CPTSD Injures Your Ability to Form Relationships: Here's What To Do (4 Video Compilation) 

I get exhausted with people.

I teared up when you said: "You need to be loved. You need to be included." Thank you for this, I needed to hear it.

Its wierd to look back at 52 yrs of life and realize youve lived the entire thing in flight mode/bad loneliness. I always wondered why I struggled to be interested in others and unable to remember their life details like others do effortlessly. But this makes sense, a very painful childhood of being neglected/invisible, teen years and young adulthood of rejection/ostracism. You just dont want to try anymore after enough of it. The subconscious flight even while being physically there, its all I know how to do to feel ok around others. I hope others can find the way while they still can.

I can't have my heart broken again. 💔 I just can't. Everything you've stated is true. I get lonely sometimes, and sad, but mostly I've begun to enjoy being alone. I have no one judging me. No one telling me or treating me like I'm "less than". No one can ignore me if I CHOOSE to be alone. Sometimes it hurts that I'm not a part of something but I push that away. Mostly, I choose it before it is chosen for me. Alone. It's safe.

Other reasons: 1) parents didn't model relationships with each other or others 2) we don't know how to find and form relationships with people who are good for us, so we give up.

00:00 🤔 Trauma survivors often struggle with connecting due to triggers from interacting with others. 01:50 🤝 CPTSD and childhood PTSD significantly contribute to isolation and loneliness, often not openly discussed. 03:01 🛡 Isolation isn't always apparent; some individuals secretly isolate despite being in social settings or relationships. 04:09 🚫 Past neglect or abuse can result in triggered reactions, causing social awkwardness or avoidance. 05:19 🐾 For many, pets offer initial comfort before attempting deeper human connections in healing. 06:12 🧠 Accepting triggers in connections is vital, learning to handlethem reduces the urge to isolate. 07:22 💬 Managing triggers often involves confronting underlying fears gradually through interaction. 08:01 🧠 Childhood trauma can affect brain structure, impacting closeness, attunement, and responses to others. 09:23 🚫 Trauma survivors can struggle with social skills due to lack of guidance or unstable parental figures. 10:18 🚥 Perceptions may be skewed due to past lies or unreliable information, leading to social discomfort. 11:39 ⚠ Trauma can cause tendencies towards anger, blame, or boundary issues, impacting relationships. 13:41 💔 Isolation due to lack of boundaries may safeguard against discomfort but worsens loneliness. 14:22 🤷 Loneliness resulting from trauma wounds affects mental, physical health, and self-defeating behaviors. 15:14 🤝 Healing from trauma involves reconnecting with others; connections aid in the healing process. 16:20 🧠 Rationalizations may hinder reconnecting, preventing the acknowledgment of isolation's impact. 18:13 🔄 Prolonged isolation can impair social skills, leading to difficulties in engaging with others. 19:36 🤔 Isolation intensifies self-centered thinking and reduces emotional and conversational attunement. 21:14 📺 Media consumption during isolation can exacerbate negative perceptions and hinder social re-engagement. 21:27 🌍 Isolating oneself due to trauma can create a perception that everyone and everything is bad, hindering the ability to address actual threats effectively. 22:10 🤝 Lack of empathy or connection while sharing hardships leads to isolation; being in a mental bubble prevents understanding and connection. 23:32 🛠 Healing trauma-induced isolation requires intentional efforts towards self-regulation, recognizing when one is disregulated, and taking proactive measures to re-regulate. 24:58 🚶‍♀ Re-regulation starts from learning to regulate oneself without relying on external validation or responses from others to feel better. 26:21 🔄 Difficulty in forming connections might stem from feeling ostracized, living inauthentically, or lacking inner power to express oneself among specific social circles. 27:28 🏘 Personal experiences of ostracization due to misunderstandings or false perceptions emphasize the significance of genuine connections and finding supportive environments. 33:30 🛣 Isolation tends to perpetuate mistakes and difficulties; embracing connections and self-improvement helps in finding supportive and understanding people. 37:12 🤲 Joining support groups or communities that share the journey of healing from trauma can offer valuable insights and a sense of shared progress. 41:05 🚪 Isolating due to CPTSD triggers can lead to a gradual closing off of life options. 41:48 😔 Feeling uncomfortable with loneliness can motivate reconnection and healing from trauma triggers. 42:30 🚪 Isolation offers instant relief from stress triggered by CPTSD symptoms. 43:11 🙅 Covert avoidance strategies hinder genuine connection, leading to shallow relationships. 44:59 🛀 Isolation might initially feel like self-care but can lead to a sense of dread and disconnection. 46:22 🌟 Interacting with people positively impacts mental, emotional, and physical well-being. 48:01 🤝 Being of service to others aids in personal growth and maturity. 49:11 🎁 Emphasizes the importance of connections for utilizing personal gifts and finding fulfillment. 50:21 🛡 Calming triggers from childhood trauma can alleviate the need for isolation and self-defeating behaviors. 52:00 🧠 Early neglect or abandonment can deeply affect brain development and identity formation. 57:36 🏠 Feeling different or having gaps in personal history due to adoption can impact one's sense of belonging and identity. 01:02:39 🆓 Embrace freedom after divorce and find your passion by experimenting with various interests. 01:03:21 🎨 Pursue creative arts like music, painting, or physical activities like yoga for joy and healing. 01:04:29 🌟 Engage in spiritual practices, join a dynamic community, take classes, or explore volunteering for fulfillment. 01:05:36 🌱 Overcome anxiety by trying things out gradually to discover where you find joy and make a difference in others' lives. 01:06:17 💡 Identify your unique gifts by recognizing how your actions positively impact others, leading to purpose and satisfaction in life.

