1 00:00:10,039 --> 00:00:13,000 Speaker 1: Hi guys, and welcome back to You Need Therapy, a 2 00:00:13,160 --> 00:00:17,720 Speaker 1: special holiday weekend addition, coming to you a Memorial Day. 3 00:00:17,840 --> 00:00:19,880 Speaker 1: My name is Kat and I am your host, and 4 00:00:20,200 --> 00:00:22,280 Speaker 1: I'm so happy if this is a day off for you. 5 00:00:22,320 --> 00:00:24,360 Speaker 1: I'm so happy that you're listening to this, and if 6 00:00:24,360 --> 00:00:26,400 Speaker 1: you're listening to it later in the week, glad you 7 00:00:26,440 --> 00:00:29,720 Speaker 1: made it back. This episode is very exciting for me 8 00:00:29,880 --> 00:00:34,080 Speaker 1: and I think is thought provoking, very interesting. So I'm 9 00:00:34,080 --> 00:00:36,200 Speaker 1: glad you're here, and I'm glad that you are going 10 00:00:36,240 --> 00:00:38,400 Speaker 1: to lean into some of this stuff that I am 11 00:00:38,440 --> 00:00:41,720 Speaker 1: talking about today. So I'm coming to you all alone 12 00:00:41,920 --> 00:00:46,840 Speaker 1: to talk about trauma, and man, I got some things 13 00:00:46,880 --> 00:00:49,839 Speaker 1: to say, some stuff to talk about today. So here's 14 00:00:49,840 --> 00:00:54,360 Speaker 1: the thing. I originally was planning on talking about PTSD 15 00:00:54,800 --> 00:00:58,440 Speaker 1: and war veterans, but then I sat down to drop 16 00:00:58,480 --> 00:01:01,320 Speaker 1: out my notes and put my thoughts together, and I 17 00:01:01,400 --> 00:01:04,680 Speaker 1: found myself wanting to tell that story, but I also 18 00:01:04,760 --> 00:01:07,759 Speaker 1: wanted to tell another story. And my thought about doing 19 00:01:08,040 --> 00:01:11,800 Speaker 1: the episode on PTSD and ward veterans was timely because 20 00:01:11,959 --> 00:01:14,319 Speaker 1: of the fact that it's a Memorial Day. But again, 21 00:01:14,560 --> 00:01:17,840 Speaker 1: another story came up. Multiple stories came up, and so 22 00:01:18,080 --> 00:01:21,280 Speaker 1: this episode is about that, but it's about a lot 23 00:01:21,440 --> 00:01:23,920 Speaker 1: more than that. And the other story that I wanted 24 00:01:24,000 --> 00:01:27,600 Speaker 1: to tell was the story of transition and hope and 25 00:01:27,720 --> 00:01:31,320 Speaker 1: new information and allowing us to create new belief systems. 26 00:01:31,880 --> 00:01:35,040 Speaker 1: It's the story of the ability for us to change. 27 00:01:35,319 --> 00:01:37,880 Speaker 1: And as much anger as I am about to step 28 00:01:37,920 --> 00:01:41,000 Speaker 1: into as I talk about the history of how trauma 29 00:01:41,040 --> 00:01:43,319 Speaker 1: and war veterans has been viewed and handled, I have 30 00:01:43,520 --> 00:01:46,039 Speaker 1: just as much gratitude and love for how far we 31 00:01:46,120 --> 00:01:49,760 Speaker 1: have come. Seriously, and I just want to say that 32 00:01:50,200 --> 00:01:53,520 Speaker 1: this idea gets to translate all across the world and 33 00:01:53,600 --> 00:01:56,680 Speaker 1: in your life. Just because it was once one way, 34 00:01:56,720 --> 00:01:59,160 Speaker 1: it doesn't mean it has to continue to be that way. 35 00:01:59,520 --> 00:02:02,880 Speaker 1: And it at me thinking recently somebody had called me 36 00:02:02,960 --> 00:02:05,560 Speaker 1: a hypocrite. Of course not to my face, but they 37 00:02:05,640 --> 00:02:08,160 Speaker 1: called me that, and it was because I started doing 38 00:02:08,240 --> 00:02:12,120 Speaker 1: something that in my past I was so adamantly against. 39 00:02:12,520 --> 00:02:15,480 Speaker 1: But when I learned new information, I actually discovered that 40 00:02:15,520 --> 00:02:18,760 Speaker 1: I was previously wrong, and so I allowed myself to shift. 