Addiction

#healingtraumatogether #healingtraumatogether #MentalHealth #SubstanceRelatedDisorders #dualdiagnosisawareness

Many people spend years chasing happiness as if it is a destination they will eventually arrive at. The problem is that constantly checking whether you are happy often makes you feel the opposite. A healthier approach is to focus on meaningful actions, relationships, and growth. When your attention shifts from searching for happiness to building a life that feels meaningful, happiness often appears as a byproduct rather than a goal.

What is one activity or habit that naturally brings you peace without you having to chase it?

Also, if you're going through a tough time right now, I want you to know that I post daily mental health videos about how to deal with painful thoughts. So if you or anyone you know is struggling and wants help, click on one of the links below or write me if you have any questions you want me to answer:

www.instagram.com/thomas_of_copenhagen

www.tiktok.com/@thomas_of_copenhagen

~ Thanks to all. Thanks for all. ~

#MentalHealth #MentalHealth #Depression #Anxiety #BipolarDisorder #BorderlinePersonalityDisorder #Addiction #dissociativedisorders #ObsessiveCompulsiveDisorder #ADHD #Fibromyalgia #EhlersDanlosSyndrome #PTSD #Cancer #RareDisease #Disability #Autism #Diabetes #EatingDisorders #ChronicIllness #ChronicPain #RheumatoidArthritis #Suicide #MightyTogether

It's that time of the week again! Tell me three things below 👇 that you're thankful for!
#Addiction #AnorexiaNervosa #Agoraphobia #Anxiety #Agoraphobia #Autism #ADHD #AutismSpectrumDisorder #Bipolar1 #BipolarDepression #Depression #ChronicFatigueSyndrome #CeliacDisease #Cancers #Grief #ChildLoss #Lupus #AutonomicDysfunction #SjogrensSyndrome #SuicidalIdeation #Schizophrenia #SchizoaffectiveDisorder #PTSD #SuicidalThoughts #Selfharm #Selfcare

Trusting other people can feel terrifying.

But trusting yourself after you’ve doubted your own thoughts, emotions, choices, or worth? That can feel almost impossible.

For many individuals living with trauma histories, addiction, or borderline personality disorder (BPD), the deepest rupture is internal. Somewhere along the way, we stopped believing ourselves.

When Self-Trust Breaks

Self-trust erodes slowly:

*When your feelings were dismissed.

*When you were told you were “too sensitive.”

*When trauma distorted your sense of safety.

*When addiction led you to act against your values.

*When intense emotions made you question your reality.

Individuals living with Borderline Personality Disorder often experience emotional dysregulation, identity disturbance, and fear of abandonment (American Psychiatric Association, 2022). Emotional states can feel absolute and overwhelming, which contributes to chronic self-doubt.

Over time, the internal narrative becomes:

“I can’t trust myself.”

Trauma Changes the Brain — Not Your Worth

Chronic trauma affects neurobiological functioning. Research shows:

*Increased amygdala activation (heightened threat perception).

*Reduced prefrontal cortex regulation under stress.

*Alterations in stress-response systems (HPA axis dysregulation).

These findings are well documented in trauma research (Shin et al., 2006; Teicher & Samson, 2016).

This is not weakness. It is adaptation.

The hopeful reality is neuroplasticity — the brain’s capacity to reorganize and form new neural pathways through repeated regulation and therapeutic intervention (Doidge, 2007).

Addiction and the Collapse of Self-Trust

Addiction compounds the rupture.

Substance use disorders are classified as chronic, relapsing medical conditions that alter reward circuitry, impulse control, and executive functioning (American Psychiatric Association, 2022). According to Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, addiction impacts the brain’s dopamine system and decision-making processes, making relapse a neurological vulnerability — not a moral failure.

Each broken promise can erode internal credibility.

Rebuilding self-trust requires starting small and creating consistent behavioral evidence of change.

What Rebuilding Self-Trust Actually Looks Like

1. Regulate Before You Decide
Emotional regulation is foundational. Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT), developed by Marsha Linehan, emphasizes distress tolerance and emotion regulation skills as primary interventions for BPD (Linehan, 2015).

Regulation strategies may include:

*Diaphragmatic breathing

*Grounding exercises

*Sensory modulation

*Brief physical movement

Decisions made from regulation are more reliable than those made during emotional flooding.

2. Keep Micro-Promises
Behavioral consistency restores internal reliability.

Research in behavioral psychology supports the concept that repeated small successes increase self-efficacy (Bandura, 1997). When you keep small commitments, you accumulate evidence that you are dependable — especially to yourself.

3. Separate Feelings from Facts
Cognitive distortions — such as emotional reasoning and catastrophizing — are common in trauma and BPD presentations (Beck, 2011).

Feeling: “He hasn’t texted. I’m unlovable.”

Fact: “He hasn’t responded yet.”

Cognitive restructuring is a core component of evidence-based therapies including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and DBT (Beck, 2011).

4. Understand Shame’s Role
Shame significantly predicts relapse, depression severity, and self-harming behaviors (Tangney & Dearing, 2002).

The Canadian Mental Health Association highlights that stigma and internalized shame worsen recovery outcomes.

Self-compassion interventions have been shown to improve emotional resilience and decrease self-criticism (Neff, 2011).

Replacing “I’m crazy” with “I’m dysregulated” is not semantics — it is neurocognitive reframing.

Implications for Child Welfare and Clinical Practice

Attachment disruption in early childhood significantly affects emotional regulation capacity and identity formation (Bowlby, 1988; Teicher & Samson, 2016).

Within child welfare systems, individuals often internalize labels such as “non-compliant” or “resistant.” Trauma-informed care frameworks emphasize understanding behavior as adaptation rather than defiance (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration [SAMHSA], 2014).

Restoring autonomy and internal safety must be prioritized if we want sustainable recovery and relational stability.

A Personal Reflection

There was a time I did not trust my thoughts, my decisions, or my emotional reactions.

Recovery taught me something clinical — and deeply human:
Emotional intensity is not pathology by itself. Dysregulation without skills is.

Now, when I feel activated, I pause. I regulate. I gather data. I respond rather than react.

That pause is self-trust rebuilding in real time.

Conclusion

Trusting yourself again does not mean you will never struggle.

It means:

*You regulate before reacting.

*You keep small promises.

*You challenge distortions.

*You replace shame with informed language.

*Self-trust is not perfection.
It is repair.

And repair is evidence of growth.

BigmommaJ
#trustyourself #Selflove #MentalHealth

When we are going through failure, heartbreak, or uncertainty, the mind quickly creates worst-case scenarios. It tells us that everything is over and that things will never improve. But if you look back at your life, you will probably see many moments where you felt exactly the same way and somehow made it through. One powerful mental tool during difficult moments is simply reminding yourself that the situation is temporary and that you have survived hard things before. That perspective can calm your mind and help you keep moving forward.

When was a time in your life when you thought everything was over, but later realized it actually made you stronger?

If you want to learn more about this, check out my video by clicking on one of the links below.

www.instagram.com/thomas_of_copenhagen

www.tiktok.com/@thomas_of_copenhagen

~ Thanks to all. Thanks for all. ~

#MentalHealth #MentalHealth #Depression #Anxiety #BipolarDisorder #BorderlinePersonalityDisorder #Addiction #dissociativedisorders #ObsessiveCompulsiveDisorder #ADHD #Fibromyalgia #EhlersDanlosSyndrome #PTSD #Cancer #RareDisease #Disability #Autism #Diabetes #EatingDisorders #ChronicIllness #ChronicPain #RheumatoidArthritis #Suicide #MightyTogether