Please let Cathy know that she is not alone. I'm 64, adopted-twice, first adoptive mother died when I was 18mos and put in foster care with adoptive family. Then adopted by other family at age 5. My adoptive mom was physically and emotionally abusive and also neglectful. I feel like I've never belonged anywhere. I feel like there's no "me" in here. This video is my first step in trying to wade through all the "stuff." I hope Kathy perseveres. ❤

I work in customer service and you see the worst of people getting angry over the most trivial things! I’ve been doing this for almost 8 yrs at my current job and 11 yrs at a previous job. It truly makes you isolate and lose hope in society because people can be so mean!! 😞

The story about the cul de sac, those women, oh I felt for you so much. I feel this sort of thing has happened to me again and again and that at 63 I have finally told myself, enough, no more putting myself out there. I will cherish my isolation and pets because it works for me. I can't do it again. Each time I begin a new job I have to go through this again, trying too hard to belong and being rejected again and again. I am okay being isolated. It seems there isn't anyone out there who is a good match for me. But this is just how I feel today.

The more isolated healthcare patients become, the more they have behaviors. Isolation really does affect cognition and emotional regulation.

After watching enough videos I conclude I have CPTSD, I have come a long way but Im still struggling with self loathing, self esteem issues, I inherently believe I am unlovable, which I know its not true but it doesn't go away. My therapist told me to work on my self talk and rephrase "No one loves me" to "Sometimes I feel like no one loves me"

I created a program for people stuck in the grief of their best friend. My best friend died 21 years ago, unexpectedly, at 22 years old. 16 years later, I finally realized how much I’d isolated myself and have worked my way out. In my process, I help ladies who’ve lost their BFF to move in the grief so they can feel hopeful again, they can make sense of the world, and begin to move forward. This letter is a divine reminder of the need for my journey-work. 😊❤ Thank you!

People are triggering. A garden variety conversation can fast feel like an intense interrogation. My armpits become humid, I hear a pulse in my ears, the dizziness sets in. It's a lot to deal with while trying to answer questions and appear to be a sane human.

I’ve lived alone out in the woods on the side of a mountain 5 miles outside of town 2 miles off the pavement for the last 12 years. I can go weeks and only talk to the cashier at the grocery store. I spent the last three years trying to cultivate connection with what’s left of my family. This Christmas, I was told under no uncertain terms that no one‘s interested in what I have to say and that when I show up they endure me. Needless to say I’m not going back. I’ve been diagnosed with CPTSD several years ago. After this Christmas experience I believe I’m also somewhere on the spectrum. Those two things overlap and I’m too exhausted to try to figure it out at this point. I think I need to get a dog.

Unfortunately, I have became very isolated, more so every year. The pandemic was terrible, but it also made me love being isolated even more. I am not sure that it is worth it to heal. At least when I am alone, I know where I stand. I don't want to be let down anymore by others. If you don't depend on anyone, you can't be hurt anymore when you can't 🤷‍♀️

I LOVE being alone, I am never lonely, I prefer it,people are triggering, for the most part they are ignorant and unkind. I know that I am smarter than most and they hate that so I would rather be by myself!

