Unnecessary Bracing: What is Preparatory Suffering?
Somatic Experiencing, Anxious Attachment Adaptation, Anxiety, Emotional regulation, Relational dynamics, Orienting, Wellness, Parenting J. Louise Newton, MSW, LCSW, SEP Somatic Experiencing, Anxious Attachment Adaptation, Anxiety, Emotional regulation, Relational dynamics, Orienting, Wellness, Parenting J. Louise Newton, MSW, LCSW, SEP

Unnecessary Bracing: What is Preparatory Suffering?

Preparatory suffering is the habit driven by the belief that if I imagine every possible thing that could go wrong—if I rehearse the loss, the rejection, the disappointment, the catastrophe in vivid detail—then I won’t be blindsided when it happens. I’ll be ready. I’ll be less hurt. It sounds logical. It even sounds adaptive. Trauma taught many of us that danger comes without warning, that safety is fragile, that homeostasis can be revoked without notice. Of course our nervous systems want a head start.

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Grief or Rumination? When anxiety hijacks the grieving process
Grief, Anxiety, Rumination, Anxious Attachment Adaptation, Community, Recovery, Somatic Experiencing, Dynamic Attachment Repatterning experience Maureen Gomeringer, MSW, LCSW, SEP Grief, Anxiety, Rumination, Anxious Attachment Adaptation, Community, Recovery, Somatic Experiencing, Dynamic Attachment Repatterning experience Maureen Gomeringer, MSW, LCSW, SEP

Grief or Rumination? When anxiety hijacks the grieving process

Understanding the difference between the sadness of grief and the rumination that results from anxiety and depression is essential for emotional processing and, ultimately, healing. Often conflated, these two emotions serve very different purposes in our nervous systems.

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