Note: This post was written for people with dissociative disorders, but anyone else can use the methods here if they're helpful!
This post is all about inner safe spaces! What is an inner safe space, though? Here's what Coping with Trauma-related Dissociation says:
"Inner safe spaces are images of places where you can be safe, relaxed, and cared for. These images have been shown to be helpful to many people, not just those with dissociative disorders. This type of imaginal activity is well known to produce a feeling of relaxation and well-being in those who use it regularly. If your inner experience feels so jarring, unsafe, and frightening, as it often does in individuals with dissociative disorders, the ability to imagine these spaces becomes especially important and helpful."
Inner safe spaces can be useful for many things. You can use it to relax & alleviate anxiety. It can be a tool for soothing dissociated parts of the self, or aide in your communication with them. You or other parts can enter your inner safe space to protect yourself from feeling overwhelmed or potential triggers. Overall, creating an inner safe space can help make your mind a safer, calmer place.
So, how do you make one? All you have to do is imagine it!
Your inner safe space can be anything you want to imagine. There are no rules and it can always be changed! You can create one imaginary place for all parts of your system to share & add to. Or, each part of your system can create their own inner safe spaces to match their own needs. Some people already experience some sort of inner world, too. This can always be changed in order to make it feel safer and calmer for all parts of the system.
đ Ideas for inner safe spaces:
Outdoor areas like a meadow, beach, forest, mountain, etc.
Buildings like a cabin, tree house, castle, library, etc.
Vehicles like a car, pirate ship, submarine, spacecraft, etc.
Something underground, underwater, in the sky, or in space.
An entire planet or world of your own.
A fictional world that brings you comfort.
An inner safe space isn't a safe space if it doesn't make you, including all parts of you, feel safe. A good place to start is by writing down things that make you feel safe. If you don't know what makes you feel safe, try looking at what makes you feel less unsafe. It might also help to ask a loved one or therapist for help!
Invite your system to include their own needs, too. Try not to judge them even if you disagree. It's important for all parts of the system to feel safe.
đ Ideas for things that you can add/adjust to make your inner safe space feel more comfortable:
Add games, food, and movies that you like
Create individual rooms for each part of the system
Give yourself an inner appearance that makes you happy
Add your favorite colors, sounds, smells, & sights
Add people, characters, animals & creatures that you like
Give yourself a comfortable bed, with soft blankets & maybe even some plushies
Add pride flags!
Create a protective force field around your safe space
You or other parts may want to have a safe space that no one else can intrude upon and that's okay. It's important to respect each other's privacy. You can also adjust the inner safe space to make communication between parts easier! For example, you could add intercoms, mailboxes, telephones, or even a meeting area for aiding communication.
đ Having trouble visualizing, or can't visualize things at all? Try...
Drawing or painting it.
Writing about it.
Building it. You can use a video game like the Sims (get it for free!) or Minecraft.
Basing it off of a real place.
Collecting photos/videos of what you want it to be like. You can find royalty-free images on Unsplash and Pixabay. Or you create a Pinterest account!
Filling a journal, document, blog, or discord server with pictures, writing, and anything you want about your inner safe space!
Trying guided exercises for creating inner safe spaces. (IMO this is best done with a therapist's help.)
Asking your friends, therapist, or loved ones for their suggestions.
Creating a physical safe space instead of an inner one.
what does nccsa mean?
con contact child sexual abuse, its sexual abuse that didnt involve any touching, examples below
I am seriously thinking about making a big post about thisďżź
Can people stop pushing the idea that you shouldnât share information about RAMCOA at all? Yeah, sharing detailed information about programming publicly or with people who donât need it can be dangerous, but itâs already such a taboo topic to the point where a lot of survivors feel like they canât even speak up about what happened to them. And they have the right to, they endured it.
If youâre saying âbe careful how much you share about programmingâ thatâs valid. Iâve seen a lot of people saying that and that makes perfect sense. But âdonât talk about RAMCOAâ do people not realize thatâs what many of the perpetrators of this type of abuse want? They want total silence. They go to insane lengths just to ensure survivors canât talk about this. They thrive off secrecy. Theyâre protected by peopleâs ignorance. This is a widespread issue that requires a societal effort to put a stop to. How will that happen if people arenât educated on the fact that this happens, at the very least?
I know a lot of people can use this info to hurt people or get some sick pleasure from hearing about the abuse. But that doesnât take away the need for this to be heard and known about. Stop silencing survivors.