This video is PERFECT, for me right now. I just went to a celebration of Life as support for a friend. I only new 2 people...OH BOY.. the emotional rollercoaster of emotions left me exhausted and I haven't answered a text or call ALL day.

My hobby of Model Car Building and Collecting brings me a lot of joy...

I was a neglected child. Infancy it started I've been told.

Forcing myself to sit and watch your videos can be so tough but it's so rewarding. Thank you so much for producing free content that is so helpful. I appreciate you.

Thank you, Anna. I was just thinking about what a paradise 2020 Covid Quarantine was, for me at least. Your insights here are very helpful. 🌹🙏🏼🌹

Kathy, please know that you, as the rest of us who didn't get what we needed as a child, are important. Build yourself up by doing what makes you feel good now. Better late than never. Take classes at city parks that interest you. Read. Good luck to you😍😘

I stopped being with people because of constant let down,judged or being treated as an option... I feel very good when I meet people but nothing pans out longer. When I found someone who accepted me for whom I am God took him away from me in 4 months 😢

I can agree with so much of this, but there are a lot of just shitty people out there sadly. We are a society of feral people. And I’ve done very nice and supportive things for others without having it reciprocated. Finding emotionally healthy and good people is a bit like finding a herd of unicorns.

Kathy your feeling mirrors my own and I am so blessed you asked the questions that I also need answered!! Ao thank you for putting yourself out there because the CCFairy is helping me while helping you. Like a sister-hood, and I never had a sister but this is what I think it might be like - sharing in love.

I fail to understand why it’s so mandatory that we “STOP isolating “ …or why it’s called isolating at all - If I get burned touching a hot stove repeatedly and I finally get wise and pull away am I somehow going to need to work to find a resolution with said hot stove and re-connect 🤷‍♂️ …in this “cult-ure” that is insanely toxic and sick the normal people are those who have the sense to set some distance between us and them.

I can relate some to your story at 27:00. As a first-time mom we moved to an apartment in small rural town and were surrounded by empty-nesters. No kids for my daughter to socialize with. My husband was working and taking night classes so he was often gone. We were alone most of the time. Then COVID hit and it got worse. I made an effort to enroll my daughter in things so she could get to know other kids, but I struggled to get to know the other moms. I kind of felt like there was a class divide. They were all better off than we were and I think it made things kind of awkward that we didn't have the same lifestyle. When my daughter left preschool, a few of the moms told me a particular teacher they were requesting for kindergarten, and then one of them informed me again when the teacher preference switched (there were only going to be 2 classes). I went through the trouble to request that particular teacher with the thought that my daughter would be able to start kindergarten with the group of girls she went to preschool with. We get to the first day of school and most of the kids - and this whole group of girls - are in this other class. I would chalk it up to random selection, except I knew they were all friends and had been talking about requesting teachers. I don't know why I wasn't informed about the 2nd switch. It's a small thing, but it was so awkward. When I asked one mom on that first day which class her daughter was in (in a friendly tone), she told me and pulled this awkward face because she knew she'd been telling me she requested the other teacher. It was too awkward to ask what happened. It's ultimately a small thing and we got over it, but I couldn't shake the feeling these other women wanted to keep us at arms length. I have no idea what we did wrong! I'm generally quiet and try very hard to be friendly. 😕

I didn't talk to a single person at school in 11th & 12th grade. I couldn't explain why that was. Thanks for making these videos. They help me understand myself.

BTW when Covid hit nothing really changed for me and my GF - we were living like that already so finding out this is hard for other people was quite new for me. We are both introverted, we want to go out sometimes but there are rarely enough resources - we got drained just from surviving financially and meeting people - even good friends -is even more draining for us. When me or my GF go to meet someone for a day, we return home super tired, then sleep almost 12 hours and need a social vacuum for few days.

Wow. I can relate to every word spoken, nothing lost. Thank you so much for sharing this. Very grateful to you💛🙏

This is so good. So accurate and so very very helpful. You're opening my eyes to understand why most of my life has been devastated and I've suffered so much. I'm now working on change. Thank you. I will be taking your course soon!

