• Hostage To My Captor

    Stockholm Syndrome, that condition that causes hostages to develop a psychological alliance with their captors during captivity. I believe I have developed the mental health equivalent with my captor, PTSD/Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). Is it strange of me that I get somewhat overprotective of my PTSD/MDD as if it’s something I cherish like a close…

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  • The Dawn of Ineffective Coping Strategies

    The death of my mother and how it impacted me, wow, where do I start except at the beginning. My childhood, actually my teenage years, was no different then anybody elses growing up in the time period of the late 70’s and early 80’s or at least I thought was no different, but then again,…

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  • The Labyrinth

    In 2019 I started therapy at a clinic for my occupationally caused PTSD and Depression. This clinic is situated in an old renovated century home turned place of healing and surrounded by beautiful gardens, a tall hedge row on the north side, a beautiful scenic pond area and a large maze like collection of rocks,…

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  • EMDR: What’s It Like

    What’s it like using EMDR in a therapy session to deal with a problematic incident? My therapy session starts like every other previous therapy session, with idle chat with my therapist about how my previous week was. The conversation has nothing to do at all with any of my previous incidents I have responded to…

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  • Stigma And The Elephant In The Room

    Early in February 2019 I knew something wasn’t quite right with me. The continual arguments with my wife, the emotional outbursts, unexpected crying and anger, anger with everybody and everything lead me to the conclusion that I needed help. I reached out for it and started weekly therapy for what was likely PTSD. Stigma, “screw…

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  • The Hollow Words I Live By

    Living with PTSD and major depressive disorder, I was shocked to learn, and unfortunately experience on a daily basis, just how numb my emotions and feelings have become. While, like is common with PTSD, I can experience negative emotions and feelings like anger, irritability and frustration, it’s the positive ones that elude me every day.…

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  • My Love/Hate Relationship With Stigma

    Stigma, the sound of that very word strikes anger in many of us burdened with mental health challenges. It also strikes fear in many others and is one of the more significant factors in stopping many with mental health challenges in actually reaching out for help. For me I have a love/hate relationship with stigma.…

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  • 10 Things I’ve Learned

    1. Your therapist doesn’t fix you. Your therapist is there to help you fix yourself! 2. Your “family” is not as big as you thought it was. 3. Non-PTSD people, while truly caring and with good intentions, generally have no clue how to actually help, what to say or what to do so there are…

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  • 10 Things I Wish Others Knew About PTSD

    1. PTSD IS NOT a mental disorder, it is a brain injury with physical changes occurring to various parts of the brain like the amygdala, hippocampus and prefrontal cortex because of exposure to traumatic experiences 2. Its generally not like the movies portray it 3. It is a 24/7/365 job staying ontop of it and…

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Rob Leathen
Rob Leathen
Leathen Educational Services

When We Recover Loudly, We Keep Others From Dying Quietly