Sexual abuse can leave a person feeling confused about their own sexual feelings. A person’s sense of healthy sexual desire and their trauma-related fantasy blurs the boundaries for survivors. Self-doubt can persist, especially if the sexual abuse occurred in childhood.

Betrayal trauma is likened to when a person you are significantly attached to, doesn’t only betray your trust but also lets you down in a critical way.

Your earliest attachments with parents or caregivers shape your abilities and expectations for relationships throughout your life. This first relationship impacts how your sense of self develops, and how you see relationships working.

EMDR is not hypnosis. You are awake and alert during the entire session. You have complete control of the entire session. In the event you do want to stop, there are safeguards in place.

The love languages are a good concept for nurturing healthy relationships, except for one thing. Love languages can only work when assuming both partner’s brains are able to think clearly and calmly. This is not often the case for trauma survivors who frequently exist in a state of alarm. They are living with a traumatized nervous system, and survival impulses have hijacked the brain.

Data from Pornhub, which has more than 15 million monthly visitors, indicates that a third of the regular users are female. While young men who watch pornography have struggled with erectile dysfunction and feelings of inadequacy, it is now being reported that young women also struggle with healthy intimacy, pain during sex and plummeting libidos.

Relationships can be challenging. There are obvious things that would break a relationship, such as physically cheating on your partner, having radically different values from your partner, or maybe one partner wanting children, while the other doesn’t.

Cheating is one of the most common betrayals that individuals discuss when to comes to relationship enders. With cheating the trust is broken and there is emotional betrayal. However, cheating is only one of many different types of behaviors that are a betrayal to your relationship and the commitment you made to your partner.

When discussing BDSM, most people talk about it in reference to rough, painful or kinky sex. In reality, BDSM is about power dynamics. This power dynamic can be explored without including pain or even sex

Past sexual trauma impacts an individual’s view of sex for the future. If any of your experiences around sex trigger terror and confusion, how can you enjoy healthy sex and intimate relationships? No matter what roadblocks or difficulties you may experience, they are not your fault. You can heal and move forward to find healthy love and sex, no matter what roadblocks or difficulties you have experienced in the past.

According to Dr. Judy Ho, there are self-sabotage triggers that lead us to self-sabotage. Self-sabotage triggers are negative automatic thoughts that keep us stuck in the same patterns of thoughts. Unfortunately, because these thought patterns tend to be so habitual, they are often undetectable.

The window of tolerance was described by Dr. Dan Siegel as an optimal zone of arousal in which a person would be able to function with day-to-day stress. While most people can deal with the demands of stress without much difficulty, individuals who have experienced trauma, anxiety or other mental illnesses can struggle to stay in the optimal zone.

When you are happy and have a positive experience, your brain releases happiness chemicals. By understanding how each of these chemicals work, you can trigger the release of one of the chemicals to improve happiness.

The beliefs you have about yourself are the same beliefs you bring to relationships and sex. If you don’t think you are attractive or worthy, how can you accept love and kindness in a relationship? How can you enjoy a meaningful and joyful sex life?

Most people struggle with getting enough happiness chemicals. The deficiency can make you feel sad, depressed, hopeless, and anxious. Thankfully there are natural ways of boosting happy chemicals

Reaching out in time of need or asking for help doesn’t come easily to those who have experienced trauma in their lives. Something as seemingly simple as accepting a compliment may be painfully hard. However, the ability to move past these fears and hesitations is critical on the road to living a full and well-balanced life.

Automatic negative thoughts influence emotions and distort our perception of reality in a negative way. These thoughts are difficult to recognize because they are fleeting and habitual. Negative thoughts can make us feel agitated, anxious, be less productive, cause harm to our relationships, or cause psychological damage.

Love is beautiful. It is to be enjoyed and not forced or imposed on an individual. It can be exciting but when not mastered or understood it can lead to the ruin or even destruction of an individual or couple.

The force that comes with love can be controlling and compelling. If you, as an individual, does not experience self-control, you may end up a victim of love addiction or obsession.

Polarized thinking is when you have an “All-or-Nothing," or “Black and White” thinking pattern. A person with polarized thinking believes they have to be perfect or they are a complete failure because they see things in terms of “either/or” categories.

Betrayal is a painful experience that affects us deeply. Betrayal triggers feelings of anger, sadness, fear, guilt, shame, anxiety, depression, loneliness, and even self-hatred.

Betrayal causes intense emotional pain. The stages of betrayal include denial, bargaining, anger, depression, acceptance and recovery. Understanding these stages can help you cope with betrayal.

There are many reasons why affairs occur. It can occur in happy relationships, as well as troubled relationships. Lack of affection towards your partner can lead to infidelity