- Hey everybody, it's Tuesday
here at katiemorton.com,
and you know what that means?
That means that I'm on Tumblr,
and if any of you are new,
welcome.
So if you're an avid Tumblr
user, you can find me on there,
Katie Morton, and then ask
your questions on Tuesdays,
using the #Katiefaq.
So today I have three, as
well as a journal topic
from Punk, it's amazing,
so thank you so much for that,
Punk, and let's get started.
First question, "Hey Katie, hello."
Well howdy do to you, too.
"I reported abuse but nothing was done.
"what should I do next?"
Now, I've heard from many of
you that you've reported abuse
and you're waiting, you
haven't heard anything
or maybe nothing was done
and they chose not to move forward
and that can be really hard to deal with.
So there are a couple
things I want to address.
The first being that if you reported abuse
and you feel like nothing's happening
and it's been a couple of weeks,
know that it can take while
for CPS or whatever service
it is in your country, state,
wherever you are that manages
this, to do the research
and do the investigation into the abuse
and figure out whether or not
they're gonna file any charges
or what's gonna happen next.
If you hear something happen,
it's 'cause Sean's cooking dinner.
Thanks, Sean.
So that's a first thing,
it may take some time.
Now the second thing is
something may not happen.
And it's really annoying and frustrating
and makes you want to
punch then in the face.
But sometimes when they did
their research or investigation,
they decide that abuse never
really happened or whatever.
Even though you and I
both know it happened.
That's why, when we go
through this process,
I encourage everyone out there
if you're considering going through it,
if you're going through it now,
if you're reporting abuse,
if you have reported abuse,
please see a therapist.
They can really help you
work through the past abuse,
so that you can come out a
survivor on the other side.
It's so important that we
have the support that we need
when we do this, because we
can't control what they do,
we can't control if they're
going to actually file charges
or what's gonna happen.
We can only do what we're able
to, which is report the abuse
and get the support we want.
So I would encourage any of you out there,
please see a therapist
and if you're a survivor of sexual abuse,
the Courage to Heal
Workbook is one of my faves.
I talk about it all the time
and I would encourage you
to hop online and pick that up, okay?
Question number two,
"Hey, Katie, can you spend
"too much time on recovery?
"I really like spending
time on recovery blogs,
"talking to other people
who are recovering,
"reading memoirs and journaling.
"I spend most of my free time doing it.
"Is this helpful, or
is it just another way
"to keep myself in the
eating disorder world?
"How much time should I be
spending doing things like that?"
Thanks, this is a great
question because I know
that the online world is
kind of like a rabbit hole
and we do one thing and then
we end up doing another,
and then we're doing
another and we're looking
at another blog, another
blog, another blog.
And we're on there for hours
without even realizing it.
And the eating disorder
world is just that vast.
We can get into different
groups and chat with this,
and get into this recovery
blog and talk with this person,
and so it can take over our whole life
and I would encourage you
to be very aware of it.
Like this person said,
you're spending most of
your free time doing it
and I would definitely
think that's a problem.
Obviously, everyone's
recovery process is different
and we're all gonna need
different levels of support
at different times.
And if you're needing extra
support, I would encourage you
to reach out and talk to people.
But if you find your
whole life being consumed
with this recovery talk,
recovery talk, recovery talk,
recovery talk, and you're
not moving forward,
you're not re-engaging in the life you had
before your eating disorder,
then it might be time
to reassess, it might be time to cut back.
Remember, we're not doing black and white.
We're not all or nothing.
I'm not gonna say don't do it at all,
but we may start cutting
back the time we spend
and just recognizing
how long we're on there
and what that does to us mentally.
Is it keeping us stuck where we are
or is it helping us move forward?
Because I think that is the
clue that will help you decide
on whether it's really good for you
or potentially something
that we should start
moving away from, okay?
Question number three, "Hey
Katie, if they diagnose you
"with PTSD, do you ever get cured?
"Also, does medication
help, because I've heard
"that therapy is enough, thank you."
Now PTSD means that we've
had a life-threatening,
potentially what we thought
was a lift-threatening event
happen to us.
It's extremely traumatizing
and we can have flashbacks,
we can have panic attacks,
we can start cold sweating,
we can have any kind of different triggers
that bring us back there.
Anything can happen
that stirs it up in us.
But can we move past
it, can we get over it?
The answer is yes.
Now it's a process and
everyone's process is different,
but the most pivotal part
is that you're working
with a therapist.
Yes, medication can help with
some of the symptoms of PTSD.
So if that's something
that you're interested in,
if you're having a ton of panic attacks,
there are a lot of medications
out there to help with that.
Or if you have really high anxiety,
there are a lot of medications out there
could help with that.
Depression, same story,
but it's all up to you
and what you want to to
be in your treatment team
and who you want to reach out
to and what is good for you.
Now I would encourage all
of you to never say no
to therapy or no to medication
without actually considering
it and talking to people,
but therapy is the best thing.
Because what we really need to do
is talk through what happened,
work through the process
and all the different
thoughts that we have
and the potential
beliefs that we now think
about situations, about ourselves
and get us through to the other
side where we're a survivor.
Where things can happen
and we're not automatically triggered
and brought back to that place
and we can all get there.
It's just about you getting
the support that you need,
and talking through the
situation and your own process
with someone who is a
therapist, is a counselor,
is a psychiatrist, who is trained
to help you work through it.
I know that's annoying that
that answer's not like,
yes, be cured.
I don't really like the term cured.
Is more like yeah, we can work through it
and things will get better, okay?
Now a journal topic from
Punk, thank you so much,
says, and this is really cool,
"I adapted this from an
exercise that I saw in a book.
"I found it really helpful
in looking at myself
"more compassionately from
a different perspective.
"Imagine you're an angel."
You don't have to believe
in them or anything,
this is just an imagination exercise.
"You wake up each day in
a different person's body
"which you temporarily
take guardianship of.
"Your job it to help that
human in any way that you can,
"with whatever they need.
"You have a deep love
for every human being
"and you see their beauty
"and appreciate their
true nature and efforts.
"when you're in their body and mind,
"you treat them with kindness,
gentleness and respect.
"How will you help and love this human
"that you're in today?"
I thought that was really cool,
because sometimes we
can't love on ourselves
because we're too in it, but
to take the perspective out
and to pretend that we're an
angel inhabiting our own body,
how can we be more kind, gentle
and respectful to ourselves?
So thank you so much for that, Punk.
And thank you everyone for
checking out this video.
Don't forget to subscribe to my channel
and I've been updating my
website with new tee-shirts
and tank tops and coffee mugs,
which I'm gonna order myself
'cause I'm excited, so check it out.
I hadn't been putting a
lot of effort into that
and I didn't know if any of
you out there were interested.
It's on katiemorton.com, and
I will see you all tomorrow
on the website and on
YouTube, so ask your questions
below today's video and
I will see you then.
Bye.
