Jenna Grace
PsychCentral
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Past articles by Jenna:
How Writing This Blog Helped with My Trauma Recovery (and What Your Readership Means to Me)
Dear Reader, I remember when I first came across Psych Central. I was lost. Scared. Searching. And it felt like an instant space for support. Shortly thereafter, I began writing a blog series for Psych Central. And I've never felt more honored. → Read More
Trauma, PMDD and Women’s Mental Health: Straining to See Through Premenstrual FogÂ
My car is almost 16 years old. I love it. But it's at the end of its road, I'm afraid. Time to retire my trusty steed. In my search for a new car, I found one I knew I needed to act on this week before it was gone. Something I wasn't prepared to do just days before my period. Because when my premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) shows up, I suffer at its mercy until I bleed. → Read More
CPTSD, PTSD and Intergenerational Trauma: Don’t Let Fear of Change Prevent You from Growing
After contemplating getting my first tattoo for the past year, I finally found someone I think is the right artist for me, so I sent her an email. I received an → Read More
CPTSD, PTSD, OCD and Trauma: How Creating Boundaries Will Set You Free
For the last few months, I've started telling myself I can no longer cry because things are hard. Because life is hard. Because crying does nothing to change it. I'm not referring to the pain-releasing crying that is healing. I'm referring to the defeated crying that keeps me down. Stuck in an underworld. Unable to see my way out. → Read More
Trauma, Empathy and Mindfulness: Creating and Holding Space and Boundaries
After suffering extreme loss of myself, I’m learning to let go of the pain. To move all the pain and trauma out of my body to create space for love and joy. For regardless of what happened or what happens, life moves on. And it’s up to me how I live... → Read More
OCD, PTSD, SPD and COVID: Masks, Panic Attacks and a Trip to TargetÂ
Right before COVID hit, I was just starting to break free from the stiff hold my rules have had on me for decades. The rules I’d set in place to help myself survive were slowly lessening. Melting away as I learned to let go. And everyday things like... → Read More
CPTSD, PTSD and Intergenerational Trauma: We Are in This Together (And 8 Tips for Healing)
Image by Annie Spratt from Pixabay Dear Reader, It’s been a tough few weeks, and I was at a loss for what to write about because I have been too depressed to feel creative. But then as I caught up on emails, I noticed how important it is for those... → Read More
CPTSD, PTSD and Intergenerational Trauma: How the Pandemic Became the PredatorÂ
I knew the pandemic was triggering for me. Bringing back old compulsions. Familiar fears. Making me feel stuck. Anxious. Ready to fight, flee or freeze. But I didn't quite understand why until speaking with my psychotherapist and learning that it is precisely my fear response that has made me relapse into a post-traumatic stress response. So basically, the pandemic became the predator. → Read More
CPTSD, PTSD and Trauma: Now’s the Time to Understand Intergenerational TraumaÂ
Intergenerational trauma refers to trauma that has been carried from one generation to another. The trauma rides along our genes like an anxious passenger. Wanting truths to be told. Wrongs to be righted. Justice to be served. → Read More
CPTSD, PTSD and Trauma: A Space for Black Voices
I've been contemplating how to be a supportive, Caucasian writer during a time when Black voices need the page. Need the space. Without influence. So if you are → Read More
CPTSD, PTSD and Trauma: 13 Ways to Play to Honor Our Inner Child
So many of us are suffering right now. Amid Mental Health Awareness and Trauma Awareness Month. Amid lockdown. Amid a pandemic. It's like the universe (or is it → Read More
Trauma, PTSD and Lockdown: When You’re Triggered While Stuck at Home
My PTSD symptoms have been off the hook during lockdown. Which is ironic because the door is closed. Locked down. There's no freedom to come and go as we please → Read More
Anxiety, Depression and Lockdown: Surrendering the Need to Control
While dealing with some recent trauma, I had been voluntarily socially distancing myself for the last two years. And I was finally getting ready to go out into → Read More
PTSD, SPD and Chronic Pain: How to Heal When You Don’t Have Access to Your Healers
Even though I am healthy and safe in my home, I can feel the chaos amid this pandemic. In my body. Scrambling and scattering my mind. Taking away my schedule → Read More
PTSD, PMDD and Menstruation: My First Moon Lodge (and 10 Tips for Creating Yours)
My menstrual cycle often ends badly. In tears. Screams. Fits of rage. My PTSD and PMDD symptoms become exasperated, and I dissociate often. Pulling me out of → Read More
PTSD and Trauma Triggers: Learning How to Cohabitate Safely During Quarantine
After working from home for two years — having the house to myself, getting settled in my routines, scheduling my time in each room of the house as I please — it is a major adjustment to have my husband home each day. And considering how easily I can be triggered, it has taken a lot these last few weeks to learn how to cohabitate safely. → Read More
Anxiety, Depression and Self-care: Meeting Yourself Where You’re at When You’re Overwhelmed
Lately, I’ve been trying to be aware not to push myself. Not to put unrealistic expectations on myself. Not to lose myself in the work and the plans and the errands. Not to become overwhelmed amid the recent schedule changes and chaos that the spread... → Read More
Anxiety, Depression and Dissociation: How Being in the Present Will Bring You Back to Yourself
I've been on a healing journey for quite some time now. Where I need quiet. To be able to think. To be able to write. Where I need to eat nourishing foods. → Read More
Shame: What It Is and How to Fight ItÂ
Shame. A concept that can stand alone. For it carries enough power to. It is the terrifying force many of us have to fight every day. Overpower. Show who is → Read More
Anxiety, Depression and Mental Health: 11 Ways to Be Less Stressed During the Workday
Life is stressful. For everyone. But when your mental health suffers, it feels like life is harder for you than for others. There are days where even getting → Read More