pro-choice. Hearing voices is like left-handedness; it’s a human variation, not open to cure, just coping.”
Before thinking this woman is different, I propose it’s merely how you perceive that VOICE you are also hearing.
Is it your mother, father, sibling or boss’s voice in your head, dishing out criticism, warning, encouragement or reward?
Maybe the one strong enough to intrude your thoughts about EVERYTHING: God?
For me it’s two, my double consciousness and they both have my own voice: one with a bias meter and the other MEAN AS HELL and in constant need of being kept in check. A result of my experiences, my unique personality, blah blah, blah…
At this point, life is a big gamble with the most important hand being the first, dealt upon birth. Chin up though, you can always get that WILD CARD that changes everything!
Click Here to take the very IMPORTANT ACE test, helping Uncle Sam put a number on the widespread problem that abuse IS. I personally think if your quality of life has been affected by trauma, you should consider it your due diligence to go take this test.