Hey, Kathy, thank you for sharing your story. I've felt alone in the world ever since I remember, awkward in social situations and a sense of not belonging - or being downright rejected at times! Ouch! I find it deeply reassuring that, paradoxically, there are so many of us who belong in the "I don't feel I belong" community!😅 I don't know you but I'm sure you have gifts the world needs. I've only just begun to allow myself to believe I have them, that there are people who might actually value what I have to give. You, too. Allow yourself to believe, and you will see how valued you are. The world needs each one of us. Like pieces of a puzzle, we each are unique, and the puzzle can't be complete without each one of us - including YOU!❤ BLESSINGS. 🙏✨🌈

I relate to Kathy. I'm 62. Still looking for my purpose and where I fit again.

I felt tightly connected to two people and loosely to others. My two loved ones died a few month ago and I find the reaction of people to loss and grief so appalling. Isolation is my protection shield.

You nailed my ex. Covert Avoidance. His CPTSD is off the charts. Had a mom and family that dealt and did drugs, poverty, etc. He refused to break free from them. I wanted to move away. I lasted 20 years.

I constantly hear that we need to get the narcissists and sociopaths OUT of our life, and then surround ourselves with "quality" people. However, I have not met any quality people. Maybe they already have their own tight group of friends so they are unavailable. However there are no nice people open to meeting me and getting to know me or visa versa. So I remain alone.

I am growing up with abuse and neglect . Thank you Anna for your video, so many tools and mentoring with such compassion and understanding. You have been helping so much.

If things were bad for me before, menopause has made it worse, 1000 fold. Doctors removed all of my female internal organs when it wasn't necessary or reasonable back when I was 30. What I needed was help with my adrenal glands because of stress from CPTSD and my husband who triggered me on purpose and drew our children into triggering me. I was struggling with the childhood traumas and my husband, although I married him because my father was kicking me out of the house because I had graduated High school and his mother was demanding that she move in with him, and I had no where to go, and I had to make room for her.. And since my life didn't matter much, then marrying a narcissist is better than dying. If your adrenal glands don't function none of your other hormone glands function normally so I was deteriorating in every way. The doctor's answer was to gut me like a fish...yep, it only made things worse. It wasn't an answer to anything, except my further misery. I will never forgive myself for letting them do that to me. The surgeries and their mismanagement of medication, hormones etc. rendered me sick all the time and no strength to live a normal life. I now couldn't escape my H and his abuse. I've had several nervous breakdowns where I've stopped all meds and eating. As I've aged the normal phenomenon of hormones dropping has taken a further toll on me in every way. I now have 0 tolerance for people. I have a huge trust issues in myself and all others. I have no good expectations of anyone. I expect to be betrayed by anything breathing as that has been my life experiences. I'm still married to my H...but I give him hell now. I don't hold back. I've become someone I hate, to cope. The good side to that is that he's actually changed for the better lol! That's my revenge, I decided that since doctors rendered me unable to get away from him, he would have to live with his mirror. Guess what? He didn't like his reflection. I repulsed him. I repulse myself, but he treats me better and he's less narcissistic. He's still a narcissist though. He still triggers me. But I won't live forever. I look forward to death. This world is depressing anyway.

Kathy- you are IMPORTANT and sooo needed by myself, those on this platform, and those who you will come in contact with! Keep. Going.❤

I’m exhausted after a 30 minute interaction. I could sleep for 3 hours after that.😢

Mrs. Runkle I recently found your channel and CPTSD is the umbrella for which all my issues, for the first time in my life, make sense. So much so I can’t watch your videos to the end because I lose emotional control and have to stop watching. This realization is a milestone of self awareness that makes me feel worse than better, but all my major milestones of self realization have been that way, so coming to terms with this takes time, yes all do to avoidance. 🙏 NAMASTE

My cptsd got triggered this last Sunday at my job. There was a lot going on in my body and my mind which I did separate myself from and just watch the emotions and thoughts play out. I then decided to call of on Monday to recharge my battery and kept learning from you videos which I appreciate very much ❤️ you do a wonderful job explaining what’s been going on with me. But I called off the day before my days off so it was like an extra day. I felt really bad and selfish about doing so but it needed to be done. It felt like everyone energy was suffocating me. Here I am going back recharged and full of techniques I learned to help myself when I do become triggered.

Thank you so much ❤

Kathy, I know it’s belated, but we are so glad you’re here!!❤

I was diagnosed with social anxiety, and as I view more of your videos I realize i migh have CPTSD. I am following an cognitive behavioral therapy and I feel its helping me to reconnect with people, but its hard. Thank you for sharing this information

No, thank you! I am going to take the free course and want more involvement, but I do procrastinate. I am isolated, have been all my life. Trusting anybody is difficult. So just thinking about breaking habit and the work I know I have to commit to makes my anxiety shoot through the roof. But this is a constant in my life, I hope till now.

