MSI Press Blog

   This week's editor's choice is Chris Richards' book, Nothing So Broken . Book description:  In the shadow of loss, a path to healing begins. Chris Richards grew up in a small New England mill town, where life was tough and loyalty ran deep. At just 19, his world was shaken when a close friend was left permanently disabled by a devastating accident. At the same time, Chris’s father began to show troubling symptoms linked to his service in the Vietnam War—unseen wounds that would slowly unravel the man he once knew. The weight of watching two people he loved unravel under the strain of trauma and physical decline left deep scars—ones Chris carried silently into adulthood. For years, he buried his grief and fear, never imagining that one day, facing his own crisis, he would turn to their stories for strength. This powerful and moving memoir explores the enduring impact of trauma, the quiet power of resilience, and how even the most broken lives can become sources of inspi...

  PTSD isn’t just about flashbacks or nightares. It’s about memory—how the mind and body remember danger long after the danger is gone. People often think PTSD means being “stuck in the past.” But for those who live with it, it feels more like the past being stuck in them. A sound, a smell, a tone of voice—anything can open the door to a moment that never really ended. PTSD is not weakness. It’s not drama. It’s not a refusal to move on. It’s the nervous system doing its job too well—protecting, scanning, bracing, even when safety has returned. For some, it comes from a single event. For others, it’s the accumulation of many small ones: chronic stress, emotional neglect, repeated loss, or living too long in survival mode. And for many, it’s invisible. They look calm, competent, even cheerful—but inside, their body is still negotiating with ghosts. Healing from PTSD isn’t about erasing memory. It’s about teaching the body that the present is not the past. It’s about learning that ...

  PTSD does not stay contained within the person who carries it. It moves outward—quietly, persistently—into marriages, families, friendships, and even the smallest daily interactions. If PTSD is a nervous system that cannot fully stand down, then relationships become the place where that constant state of alert is most often felt. Not because love is absent—but because safety is. Closeness Can Feel Like Risk One of the most confusing aspects of PTSD is this: the people someone loves most can become the people they struggle most to be close to. Why? Because intimacy requires vulnerability—and vulnerability can feel dangerous to a system trained to detect threat. This can look like: Pulling away emotionally Avoiding difficult conversations Needing excessive control over routines or environment Reacting strongly to minor stressors To a partner or family member, it may feel like rejection. To the person with PTSD, it can feel like survival. The Push-Pull Pattern Many relatio...