41 00:02:19,240 --> 00:02:20,880 Speaker 1: That's what it is. And I guess being a hypocrite 42 00:02:20,919 --> 00:02:23,160 Speaker 1: isn't a bad thing, and it's really a sign of 43 00:02:23,240 --> 00:02:26,400 Speaker 1: humility and strength. But I don't actually think that is 44 00:02:26,440 --> 00:02:29,920 Speaker 1: what a hypocrite is. So anyway, we are just going 45 00:02:29,960 --> 00:02:32,280 Speaker 1: to be here today still talking about trauma and the 46 00:02:32,360 --> 00:02:36,519 Speaker 1: history of PTSD and trauma and war veterans. But also 47 00:02:37,160 --> 00:02:38,840 Speaker 1: I want you to hear the story that is being 48 00:02:38,880 --> 00:02:42,000 Speaker 1: told behind the story. And I am someone who likes 49 00:02:42,040 --> 00:02:44,240 Speaker 1: to operate as much as I can from the idea 50 00:02:44,320 --> 00:02:46,080 Speaker 1: that people are doing the best they can with what 51 00:02:46,160 --> 00:02:48,799 Speaker 1: they have or what they know, and sometimes what they 52 00:02:48,840 --> 00:02:52,160 Speaker 1: have means the information that they have. So we get 53 00:02:52,200 --> 00:02:55,600 Speaker 1: to be angry about how messed up things were. For sure, 54 00:02:55,960 --> 00:02:58,560 Speaker 1: I was so angry. It's like I got angry again, 55 00:02:58,600 --> 00:03:00,359 Speaker 1: like I knew this, but then I was like, oh, 56 00:03:00,440 --> 00:03:03,240 Speaker 1: I'm sitting in it, so I'm angry again. So we 57 00:03:03,360 --> 00:03:06,960 Speaker 1: get to be angry, and as we learn more, we 58 00:03:07,000 --> 00:03:11,000 Speaker 1: get to allow the opportunity for the best they can 59 00:03:11,080 --> 00:03:14,160 Speaker 1: to change. Now, I want to start this conversation with 60 00:03:14,200 --> 00:03:17,400 Speaker 1: some basics, like what is trauma? And yes, we've talked 61 00:03:17,440 --> 00:03:20,600 Speaker 1: about this before, but sometimes we do need a little refresh. 62 00:03:20,760 --> 00:03:23,240 Speaker 1: And also we have new listeners all the time, so 63 00:03:23,280 --> 00:03:25,480 Speaker 1: maybe you guys have never heard me talk about this. 64 00:03:25,800 --> 00:03:27,920 Speaker 1: So what is trauma? I feel this one deep in 65 00:03:27,960 --> 00:03:32,519 Speaker 1: my soul. With the ever growing ability to find information 66 00:03:32,600 --> 00:03:37,480 Speaker 1: about mental health online and accessible in books, comes the 67 00:03:37,600 --> 00:03:40,920 Speaker 1: ever growing ability for things to get misconstrued. It's kind 68 00:03:40,920 --> 00:03:43,360 Speaker 1: of like sometimes we play a big game of telephone 69 00:03:43,800 --> 00:03:47,480 Speaker 1: with mental health, and we all know how telephone goes. 70 00:03:47,960 --> 00:03:52,160 Speaker 1: And truly hear me this. I love the accessibility like 71 00:03:52,560 --> 00:03:55,600 Speaker 1: love love, love the accessibility of information. Obviously, it's one 72 00:03:55,600 --> 00:03:58,560 Speaker 1: of the reasons I started this podcast. And sometimes the 73 00:03:58,600 --> 00:04:03,080 Speaker 1: information is being repeated by well meaning people who maybe 74 00:04:03,160 --> 00:04:06,680 Speaker 1: don't actually know what they're talking about. Wild thought that 75 00:04:06,800 --> 00:04:09,160 Speaker 1: someone could do that, that somebody on the internet might 76 00:04:09,160 --> 00:04:12,280 Speaker 1: not know what they're talking about. So the other problem 77 00:04:12,360 --> 00:04:14,680 Speaker 1: is that because mental health is on the up right now, 78 00:04:14,720 --> 00:04:16,560 Speaker 1: I think that we are doing a great job to 79 00:04:16,600 --> 00:04:18,800 Speaker 1: talk about it more, to speak about it more. It's 80 00:04:18,839 --> 00:04:22,720 Speaker 1: something that more people want to be a part of. 81 00:04:23,200 --> 00:04:26,480 Speaker 1: We are also capitalizing on this and in the end, accidentally, 82 00:04:26,520 --> 00:04:31,160 Speaker 1: I hope it's accidentally exploiting things like trauma and what 83 00:04:31,200 --> 00:04:35,159 Speaker 1: trauma is to gain followings. I've talked about this before 84 00:04:35,320 --> 00:04:38,359 Speaker 1: and I don't like it. Trauma and mental health is 85 00:04:38,400 --> 00:04:42,680 Speaker 1: not something that is should be thought of as trendy, 86 00:04:42,800 --> 00:04:45,680 Speaker 1: and it should be something that we use or capitalize 87 00:04:45,720 --> 00:04:50,520 Speaker 1: on to gain a following for a personal gain. Personal gain. 88 00:04:50,839 --> 00:04:54,320 Speaker 1: Hear me on that. So let's get one thing very 89 00:04:54,400 --> 00:04:57,359 Speaker 1: very clear. Not everything that you have a feeling about 90 00:04:57,640 --> 00:05:01,360 Speaker 1: is or needs to be category as trauma. And what 91 00:05:01,440 --> 00:05:04,200 Speaker 1: one person may categorize as trauma, you may not, and 92 00:05:04,279 --> 00:05:07,880 Speaker 1: vice versa. It's not anyone's job to tell you what 93 00:05:08,160 --> 00:05:10,440 Speaker 1: is and what isn't