People went from seeing Chinese people as coolies who stole jobs to fetishizing them as alluring, mysterious foreigners.

It took about fifteen weeks—a little more than three months—for Dr. Ham to change my inner narrative from a hateful whip-bearing tyrant to a chill(er) surfer dude.

These things gave me hope, pleasure, solace. Together, they added up to a fulfilling life.

I couldn’t tell which parts were pathologically problematic and which were fine as they were.

We excused all of it, absorbed the slaps and the burns and the canings and converted them into perfect report cards to wipe away our parents’ brutal pasts. We did the work, as they like to say now.

But how was I to begin letting it go when anger was the force that gave me momentum? My anger was my power. It was what protected me. Without it, wouldn’t I be sad and naked?

“When the sky falls, use it as a blanket,”

People with complex PTSD see threats everywhere and are aggressive. They are more likely to be alcoholics, addicts, violent, impulsive, unpredictable.

Women generally seek more social support than men do, and they benefit more from psychotherapy. They also tend to lean more heavily on self-blame.