Becoming a stepparent gave me PTSD. And I do mean PTSD in the literal, clinical sense, as in diagnosed by an actual counselor.

Living under the constant conflict between houses and never-ending uncertainty of where the next attack might be coming from turned my existing anxiety issues into a full-blown trauma response. Which it’s taken me years to heal from.

I’m telling you this in case you yourself feel triggered by your partner’s ex or your stepkid. If you’re like “Why the hell is my heart going like a jackhammer every single transition day” — you too might have complex post-traumatic stress disorder from becoming a stepparent.

That’s how serious the stress of stepfamily life can be, particularly when there’s high conflict. So I just wanted to let you know you’re not alone. I have a whole blog post where I talk about my experiences in more detail: ➡️ Becoming a stepmom gave me PTSD 👀

And if you’re one of our paid subscribers on Substack, you also have access to my high conflict stepparenting workshop, where I go into a lot more depth about how why stepparents end up finding ourselves here in PTSD land, and how we can get ourselves the hell out. xo

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🧡 Need a bigger pep talk? Start here or join us over on Substack! xo

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit blendedfamilyfrappe.substack.com