I am stoked that PTSD Parent and The Flinch are featured in the Sweatpants & Sanity column of Sweatpants & Coffee. This website is one of my all-time favorites in the history of Earth (or whatever, that’s cool and stuff…). When they asked if I would like to write up something about PTSD Parent, I jumped at the chance.
The article begins:
The Flinch has always been there.
I first remember The Flinch when I was a junior in high school. My family imploded from years of alcoholism and abuse. I came forward, telling anyone who would listen that my father had sexually abused me for several years.
Every time I told somebody, there was The Flinch. A physical reaction, like I had delivered an open-handed slap to the face. Or an involuntary emotional reaction that I saw just behind the other person’s eyes; like an emotional smack or a curtain closing.
I saw The Flinch a lot, until one day, it wasn’t there anymore because I stopped speaking. My voice went dormant. I studied hard and worked my way through my last year of high school and then college. I eventually got a job as a teacher and I got married and had kids. All the while, blissfully pretending that nothing flinchable had ever happened to me.
Okay, not blissfully pretending. How about straight up denial? Because I was “over it.” I had gone to counseling when I was in college and I had “moved on.”
Until I had a complete breakdown about ten years ago, and my recovery really began.
Click here to read the rest of the article over at Sweatpants & Coffee!
Here’s the video that I made for PTSD Parent that talks more about The Flinch:
About PTSD Parent
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