This channel is a God send. I need this guidance.

I've been pausing this video every few sentences. Things like what are feelings, what are boundaries, It's good that she someone who has recovered from it. Bc most therapists will not understand how you don't know how to be open and the few times when you're accidentally open you were attacked. There's a girl in my RCIA class, who's younger than me and is social worker therapist. She was very direct and wouldn't take I don't know as an answer. She knew her stuff about fawning but also didn't realize how it made me very uncomfortable just commented on the "cute" expression I made when uncomfortable. And also realized I wouldn't be comfortable saying I was uncomfortable. And goes on to give me advice. Take compliments and shit...I'm like yes, I need to learn about who I am...but she had a hard time related to someone who actually had the issues. Like textbook stuff using jargon words like "boundaries" "abuse", "pushing people away", "fear of intimacy". Using these and the explanations go no where with me. They're almost always presented with people who were poor and drug addicts, sexual , violence abuse which is not me. People just assume emotional abuse isn't real and you need to just get over it and do it! But when you do it - oh you're doing it wrong, now we can tell you what to do and label you stupid. (You literary weren't taught how to understand different people) And they usually don't believe you (especially if they think you're attractive), I open up - you don't have problems you're pretty, when in fact I do and just shared them with you, or don't understand you and then tell you what to do based off false information that they made up. Then proceed to say you're overreacting it's your fault...Sorry the ppl I went to help were my family. The people who created the issues in the first place. The thing is I'm constantly on a different scale of angry. I just found that out - anger is frustration - when she saws you feel awkward - that's what I feel...but you're not supposed to feel anger - let it go through you -- but the same issues keep pointing up and you don't want to ignore them. Speaking gracefully about a dismissive behavior (have to recognize its dismissive first - in the moment which is hard) is usually fruitless. These people who dismiss you are either just like you or are just mean. Nice people never dismiss you - they are lovely, kind and graceful. This was ramble -- as usual - it's a relief though to realize I'm not Autistic or ADHD I'm just traumatized! yay!

Kathy, you are amazing. I'm so glad I watched this video. While watching, I was able to do my nails and get over a very heated argument with my brother that brought back some horrible childhood memories. So it's a win win

thank you Anna for your wisdom and support. You are so cool.

😊 love you Anna. You're providing needed ointment to so many wounds.

So grateful for your content. You do such a great job of breaking everything down and helping to connect the dots about these complex dynamics.

You are amazing!I love this content!

I tend toward isolation, but having raised a child with ASD, it’s become so apparent to me how interaction is actually an essential part of how we get regulated with reciprocal social interaction.

You are amazing. Thank you for helping us with all your amazing videos.

I have been more selective on group gatherings.. I had an experience on Sunday that is making me look into the new year with opened eyes. I am more comfortable with one on one friendships for now.

Hi Kathy, I hope that you can find peace within you. Strength you already have. Everybody can walk the easy way; it takes people like you or/and Anna to show the world what's possible from an impossible startingpoint in life. I am proud of you. ❤❤😊

A lot of what you're saying makes perfect sense however I am a social person and I do all the giving and no reciprocation on their end. So now I've decided being chronically alone makes sense. I socialize at the grocery store and when I get a haircut.

Reality is knowing opposites don't exist. Really. True.

thanks so much for sharing your story Kathy! ❤. This is a powerful, comprehensive video that i cant wait to share with someone!!!

You're so helpful & kind. Thank you...😊

I love love love when you said if you begin to think “everyone is bad then you can’t actually do anything about things that are actually bad” that is so true because you isolate yourself and end up enabling by doing nothing and fearing the world” I have this cycle and I’m very aware of it. That really helped me tho. I’ll use that now as a mantra seriously!

I really appreciate you. Thank you fur everything you share.

You're a blessing to humanity. Please keep doing this as long as you feel it in your heart! Although some, like myself, are simply meant to be completely alone. You cannot make people like you. It's impossible. But I know there are alot of people that your messages saves!

Omg,thank you for this conversation, I always have regret after being around other people.Im always glad when I'm alone,it's comfortable.I can be clumsy,like a Lucy and Ethel episode,tripping,falling,spilling drinks,or talking to much,so alone has worked for me.