trauma, depending on who they are, 94 00:05:11,160 --> 00:05:13,680 Speaker 1: because this is kind of sticky and weird and tricky 95 00:05:13,800 --> 00:05:15,960 Speaker 1: because some of you, maybe some of you have been 96 00:05:15,960 --> 00:05:19,120 Speaker 1: clients of mine, might be thinking, but Cat, remember that 97 00:05:19,200 --> 00:05:21,560 Speaker 1: time that we did a timeline and you looked at 98 00:05:21,600 --> 00:05:24,359 Speaker 1: me with that crazy face that you make, you know, 99 00:05:24,480 --> 00:05:27,440 Speaker 1: you know, and I was like, oh my gosh, that's 100 00:05:27,440 --> 00:05:30,560 Speaker 1: not normal, that's trauma. Yeah. I do do that. I 101 00:05:30,600 --> 00:05:33,039 Speaker 1: do sometimes I have to help others who have a 102 00:05:33,080 --> 00:05:36,840 Speaker 1: warped view of what normal is and what healthy is. 103 00:05:36,920 --> 00:05:39,119 Speaker 1: I have to help them see things. And I also 104 00:05:39,200 --> 00:05:42,800 Speaker 1: do this in a therapeutic setting as a therapist. So 105 00:05:42,880 --> 00:05:44,640 Speaker 1: I guess what I'm I'm saying it is just be 106 00:05:44,760 --> 00:05:47,680 Speaker 1: careful out there. I have to be careful. I tread 107 00:05:47,760 --> 00:05:51,400 Speaker 1: so lightly around this stuff, and I'm working through that myself. 108 00:05:51,440 --> 00:05:53,839 Speaker 1: But I don't want to put too much information out there, 109 00:05:53,880 --> 00:05:57,400 Speaker 1: and I don't want to tell anybody out in the 110 00:05:57,440 --> 00:06:00,279 Speaker 1: inner webs what their story is and what it means. 111 00:06:00,440 --> 00:06:03,080 Speaker 1: I can do that with clients, but that's so different, 112 00:06:03,279 --> 00:06:05,960 Speaker 1: and I say be careful because sometimes it's less of 113 00:06:05,960 --> 00:06:08,440 Speaker 1: a problem that people are categorizing your trauma for you, 114 00:06:08,480 --> 00:06:10,360 Speaker 1: but more of a problem that they are telling you 115 00:06:10,400 --> 00:06:14,119 Speaker 1: what that means. So if you experience X, that means 116 00:06:14,120 --> 00:06:16,640 Speaker 1: that you must do why, or if you do why, 117 00:06:16,720 --> 00:06:20,360 Speaker 1: it's because you have experienced X, not necessarily and we'll 118 00:06:20,400 --> 00:06:23,520 Speaker 1: get to that. But I just think it's worth to 119 00:06:23,680 --> 00:06:29,159 Speaker 1: say that nothing is a dent always the case, all 120 00:06:29,240 --> 00:06:31,440 Speaker 1: of the time, and I just want that to be 121 00:06:31,480 --> 00:06:33,800 Speaker 1: out there. Now, what do I believe trauma is? I 122 00:06:33,839 --> 00:06:36,920 Speaker 1: believe trauma can be anything that is less than nurturing. 123 00:06:37,080 --> 00:06:41,600 Speaker 1: Now here's the kicker. Not everyone who experiences trauma has PTSD. 124 00:06:42,040 --> 00:06:44,680 Speaker 1: Some people that experience trauma will never look at it, 125 00:06:44,800 --> 00:06:47,040 Speaker 1: never acknowledge it, and they might be okay, they might 126 00:06:47,040 --> 00:06:51,160 Speaker 1: not be okay. But also not everybody develops PTSD. And 127 00:06:51,200 --> 00:06:54,720 Speaker 1: also there is a difference between PTSD and complex PTSD, 128 00:06:55,360 --> 00:06:58,320 Speaker 1: and there is a difference between trauma and complex trauma. Also, 129 00:06:58,400 --> 00:07:01,560 Speaker 1: PTSD is not as simple to diagnosis and treatment for 130 00:07:01,600 --> 00:07:05,640 Speaker 1: it varies depending on who you are, your experiences, your resources, 131 00:07:05,680 --> 00:07:08,280 Speaker 1: and your individual makeup. So stay with me to hear 132 00:07:08,320 --> 00:07:11,560 Speaker 1: more on this, but for a second, longer than a second, 133 00:07:11,880 --> 00:07:13,560 Speaker 1: I want to take a little turn here and talk 134 00:07:13,640 --> 00:07:17,119 Speaker 1: about how differently we used to look at trauma, because 135 00:07:17,240 --> 00:07:20,480 Speaker 1: y'all it's fascinating, and we're going to focus on talking 136 00:07:20,520 --> 00:07:24,000 Speaker 1: about PTSD and war veterans, like I said, because you know, 137 00:07:24,080 --> 00:07:26,720 Speaker 1: it's a momortal day and this stuff is important. Now. 138 00:07:26,760 --> 00:07:28,800 Speaker 1: I also want to say here that I am not 139 00:07:28,840 --> 00:07:32,200 Speaker 1: an expert when it comes to military trauma and PTSD. Honestly, 140 00:07:32,480 --> 00:07:34,760 Speaker 1: the military is its own culture, and to be a 141 00:07:34,800 --> 00:07:38,240 Speaker 1: competent practitioner when it comes to the groups you're working with, 142 00:07:38,320 --> 00:07:41,680 Speaker 1: it's important to understand and take all of that into account. 