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Melissa Reads at Arts Riot in Burlington, Vermont: July 24, 2014
Melissa Cronin at Renegade Reading – Thursday, July 24, 2014 7:00pm – 9:00pm The Renegade Reading Series begins its second year of literary delight at:
read moreShared Gratitude: A Tribute to the Burlington, VT Rotary Club: July 2014
Two weeks ago, the president of the Rotary Club in Burlington, VT invited me to speak about traumatic brain injuries and read an excerpt of my essay, “Invisible Bruise.” Among the thirty members, I knew of two who had a connection to TBIs – one whose wife had suffered a concussion this past winter after she slipped on the ice, and another whose son died in a skiing accident four years ago. As I shared the statistics of TBIs, and my story, the room turned silent, penetrated only by intermittent gasps and soft utterances in response to a...
read moreMy Interview with Fantastic Frank on Blog Talk Radio
Current Social Networking Podcasts at Blog Talk Radio with Brain Injury Radio.
read moreEye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing: Taming the Inflammation
Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing, or EMDR, was first discovered in 1987 by Psychologist Francis Shapiro. One day, she felt anxious by negative thoughts, so went for a walk in the woods. Sure, you might say, sounds like a great way to shed some stress – walk it off. But as she moved her eyes from right to left, taking in nature’s greens, yellows, and browns, she noticed that her level of anxiety decreased. She tried a similar eye movement process with her clients, and it worked. They, too, experienced a reduction in anxiety. That’s...
read moreWeaving Together a Memoir: A Critical Analysis of ‘The Kiss’ by Kathryn Harrison
How do writers transition from one layer (in this essay I use thread, strand, or filament) of a narrative, then successfully return to the main, or grounding thread? In Kathryn Harrison’s memoir, The Kiss, an account of her incestuous affair with her father, there are at least four threads woven throughout the book. The main one being her father, followed by secondary threads: Harrison’s mother, her grandparents, and her struggle with Anorexia Nervosa. Like forming a braid, Harrison first introduces the main strand – her father – by...
read moreRecognition in a Window
In Lucy Grealy’s memoir, Autobiography of a Face, the focus remains on the author’s identity struggle as she faces years of cancer treatment in which one third of her jaw is removed. How does she take us on her conflicted journey of needing to be accepted for who she is versus succumbing to society’s notion of acceptance? She implants particular objects that carry the story forward: the hat she almost never takes off, and the turtleneck her mother encourages her to wear to hide her balding head and disfigured jaw. The mirror, her reflection,...
read moreThe Brain: A Delicate 3.4 Pounds
Traumatic brain injuries are a subset of acquired brain injures, which are not the result of trauma, but occur after birth: hypoxic brain injuries (lack of oxygen to the brain), and anoxic brain injuries (no oxygen to the brain). In a diffuse axonal brain injury (a type of closed traumatic brain injury) the skull is not broken, but the brain is violently jarred and collides with the skull, causing tissue swelling. Since there is no opening to relieve the swelling, there is increased pressure in the brain, damaging neurons, the core cells of...
read morePost-Traumatic Stress Disorder: Blame it on Genetics and Personal History
How do you predict who will suffer from PTSD after a traumatic event and who will not? Most people who experience a traumatic event actually do not suffer from PTSD: about 56% of people will experience a traumatic event in their lifetime, but only 8% will develop PTSD. Research studies show that individuals with a variant of two genes – TPH1 and TPH2 – are more likely to develop symptoms. These genes, which control levels of serotonin – a chemical in the nervous system that regulates mood, sleep, and alertness – are altered in PTSD sufferers....
read morePost-Traumatic Stress Disorder: A Re-Wired Brain
When exposed to danger, it’s natural to be afraid. Our bodies are triggered to make a split-second decision to either face the danger, or run from it: the “flight-or-fight” response. This is a healthy reaction. But in those with PTSD, they continue to be afraid and feel stressed long after the danger has passed – in my case, the speeding car at the Santa Monica Farmers’ Market. Symptoms, like avoiding places that trigger memories of the event, nightmares, depression, and hyper-vigilance – heightened awareness of your surroundings – may...
read moreTraumatic Brain Injuries 101
Traumatic Brain Injuries 101 In the United States, 52,000 deaths occur each year from a traumatic brain injury (TBI), and 5.3 million people live with disabilities due to a TBI. But a TBI does not necessarily result from a major trauma, like skiing into a tree or plummeting off a roof. You can sustain a TBI from bumping your head on a kitchen cabinet door, or when you and your five year old smack foreheads while wrestling. Penetrating injuries – from a bullet, or other objects that enter the skull – can also cause TBI’s. But the most common...
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