Great video. Thank you❤

Yuck Anna, I'm so sorry about the lying rumor mill. I know how that feels. Glad you got out of there. Bless you for how much you've come through and for helping so many others.

Sometimes I wish I could connect and interact so effortless like I see others do - but more than that mostly I feel safe and calm when I am by myself (with my cat:) I just get overwhelmed with feeling the emotions and energies of others.

Thank you so very much for bringing up being adopted.

Solutions: 1. Experiment with creative arts, yoga, taichi, handicraft, music, running etc. 2. Movement is important for trauma healing. 3. Spiritual pursuits - meditation, faith etc 4. Going back to school, dating, classes, volunteering, fostering 5. Critical questions "what gives you joy?", "Where do you get feedback that you make a difference in people's lives?"

Epic!

Love love love this. Thank you again for creating content to help people like me heal.

This was sooooo helpful to hear. THank you from the depths of my heart for your time and love.

Im so happy to see this video today. Ive been dealing with this exact issue lately.

This is incredibly helpful content. For both my husband, myself, and especially our 13 year old daughter who is isolating so much. She was raised by very emotionally immature parents. We are growing now, but her formative years were not good.

Anna, you make my heart blossom, I really love you for what you are doing for us and that you are such an amazing person, I wish I could have had a mom like you. But I didnt and thats why I am watching your videos.. its still very comforting to see you, having overcome that bigtime struggle of CPTSD. I was diagnosed over a year ago and I think this last couple of months I have slowly grown more isolated again, without me even noticing it at first. Because I had so much stuff to do, I thought that it was the best decision to cut out some stressing social time, but in the end, even though it was stressful oftentimes, just with some random collegues at work, gave me some of that fuel back, to feel seen and heard and ever so slightly validated. I also immediately noticed that I grew bitter these past days, having imaginary talk with people in my head that I knew, that havent called or texted back or that didnt say the thing that I thought they would, blabla. This growing resentment, this slow realization, that it is really better to just cut myself out of peoples lives, because its just no good, people are no good, they either leave me anyway someday or they flat out dont care about me. I am 31 now. And I have lived the greater part of my 20s like that. I am so thankful for you and other healers that I can now see these patterns, correct my course, get myself some quality social time, accepting that people are people and its okay that I might get disappointed. It has took me such a long time, to just be okay with feeling this looming emptiness inside, that... "no one ever sees me unless I put my mask on, unless I text/call first, unless I treat them first, unless whatever". I feel sad for the child that had to go through stuff like this and also for the adult-child that had hurt so many people and had to learn it always the hard way, never knowing why he fucked it up again. But now I do, kind of. I really try to show up, and it feels so satisfying to feel that energy, that I am able to move out of this inner misery. That finally, yes, I am in power, to make a positive change for my life.

You are God sent. Thank you for all you do ❤

Kathy, you are important❤

I’ve always been awkward in social settings and new conversations but after the shutdown I feel like I can’t even communicate with people. It sucks but avoiding is so much easier.

At my 12 step group I found out about Anna👍

I cant stop watching your videos. I am amazed at all of the information you provide to uour audience, and for free. I am grateful and i find relief when i listen to your advice. You validate each cptsd trigger. You know so much about the human brain and mind. You helped me to identify my own issues so that i can progrees forward in my life and relationships. I want to seek a therapist soon so that i can put these exercises and advices into practice. I hope one day ill be able to feel free for more than juet a moment mentally, emotionally, physically, even in my dreams. Merry Christmas to you. ❤ 🎄

I found you recently, and I'm grateful I did! I love listening to you. I feel like you're talking to me most of the time 🙂 thank you so much for all you do 🙏❤

I needed to hear all of this! Thank you!

Thank you❤This is spot on.A very powerful video and it gives me some hope

Another wonderfully resonating message.👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾Thank you!!!

This has been so helpful 💝 Thank you

U r an angel.. what can i say. I am fifty six (!) and i have relized i am cptsd only a few years back.. yes. whats more, i understood its consequences less than a year back! finally, i have managed to understand why my life looks the way they do. i never ever connected my loneliness, my being 'unsuccessful' and so damn different from other people.. why i am forever the outsider. it feels as if a light has been turned on for me; to be able to see, to understand these problematic aspects in my life. big part of it, is due to u, yes. i wanted to thank u, and express my gratitute to u. i dont know u; but i feel so very grateful. to u. the work now, is to deal with it.. and i m trying. its quite a work to be done.. a lifetime work! but i do what i can.. slowly. very slowly, step by step.