143 00:07:42,000 --> 00:07:43,880 Speaker 1: So I just want to say up top that my 144 00:07:43,920 --> 00:07:47,600 Speaker 1: specialty is not military and war trauma. However, I believe 145 00:07:47,680 --> 00:07:50,960 Speaker 1: that this is a valid and important conversation for a 146 00:07:50,960 --> 00:07:53,960 Speaker 1: couple of reasons. Some I've already said, but also because 147 00:07:54,000 --> 00:07:56,600 Speaker 1: of the minimization I think there can be out there 148 00:07:56,640 --> 00:07:59,640 Speaker 1: about the effects, and also just to kind of give 149 00:07:59,680 --> 00:08:02,840 Speaker 1: us a general understanding of where we come from. So 150 00:08:03,560 --> 00:08:08,520 Speaker 1: what we now know is that military service members who 151 00:08:08,600 --> 00:08:13,120 Speaker 1: have come from combat or at a much higher risk 152 00:08:13,200 --> 00:08:17,679 Speaker 1: of suffering from post traumatic stress disorder PTSD because of 153 00:08:18,040 --> 00:08:22,160 Speaker 1: the traumatic things that they have witnessed or experienced directly. 154 00:08:22,400 --> 00:08:25,080 Speaker 1: And what that might look like when they come home 155 00:08:25,200 --> 00:08:31,040 Speaker 1: is reliving the events, having flashbacks, being hyper vigilant, which 156 00:08:31,560 --> 00:08:33,840 Speaker 1: might mean being worried that something or someone is going 157 00:08:33,880 --> 00:08:36,600 Speaker 1: to hurt them, just being on edge and aware, over aware, 158 00:08:37,200 --> 00:08:41,640 Speaker 1: avoiding situations that remind them of those things, or maybe 159 00:08:41,679 --> 00:08:46,400 Speaker 1: just even experiencing increased negative thoughts and feelings and depression 160 00:08:46,760 --> 00:08:48,400 Speaker 1: and on and on and on and on on on. 161 00:08:48,679 --> 00:08:49,880 Speaker 1: That can look a lot of ways, but those are 162 00:08:49,920 --> 00:08:52,480 Speaker 1: some of the ways. Again, we know this now. We 163 00:08:52,520 --> 00:08:55,600 Speaker 1: know that the experience of combat can change someone who 164 00:08:55,640 --> 00:08:59,960 Speaker 1: otherwise lived a healthy life simply due to the exposed 165 00:09:00,000 --> 00:09:02,600 Speaker 1: sure of these events. But we did not always know this. 166 00:09:03,320 --> 00:09:06,640 Speaker 1: So there's this wonderfully amazing book called Trauma and Recovery 167 00:09:06,720 --> 00:09:10,800 Speaker 1: written by Judith Hermann, and I'm going to reference this 168 00:09:10,880 --> 00:09:14,000 Speaker 1: book quite a bit um and information I learned from 169 00:09:14,040 --> 00:09:17,000 Speaker 1: this book, And if you are interested in anything that 170 00:09:17,040 --> 00:09:20,079 Speaker 1: I'm saying, I'm touching the surface of this book, and 171 00:09:20,080 --> 00:09:22,200 Speaker 1: I'm touching the surface of what I have learned in 172 00:09:22,280 --> 00:09:25,600 Speaker 1: school and just throughout my own research and continuing education. 173 00:09:26,160 --> 00:09:28,479 Speaker 1: So if you want to know more about this subject, 174 00:09:29,000 --> 00:09:33,240 Speaker 1: that book Trauma and Recovery is a great resource. It 175 00:09:33,360 --> 00:09:36,080 Speaker 1: summarizes a lot of what has happened. And I'm going 176 00:09:36,120 --> 00:09:40,200 Speaker 1: to take that summary and summarize it even more. And again, 177 00:09:40,280 --> 00:09:43,320 Speaker 1: keep in mind, i'm scratching the surface here, So take 178 00:09:43,400 --> 00:09:45,800 Speaker 1: this in knowing that I'm condensing a lot of information 179 00:09:45,840 --> 00:09:49,920 Speaker 1: into a very relatively short conversation with myself and you guys. 180 00:09:50,160 --> 00:09:52,200 Speaker 1: So I want to start with a direct quote from 181 00:09:52,200 --> 00:09:56,720 Speaker 1: that book, and it is to study psychological trauma is 182 00:09:56,760 --> 00:09:59,960 Speaker 1: to come face to face with both the human vulnar 183 00:10:00,000 --> 00:10:03,520 Speaker 1: no ability in