What’s the password? We enter these secret codes daily. Why? It’s all about protection, us wrapping our precious information and assets with padded, warm layers of security. We use codes to prevent or annihilate pesky threats like the strongest insecticide. We use them like fences—cueing strangers to keep out and respect our privacy. Overall, secret codes and passwords are designed to enhance … [Read more...] about Code-switching (Fawning): A Race-based Traumatic Stress Response
Mother Dearest?: Understanding Covert Maternal Narcissism
“Mother knows best,” they say. Have you ever questioned the possibility that such a bold statement could’ve come straight from the maternal mouth of ‘mother dearest’? What if these words are just a ploy to make the world bow down and mindlessly adhere to the matriarch’s narcissistic regime? Whatever purpose this declaration serves, we know that it can be detrimental; it prevents the world … [Read more...] about Mother Dearest?: Understanding Covert Maternal Narcissism
We Beg to Differ: Endometriosis, Quality of Life, and Rethinking the Term ‘Life-threatening Disease’
What does it mean to be diagnosed with a life-threatening disease? Does the term only entail being given so many days, weeks, months, or years to live? Who considers conditions that aren’t potentially fatal yet induce insufferable quality of life issues? Reproductive health headlines claim that endometriosis isn’t widely recognized as a life-threatening disease. In fact, the condition … [Read more...] about We Beg to Differ: Endometriosis, Quality of Life, and Rethinking the Term ‘Life-threatening Disease’
Racial Gaslighting (Mass Manipulation), Self-gaslighting, and the Grey Rock Method
It’s one thing to deny and downplay one person’s lived experiences—twisting their words and reality like a spine-chilling contortionist and shoving them into a deep hole of self-doubt via gaslighting. It’s another thing to undermine and minimize painful experiences linked to entire racial groups. Now that’s what you call mass manipulation, rearing its ugly head in the form of racial … [Read more...] about Racial Gaslighting (Mass Manipulation), Self-gaslighting, and the Grey Rock Method
“Seen Being”: Racial Trauma and Social Invisibility (Poetry)
“Seen Being” When your existence seems trivial, And grief grows from the pit of your soul To stomach, numb, empty, PTSD Seeking an ounce of empathy, sensitivity That’s offered genuinely, and to be Viewed as a vital part of a human entity Or feel a sense of belonging As others don’t save yet selflessly protect You or at least show some decency, respect Do you know what I mean? This is … [Read more...] about “Seen Being”: Racial Trauma and Social Invisibility (Poetry)
Racial Trauma and Social Invisibility: Seeing and Believing Mental Anguish beyond the DSM-5
Cultural heritage and history observance periods last for 28 to 31 days. These celebratory tributes become somber occasions when descendants consider the oppressive forces that incessantly wreak havoc on their wellness—from racial profiling to public lynching and brutality disguised as ‘protecting and serving’. Trauma scraps—cut from a thick cloth of racial, ethnic, and cultural identity … [Read more...] about Racial Trauma and Social Invisibility: Seeing and Believing Mental Anguish beyond the DSM-5