Socializing as in going in busy places usually feels superficial and unfulfilling, even if I would be going to places with friends or acquaintances. You can't be congruent between your beliefs system and what you say/do because you don't want the surrounding people (even with the acquaintances or friends you're with) to think you are on edge or mean. Sure it's healthy to know how to formulate one's opinions with words that offer an exchange of ideas. But yeah at least for where I'm living (which is not my home country) it feels like nobody wants to unnerve anyone or take the counterbalance the status quo because it's a "bad look".

I'm having a break from work this week and I joined a nearby yoga place with an introductory 2 weeks unlimited classes deal I feel like it would be great for me to make connections there but whenever a class finishes I attempt to linger for a conversation I can partake in but I just look awkward, smile at people having conversations I'm not a part of and then mentally freak out and leave immediately lol just like every situation ever when I know it would be smart for me to form bonds with others in any capacity at all 😂😢

I’m nearly 54 and only getting enough strength to reach out and get some understanding of this black dog that’s been on my back from my early childhood. I have all these traits mostly through my years. I just can’t seem to connect to anyone, I was abused as a child and lost all my hair on my body at 9, which never came back so I have multiple layers to my disconnect to people. I am married and that’s a struggle, I would like nothing more than a small cottage myself with my dogs and a nuclear bunker to prepare for life alone.

I REALLY needed that. Thank you for explaining and helping me put the puzzle pieces together in understanding why I push people away and isolate myself. You really hit the nail on the head with a few points. After my mom passed away last year, I was so alone, hurt, guilty, and traumatized. I really needed help and friends, but it felt like no one understood me. People felt like they were walking on eggshells with me. I was triggered by everything. I did start to feel like I was better and "stronger" (I hate that word!) because I had no one, no friends, family, partner and I was alone and didn't need anyone! But I did start to get weird. Every interaction seemed to get more complicated and confusing. I was sick and tired of getting hurt and feeling betrayed by people, that one by one, people started disappearing from my life. My God, I needed this. I took notes in my journal, so maybe I could look back on some of the things you said. I think I'm finally at the point, yes, I need therapy, but I'm going to try the course and actively work on reaching out to people. I have tried to reach out to people, but yesterday, after a huge trigger and disappointment, a friend from out of town, that was visiting, invited me to go out with them and one of them was someone who was a close friend, told me last year I hurt her, so honestly, I was afraid and avoiding this friend. So I made up an excuse, it was an hour drive, too short notice, and I was still in my PJs at 8pm. I have a lot to think about now. I need to review these points. Thank you!

This is the best video on this topic I've encountered so far. Thank you!

Hello Cathy 😊 You and i share our years along with the desire to know something good came of our lives. 🥺There are a bunch of us! Not crazy about any of our baggage just happy we're here! I understand the feeling of not 'belonging to anything or anyone, our history has some similarities. I hope you stick around! My heart goes out to you❤ TY for sharing Dear CCF you are the best!!! EVER! You are an amazing person. I hope you truly know how much you are loved & appreciated! THANK YOU 💞

You truly are a Crappy Childhood Angel !!! I’m loving this channel. I’m currently having breakthroughs with EMDR Therapy and Sand Play Therapy for C-PTSD and this is the best thing for me to be on my way to wellness!! I’m so happy and hopeful now. I’m still in the throws of it but now I know I can navigate it and really pull out of the debilitating loneliness, isolation and prolonged grief. Thank you so very much!! I’m grateful. 🤗🤗🤗☀️🙏🏽☀️🌺

These videos are so helpful thank you Anna

This is one of my favorite videos. It covers all the aspects of the struggle with relationships and CPTSD. Thank you so much. I needed this today. ❤

Your videos, are the very, best HUGS, you hit, the nail, every time, thank you for, being the real you, people are, your mirror,,,

Thank you so much. I enjoy watching your videos. Have spent two and a bit healing and working on myself and will continue to do so. Have seen this in others and myself. Very helpful, thank you again.

The gossiping is absolutely insane. It drives me crazy because in now way shape or form should grown adults act like that BUT not everyone is trying to heal so whatever. Currently dealing with this at work.

I absolutely love your channel you touch on alot