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Browse every published article connected to Kathleen Howe, with exact attribution and full-archive search.
Articles
Browse every published article connected to Kathleen Howe, or search within this exact expert archive.
I know about Night Eating Syndrome. I know what it's like to get up in the middle of the night - every night - to march in a zombie-like trance to my kitchen in methodical searches for the "white flour/white sugar" treasures in my pantry. I know what it's like to eat, continually chewing, ...
It's a newly "recognized" population seeking mental health and medical services in today's world. The statistics say it all when over 11.7% of the military are currently reacclimating themselves into everyday society with post traumatic stress disorder, depression and other mental illnesses. ...
"The mind is a terrible thing to waste." I bet you can remember this slogan being used by The United Negro Fund. It was on television more times that I could count - for years. It was memorized through subliminal message by many a boomer. But the mind IS a terrible thing to waste and not just for African Americans. Everyone has a powerful tool packed into their heads. It's up to us whether or not we will use it to the best of its ability. We are what we think, but we must thi
Hypervigilence... it's what life is all about when dealing with post traumatic stress disorder. Everything is extreme, intensified, all or nothing, and it's incredibly difficult to simply relax upon demand, but it's what we must learn to do if we've been diagnosed with PTSD. The plague of hypervigilence automatically magnifies anger, fear and other negative emotions and feelings causing an "overwhelm" situation in a few minute seconds of time. So what's a person to do? This
Having had a very difficult past wrought in domestic violence and relationship dysfunction it occurred to me recently that it would be better to forgive those who wronged me in the past than to hang on to the negative energy I held within me through horrible memories and unresolved feelings and emotions. I've written about unresolved emotions and feelings and the importance of pulling up those that were buried deep within that internal abyss of pain we all carry along with us
Seven years ago I made the first commitment I'd made to my self in my entire life. That's right! I was forty-five years old and had never paid much attention to the commitments in my life. If things didn't work out, oh well! I had that attitude since my teenager years. My parents never taught me the meaning of the word commitment. I had no idea that commitments were important things to learn about. I can remember my mother asking me what was going to happen when my first marr
As an individual with post traumatic stress disorder and depression, I've found it extremely difficult to know what to expect for treatment of my disorders. There isn't much written about the average joe out there that either suspects there's a possibility he/she may be experiencing PTSD or those who have been diagnosed with PTSD and have completed some treatment, but don't know what to expect for recovery. My initial thoughts when seeking a therapist didn't even include tho
Not only are avoidance behaviors commonplace for those experiencing post traumatic stress disorder; people in general have a tendency to avoid what they don't know what to do with. Avoidance behaviors revolve around our fears. What are you afraid of? You avoid it like the plague I'll bet! Those of us who have been diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder and even those with depression have a very high level of practicing avoidance behaviors to get through each day. Not
Night eating syndrome, an eating/sleeping disorder that is still being pushed and pulled upon to determine where it belongs in the DSMV can lurk in the background once the night eater gains control of the chronic habit and stops the practice of waking and immediately choosing white flour/white sugar types of food to binge upon. There is a conscious knowledge of the habit most of the time, but in those who are so sleep deprived, there can be merely a fleeting memory of initial
As I continue to grow in my personal growth recovery journey I find that there are more people out there in the world that have undiagnosed PTSD than ever. Of course, I must take into consideration the emerging troops from Iraq, Afghanistan and other countries in which war and violence are a standard in life. Our military and their families are being inundated with diagnosis of PTSD but the military and the rest of the world just aren't ready for it. It's still an enigma that
I know about Night Eating Syndrome. I know what it's like to get up in the middle of the night - every night - to march in a zombie-like trance to my kitchen in methodical searches for the "white flour/white sugar" treasures in my pantry. I know what it's like to eat, continually chewing, biting, chewing, and biting until everything is gone. I know what it's like to step on the crumbs, some very big crumbs, on the floor as I stand up from where I've seated myself to "chow" an
The older we get – the more we forget – or so it seems. When I began my personal growth journey for recovery I began remembering the most traumatic events that transpired when I was a child. After researching information conce ing memories, I realized that some of the things I was remembering that happened in my childhood might not be accurate. Why - you ask? I am an adult now remember a child’s perception of what happened. When I was a child and experienced a sniper crawlin
I speak to people everyday about the importance of emotions and feelings in our daily life. Most of them are completely numbed and all they can do is nod their head while reading my words or simply sigh when I’m finished speaking. They’re knee deep in symptoms of mental illness; depression or an anxiety disorder, or both. They have poor eating habits, never relax and never exercise. Most of them hate their jobs, are struggling to make ends meet and have a distant marriage rel
Five years isn’t a very long time; but it seems like a very long time when you are struggling to notice every inhale and exhale, every step your foot takes, every smell you breathe in, every single thing that you touch, all the sounds that you hear and the struggle involves becoming “aware” of each of those factors I’ve mentioned. I know this because I’ve been consumed with doing this very thing for the exact amount of time - five years. I’ve been aware of my diagnosis, my n