In my work with PTSD clients, we bump up a lot against "I feel so disconnected from myself!" and "I feel so very separate from the world!" In my own PTSD experience, I too felt a big break between my experience of reality and my connection to myself and my body.

As a mental health advocate, author and speaker, I attend many events surrounding posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). All too often, I experience a conversation that goes like this: “What do you do, exactly?” someone will ask. “I help trauma survivors learn to cope with, manage and overcome symptoms of PTSD,” I reply. “Ohhhhh,” their eyes light up. “You work with veterans!” People often don't realize that the causes of PTSD result from many types of trauma.

Any serious PTSD blog (and that is definitely what I want this to be!) has to start with the lowdown on the details of posttraumatic stress disorder itself. If you've heard about PTSD in the media or if you have a friend or family member - or even think you, yourself, might have a touch of this completely normal reaction to an abnormal circumstance - then right off the bat, it's good to know how to recognize PTSD (symptoms of PTSD) so that you can begin to wrangle the beast.

When I was thirteen, I survived an illness so rare none of my New York City doctors had ever seen a case. An allergic reaction to a medication brought on a case of Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis Syndrome, which turned me into a full-body burn patient almost overnight. By the time I was released from the hospital, I had lost 100% of my epidermis.