the natural world and with the capacity 184 00:10:03,559 --> 00:10:06,400 Speaker 1: for evil in human nature. I'm going to read that 185 00:10:06,440 --> 00:10:09,200 Speaker 1: again a little slower so you can soak that in. 186 00:10:09,679 --> 00:10:13,520 Speaker 1: To study psychological trauma is to come face to face 187 00:10:13,800 --> 00:10:17,600 Speaker 1: with both the human vulnerability in the natural world and 188 00:10:17,640 --> 00:10:21,640 Speaker 1: with the capacity for evil in human nature. And I 189 00:10:21,720 --> 00:10:24,440 Speaker 1: start with this because I want to validate how much 190 00:10:24,480 --> 00:10:28,320 Speaker 1: I understand the avoidance of studying understanding and processing trauma. 191 00:10:28,480 --> 00:10:31,440 Speaker 1: To do that forces us to come to terms with 192 00:10:31,520 --> 00:10:34,840 Speaker 1: some hard truths that I wish were not true. One 193 00:10:34,920 --> 00:10:37,160 Speaker 1: that we are vulnerable and to that humans have the 194 00:10:37,200 --> 00:10:40,280 Speaker 1: capacity to engage in pure evilness. I do not like 195 00:10:40,360 --> 00:10:43,920 Speaker 1: either of those things. However, what we have also learned 196 00:10:44,000 --> 00:10:46,959 Speaker 1: is that avoiding these things, like anything else, doesn't make 197 00:10:47,000 --> 00:10:52,120 Speaker 1: them go away. Avoidance doesn't equal disappearance. It just equals avoidance. 198 00:10:52,440 --> 00:10:55,880 Speaker 1: And while we are busy avoiding the effects of our 199 00:10:55,920 --> 00:11:00,880 Speaker 1: trauma just sit there, brewing and growing. So studying the 200 00:11:00,920 --> 00:11:04,960 Speaker 1: effects of war trauma didn't really start in England and 201 00:11:05,000 --> 00:11:08,920 Speaker 1: the US until after the First World War, and it 202 00:11:09,000 --> 00:11:11,280 Speaker 1: actually reached its peak in Vietnam, so we're going to 203 00:11:11,360 --> 00:11:14,120 Speaker 1: go all through that. So basically the stuff is fresh 204 00:11:14,120 --> 00:11:17,160 Speaker 1: and antinow And to put in perspective, in World War One, 205 00:11:17,480 --> 00:11:20,640 Speaker 1: over eight million men died in four years. That is 206 00:11:20,760 --> 00:11:26,240 Speaker 1: a lot. And one estimate says that psychological breakdowns made 207 00:11:26,320 --> 00:11:30,560 Speaker 1: up fort of the British casualties in this war. That 208 00:11:30,760 --> 00:11:34,040 Speaker 1: is a lot. So, without going into too much detail, 209 00:11:34,160 --> 00:11:38,560 Speaker 1: before we were where we are now with PTSD, what 210 00:11:38,720 --> 00:11:41,719 Speaker 1: PTSD was in women was referred to as something called 211 00:11:41,800 --> 00:11:45,040 Speaker 1: hysteria and don't get me started, even though I'm about 212 00:11:45,080 --> 00:11:51,040 Speaker 1: to get me started. But then suddenly, men during this 213 00:11:51,080 --> 00:11:54,520 Speaker 1: time began to break down and act in ways that 214 00:11:54,720 --> 00:11:58,120 Speaker 1: likened and looked like what was then called hysteria and 215 00:11:58,120 --> 00:12:02,000 Speaker 1: women and hysteria back in the day was a disease 216 00:12:02,040 --> 00:12:05,240 Speaker 1: that at one point was thought to be originated in 217 00:12:05,240 --> 00:12:07,679 Speaker 1: the uterus. If you really want to have your mind blown, 218 00:12:07,760 --> 00:12:11,480 Speaker 1: you should research this. It's fascinating. I mean, it is 219 00:12:11,559 --> 00:12:14,680 Speaker 1: fascinating where we used to be. I well, I don't 220 00:12:14,679 --> 00:12:16,840 Speaker 1: think I'll ever get over it with the things that 221 00:12:16,880 --> 00:12:20,800 Speaker 1: we used to think. And by the eighteen nineties, psychologists, 222 00:12:20,800 --> 00:12:24,240 Speaker 1: including Freud, which is a big name I'm assuming a 223 00:12:24,240 --> 00:12:27,120 Speaker 1: lot of us have heard of him before, they came 224 00:12:27,120 --> 00:12:29,480 Speaker 1: to the conclusion that it doesn't stem from the uterus, 225 00:12:29,559 --> 00:12:33,040 Speaker 1: and it's actually a condition caused by psychological trauma. So 226 00:12:33,320 --> 00:12:36,480 Speaker 1: we moved on from that first assumption, and eventually they 227 00:12:36,520 --> 00:12:40,040 Speaker 1: discovered through this work that the patients that they are 228 00:12:40,040 --> 00:12:42,600 