When I was struggling, confused, and pretty hopeless regarding my own trauma, I remember reading Dr. Peter Levine’s Waking the Tiger. Finally, my strange set of symptoms and behaviors made sense. I wasn’t going crazy. I was actually having a normal reaction to an abnormal situation.
Sadly, research suggests that it takes twelve years from the onset of PTSD symptoms for someone to receive a diagnosis. This means that many, like me, suffer in silence and often get misdiagnosed for a very long time. For me, a diagnosis wasn’t a label. It was a compass pointing in the direction of help. With time and appropriate treatment, I got better.
Today, it means the world to me to join The Meadows as a Senior Fellow and advocate for its specialty eating disorder program, The Meadows Ranch. Dr. Levine, the author of that book that helped me so much, is a Senior Fellow, too! Yes, this is yet another full circle moment in my life. Years ago, I never could have imagined having the chance to work with the nation’s premiere program for treating trauma.
If you struggle with PTSD, other trauma-related symptoms, or something else, hold onto this kind of hope. Healing can happen, and recovery can bring the most beautiful gifts, often ones that showed up in the ugliest of packages.
You are not alone. (I once thought I was.) Get help, and never, never, never give up.
Read the announcement on The Meadows Blog.
PTSD, recovery, trauma, treatment