One of my favourite bits of media history trivia is that back in the Elizabethan period, people used to publish unauthorised copies of plays by sending someone who was good with shorthand to discretely write down all of the play's dialogue while they watched it, then reconstructing the play by combining those notes with audience interviews to recover the stage directions; in some cases, these unauthorised copies are the only record of a given play that survives to the present day. It's one of my favourites for two reasons:
It demonstrates that piracy has always lay at the heart of media preservation; and
Imagine being the 1603 equivalent of the guy with the cell phone camera in the movie theatre, furtively scribbling down notes in a little book and hoping Shakespeare himself doesn't catch you.
Medical appointments are a trigger
Deep shame from your parents being ashamed
Hypersexuality
Startle reflex to the max
Random kinda happy things make you doubt it happened
Other adults knew something was wrong but ignored it
Matching Sibling Symptoms
Looking back as an adult like âWow thatâs fucked upâ
Big inner life makes up for the old one
Hospitals instead of school
Chronic mystery pain
Child to Suicidal in record time
Addiction at a really young age
Hatting the thing ur addicted to because your parent was too
Yelling makes you freeze
Hating when you see yourself doing the thing ur parent did, even if itâs just being loud or using the same phrase
Feeling like you deserve
Feeling guilty for being such a fuck-up
Being âso matureâ the whole time growing up
Weâre the âweird kidâ, âclass clownâ and /or âburnoutâ
Had inappropriate relationships online
Self-harm of some kind
All those mental illness labels
Nowhere feels safe
Not really feeling like a human person
Dissociating the day away
No identityÂ
Hiding the cryingÂ
Why am I like this? (its the trauma)
Where did the years go?
Having imaginary friendsÂ
Rich fantasy life
Body dysmorphiaÂ
Hate school & hate homeÂ
probably had a shitty first partner
Really what youâre doing is making RA systems who arenât polyfrag less able to access your community
RAMCOA is classified as âextreme abuseâ for a reason. And especially MC, which is really why the HC-DID label is a thing at all.
MC quite literally breaks a child down so the abuser can create whatever they want and make the child do whatever they want. The process that abusers use to create MC-based systems is inherently complex and will as such create an extremely complex and multifaceted system structure.
The label âHC-DIDâ harms no one. Nobody is being forced to use it. It is a label for a smaller group of severely traumatized people to create a community under.
Hand Knitted Crime Scene Caution Tape
Feel free to reblog for sample size & add comments in the tags.
RAMCOA stands for Ritual Abuse, Mind Control, & Organized Abuse.
im tired of ppl misusing these terms so:
codependent does not mean two people who have a strong attachment and are very clingy towards one another
codependent means a specific type of unhealthy relationship where one person engages in unhealthy/self-destructive behaviours and the other person becomes their caretaker whilst enabling them, out of a need to feel needed
trauma bonding does not mean two people find common ground because they've both been through similar traumatic events and grow close because they understand each other's experiences
trauma bonding means bonding to your abuser as a survival strategy or due to manipulation. (similar to the concept of stockholm syndrome)
Maladaptive daydreaming summary
Dissociative disorders summary
Diagnostic criteria
Conclusion
(~1100 words)
Keep reading
Would you be willing to explain what sigma programming is? (Sorry if you've already answered this and I just couldn't find it)
TW: IN DEPTH PROGRAMMING (SIGMA) TALK
Sigma is a bit tricky because lots of people donât know what it actually is. This is because itâs not really talked about and it had a crude, conspiracy-esque definition when it was first coined. However, now people who have actually suffered from MC have reformed and reclaimed the term to be less conspiratorial.
Sigma is survival/tough it out programming. It trains the victims to be mindless in all senses besides how do I survive. This benefits the programmers because it not only gives trauma holders more initiative to live and keep being their victim, but it also causes the victim to not question the abuse and only think about how to get through it.
With that in mind, here are the criterion for sigma programming.
Cannot believe anything about abuse besides complete neutrality and objectivity. Only thunks about the logistics of what to do (fight, flight, freeze, etc.) with no emotions involved. Does not consider it abuse however doesnât consider it to be beneficial.
One of the few programs that has defense of the self as well as the program. Sigma causes no opposition to the programmers abuse and therefore they might defend it. However, the victims focus is on defending themselves.
Acts out of pure flight. Freezing, fighting, and fawning is very rare in this program, as they do not-in the sigma programmed persons mind-help you survive. It is also because they do not have the mental capacity to fight or fawn. Therefore they attempt escape.
I hope this helped you in some way.
Hi weâer the Mountain cap collectiveCPTSD,C-DID,ASD,Low empathy because of abuse, CSA survivorAsk pronouns, but you can just use they/them for anybody
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