Speaker 1: working with could be helped when the memories and feelings 229 00:12:42,600 --> 00:12:46,480 Speaker 1: associated with the memories were put into words. Thus began 230 00:12:46,600 --> 00:12:50,960 Speaker 1: the beginnings of psychotherapy and psychoanalysis. But get this, Freud's 231 00:12:51,000 --> 00:12:54,160 Speaker 1: study of hysteria and women brought him to the conclusion 232 00:12:54,200 --> 00:12:58,360 Speaker 1: that hysteria was caused by sexual trauma. However, his discovery 233 00:12:58,400 --> 00:13:02,320 Speaker 1: of that left him basically extracized by society because of 234 00:13:02,360 --> 00:13:05,600 Speaker 1: how painful that finding would have been if it were true. 235 00:13:05,720 --> 00:13:07,480 Speaker 1: So go back to that first quote that I shared 236 00:13:07,520 --> 00:13:11,400 Speaker 1: with you guys, and eventually he backtracked on his thesis 237 00:13:11,440 --> 00:13:15,280 Speaker 1: and said that the accounts of the sexual abuse that 238 00:13:15,320 --> 00:13:18,239 Speaker 1: he had found what which brought him to his conclusion, 239 00:13:18,679 --> 00:13:23,000 Speaker 1: were lies. So hysteria basically became an illness that women 240 00:13:23,000 --> 00:13:27,240 Speaker 1: were making up que a lot of eye rolling. Now, initially, 241 00:13:27,240 --> 00:13:31,520 Speaker 1: British psychologists attributed these breakdowns that looked like hysteria two 242 00:13:31,559 --> 00:13:37,199 Speaker 1: symptoms of physical injuries and the concussive effect or effects 243 00:13:37,280 --> 00:13:41,959 Speaker 1: of exploding shells, and they called this disorder shell shock, 244 00:13:42,320 --> 00:13:44,680 Speaker 1: which I bet some of you have heard that term before, 245 00:13:44,800 --> 00:13:47,880 Speaker 1: so that's where that term originated. Now, what was interesting 246 00:13:47,960 --> 00:13:51,360 Speaker 1: is that men were experiencing these symptoms that weren't actually 247 00:13:51,440 --> 00:13:56,520 Speaker 1: harmed physically. So eventually psychologists were forced to acknowledge that 248 00:13:56,920 --> 00:14:00,640 Speaker 1: this was less about physical trauma and more about psychological trauma. 249 00:14:00,840 --> 00:14:04,640 Speaker 1: But this acknowledgement wasn't easy. And again, remember how much 250 00:14:04,640 --> 00:14:07,559 Speaker 1: I'm condensing this, so I kind of feel like I'm 251 00:14:07,559 --> 00:14:09,880 Speaker 1: doing a disservice to the world of psychology here. But 252 00:14:10,120 --> 00:14:12,920 Speaker 1: the point is, again, we've come a long way. People 253 00:14:12,960 --> 00:14:16,880 Speaker 1: can be very off base sometimes, so oh my gosh, 254 00:14:17,080 --> 00:14:21,120 Speaker 1: then be talking about being off base. This gets me 255 00:14:21,160 --> 00:14:23,920 Speaker 1: going when it comes to masculinity in our culture. We 256 00:14:23,960 --> 00:14:25,640 Speaker 1: will be doing a lot of that talk in the 257 00:14:25,680 --> 00:14:31,000 Speaker 1: coming weeks anyway. So a moral character argument began. So 258 00:14:31,360 --> 00:14:33,800 Speaker 1: men were supposed to be able to go to war, fight, 259 00:14:33,960 --> 00:14:36,480 Speaker 1: see some really hard fucking shit, and then come home 260 00:14:36,520 --> 00:14:40,680 Speaker 1: and be fine. I'm sorry what? Like? What? That was 261 00:14:40,720 --> 00:14:44,360 Speaker 1: the expectation, right, if you were a morally normal human, 262 00:14:44,680 --> 00:14:46,880 Speaker 1: healthy human, you're you should be able to do that, 263 00:14:46,960 --> 00:14:48,640 Speaker 1: be a man, and then come home and get over it. 264 00:14:48,760 --> 00:14:52,800 Speaker 1: And something that was challenged after this war was the 265 00:14:52,840 --> 00:14:56,040 Speaker 1: idea that being a man and being masculine and strong 266 00:14:56,160 --> 00:14:59,800 Speaker 1: and morally sound, which is what you want, and being 267 00:14:59,840 --> 00:15:02,360 Speaker 1: a will survive the trauma of war without a hiccup 268 00:15:02,720 --> 00:15:05,880 Speaker 1: weren't synonymous. That was being challenged because that was the 269 00:15:05,960 --> 00:15:09,280 Speaker 1: belief before. I mean, honestly, can you imagine I don't 270 00:15:09,320 --> 00:15:11,920 Speaker 1: really want you to imagine this, but could you imagine honestly, 271 00:15:12,320 --> 00:15:16,000 Speaker 1: being affected by what one season a war zone is 272 00:15:16,040 --> 00:15:21,400 Speaker 1: a sign of to me, true connection with yourself and morality. 