Welcome to 72 Hour Hold!

If you or someone you know is suffering from trauma, we want to welcome you the 72 Hour Hold Community. This is a place to find resources and support. We are not doctors or therapists, but we are survivors. We will share what we’ve learned and what has worked for us. What you’ll find on this website:

• Our Story (Aaron’s and Linda’s). Told in 19 entries, this is the story of how we discovered Aaron’s PTSD, what it was like living with it, and how we got better.
• PTSD Toolkit. A few things we wish we had known when we began our journey.
• Other People’s Stories of living with trauma (Contributors).
• Interviews we’ve done (both as Interviewers and Guests).

72 Hour Hold began out of desperation. Aaron had just gotten out of his first hospitalization for complications related to Complex PTSD from childhood sexual trauma. He was 45 years old. He was an award-winning novelist, a former tenured professor, and a father. He was newly engaged to the love of his life. And he was falling apart.

So the morning after he was released from his first 72 Hour Hold, he began writing. He realized if he kept it inside any longer, he would end up killing himself. 72 Hour Hold saved his life. He has since gotten the right kind of help for his trauma, and he lives a mostly symptom free life. Trauma never goes away, but it gets better.

The road to recovery is different for every person. That’s part of the process: finding out what works for you. But there are also common practices and resources that appear over and over in those who begin to heal. We wish you all the best.

A little more about us:

Linda Balaban and Aaron Sanders met in 2016 when Aaron found Linda’s extra room on Airbnb. Aaron had recently moved to Los Angeles to pursue his writing career full time. His idea was to try out different L.A. neighborhoods one month at at time to figure out where he wanted to live. After a month in Silverlake, he moved into Linda’s apartment in the Fairfax district. He never left.

A few months after they started dating, Aaron’s PTSD from early childhood trauma presented itself in ways that were confusing and troubling. Fortunately for Aaron, instead of running the other way, Linda sought help for Aaron, for herself, and for their relationship. This journey from PTSD diagnosis to recovery is the story of 72 Hour Hold. Linda and Aaron hope that their story will help others who are going through similar experiences.