273 00:15:21,520 --> 00:15:24,240 Speaker 1: In my book, if you aren't affected by seeing this stuff, 274 00:15:24,280 --> 00:15:28,080 Speaker 1: something's up, truly. If that does not affect you, that 275 00:15:28,120 --> 00:15:31,640 Speaker 1: to me means something is morally wrong with you. But anyway, 276 00:15:31,680 --> 00:15:35,480 Speaker 1: this idea of mental tough toughness gets pressed deeper and deeper, 277 00:15:35,680 --> 00:15:39,120 Speaker 1: and those who came back with what was categorized as 278 00:15:39,200 --> 00:15:43,000 Speaker 1: hysteria and men were looked at as a weak or 279 00:15:43,040 --> 00:15:45,920 Speaker 1: a coward, And sadly, a lot of these men were 280 00:15:46,480 --> 00:15:52,000 Speaker 1: dishonorably discharged rather than given medical attention like they needed 281 00:15:52,160 --> 00:15:57,960 Speaker 1: or deserved. Even worse, you guys are hearing the honest 282 00:15:58,040 --> 00:16:01,360 Speaker 1: real cat come out, but like even worse. Okay, there's 283 00:16:01,400 --> 00:16:03,600 Speaker 1: this guy named Lewis. I don't know how to say 284 00:16:03,640 --> 00:16:05,800 Speaker 1: his last name. I think it's either Yeland or yelland 285 00:16:06,000 --> 00:16:10,800 Speaker 1: he advocated for treatment strategies based off of shame, threats, 286 00:16:10,800 --> 00:16:15,120 Speaker 1: and punishment. And I can barely get through speaking on 287 00:16:15,160 --> 00:16:17,560 Speaker 1: this because I can't. I mean, I can't believe it happened. 288 00:16:17,560 --> 00:16:21,640 Speaker 1: I know it happened, but what the heck really? WTF 289 00:16:21,680 --> 00:16:25,520 Speaker 1: they would use electric shock therapy and torture to get 290 00:16:25,560 --> 00:16:29,920 Speaker 1: men to behave properly. There was an account of one 291 00:16:30,000 --> 00:16:34,520 Speaker 1: man being shocked on the throat until he finally like 292 00:16:34,800 --> 00:16:38,040 Speaker 1: spoke or said what they wanted him to say, and 293 00:16:38,440 --> 00:16:43,760 Speaker 1: I mean talk about trauma, talk about trauma. Now. Thankfully 294 00:16:43,800 --> 00:16:46,760 Speaker 1: there were some more liberal points of view in this area. However, 295 00:16:46,840 --> 00:16:50,160 Speaker 1: after the war died down, so did the interest of 296 00:16:50,200 --> 00:16:53,400 Speaker 1: studying and treating these individuals, because again, go back to 297 00:16:53,440 --> 00:16:55,520 Speaker 1: the beginning, we don't want to look at this if 298 00:16:55,560 --> 00:16:57,320 Speaker 1: we don't have to. I think that's where a lot 299 00:16:57,320 --> 00:16:59,920 Speaker 1: of people are wanting to lean into and when they're 300 00:17:00,040 --> 00:17:02,040 Speaker 1: treating it, it was really because they were in it 301 00:17:02,080 --> 00:17:04,480 Speaker 1: and they had to and they had these men acting 302 00:17:04,920 --> 00:17:10,119 Speaker 1: end quotes hysterical. So then around keep in mind, this 303 00:17:10,400 --> 00:17:13,240 Speaker 1: really wasn't that long ago. This man named Abraham Cardiner 304 00:17:13,560 --> 00:17:15,880 Speaker 1: was like, Hey, this does need attention, and I'm gonna 305 00:17:15,880 --> 00:17:18,199 Speaker 1: put some attention on it. So he set up a 306 00:17:18,240 --> 00:17:21,520 Speaker 1: psychiatry practice in New York City and he began to 307 00:17:21,560 --> 00:17:24,399 Speaker 1: work with the veterans breu. Sadly, he didn't find much 308 00:17:24,440 --> 00:17:27,120 Speaker 1: success working with the men who were suffering from what 309 00:17:27,200 --> 00:17:30,439 Speaker 1: he then called war neurosis, and so he took some 310 00:17:30,520 --> 00:17:32,960 Speaker 1: time off, he studied some other things, and eventually he 311 00:17:33,600 --> 00:17:37,320 Speaker 1: came back and one thing he did that I think 312 00:17:37,440 --> 00:17:40,240 Speaker 1: was crucial is that he noted that even though the 313 00:17:40,240 --> 00:17:43,400 Speaker 1: symptoms were that they were looking at looked like what 314 00:17:43,440 --> 00:17:47,000 Speaker 1: was labeled as hysteria and women, it wasn't helpful calling 315 00:17:47,080 --> 00:17:50,280 Speaker 1: it that for multiple reasons, one being that the idea 316 00:17:50,440 --> 00:17:54,080 Speaker 1: of hysteria, which again go back to what I said earlier, 317 00:17:54,600 --> 00:17:58,440 Speaker 1: gave the notion that the patient is of some predatory 318 00:17:58,520 --> 00:18:01,280 Speaker 1: nature and is basically keen things up and it's trying 319 00:18:01,280 --> 00:18:04,880 Speaker 1: to get attention or get something from nothing, from something 320 00:18:04,920 --> 00:18:08,000 Speaker 1: that didn't happen. It was very invalidating, to say the least, 321 00:18:08,200 --> 00:18:10,680 Speaker 1: because of how that was looked at, which now it's 322 00:18:10,680 --> 00:18:12,879 Speaker 1: not looked at that way, but back then that's still 323 00:18:13,040 --> 00:18:16,520 Speaker 1: they were not acknowledging why those women were actually acting 324 00:18:16,520 --> 00:18:19,080 Speaker 1: that way and why they were having these symptoms. And 325 00:18:19,160 --> 00:18:21,960 Speaker 1: so we know now that validation of one's experience is 326 00:18:22,000 --> 00:18:25,280 Speaker 1: an essential part of care for somebody with trauma. So 327 00:18:25,320 --> 00:18:30,680 Speaker 1: that was huge to destigmatize that whole situation. And eventually 328 00:18:30,760 --> 00:18:34,040 Speaker 1: this guy developed the outlines of how we view PTSD today, 329 00:18:34,160 --> 00:18:37,680 Speaker 1: which is super cool and soon after he did that, 330 00:18:37,800 --> 00:18:40,600 Speaker 1: it was recognized that any man could have a breakdown 331 00:18:40,920 --> 00:18:43,480 Speaker 1: in quotes after war, and it wasn't it wasn't a 332 00:18:43,520 --> 00:18:47,040 Speaker 1: matter of strength or moral character. So thank god. So 333 00:18:47,080 --> 00:18:50,520 Speaker 1: in the Second World War, and again I'm leaving out 334 00:18:50,560 --> 00:18:53,200 Speaker 1: so many details, but in the Second World War, basically 335 00:18:53,200 --> 00:18:57,159 Speaker 1: treatment for men who were exposed to trauma. And I 336 00:18:57,200 --> 00:18:59,440 Speaker 1: mean that even sounds weird because that could that would 337 00:18:59,480 --> 00:19:04,080 Speaker 1: be everybody, but I digress. The treatment changed and it improved. However, 338 00:19:04,280 --> 00:19:07,119 Speaker 1: the treatment was more of a short term situation, and 339 00:19:07,119 --> 00:19:09,919 Speaker 1: they were more focused on how to get men who 340 00:19:10,080 --> 00:19:14,520 Speaker 1: were suffering these acute psychological disturbances back to normal so 341 00:19:14,560 --> 00:19:17,000 Speaker 1: they could go back and fight and do their job. 342 00:19:17,119 --> 00:19:18,800 Speaker 1: It was about how to get them back to normal 343 00:19:18,880 --> 00:19:21,119 Speaker 1: and then now and how to return them to work, 344 00:19:21,320 --> 00:19:24,640 Speaker 1: rather than how to heal the long term effects. So 345 00:19:24,960 --> 00:19:28,760 Speaker 1: we're going with progress, not perfection, I suppose. So after 346 00:19:28,800 --> 00:19:32,000 Speaker 1: that war died down, so did the attention again. And 347 00:19:32,400 --> 00:19:35,560 Speaker 1: that was normal, especially because at that time they were 348 00:19:35,600 --> 00:19:37,520 Speaker 1: focused on the here and now and there was on 349 00:19:37,560 --> 00:19:40,720 Speaker 1: an emphasis on how the stuff would affect people in 350 00:19:40,720 --> 00:19:43,520 Speaker 1: the future. So to make this even crazier, when we 351 00:19:43,560 --> 00:19:46,879 Speaker 1: talk about this wasn't that long ago. It wasn't until 352 00:19:46,920 --> 00:19:51,560 Speaker 1: about nineteen seventy when the Vietnam War came into play 353 00:19:51,600 --> 00:19:54,119 Speaker 1: that people started focusing on the long term effects of 354 00:19:54,119 --> 00:19:58,680 Speaker 1: war trauma, which is crazy, and eventually, because of some 355 00:19:59,200 --> 00:20:04,920 Speaker 1: very large shoes from certain groups, PTSD was eventually recognized. Now, 356 00:20:04,960 --> 00:20:09,480 Speaker 1: this happened largely due to things called rap groups, which 357 00:20:09,520 --> 00:20:14,680 Speaker 1: were groups created by the anti war U Vietnam War veterans, 358 00:20:15,320 --> 00:20:17,560 Speaker 1: and the political pressure that these groups put on the 359 00:20:17,600 --> 00:20:21,439 Speaker 1: government ended in a mandate for a psychological treatment program 360 00:20:21,480 --> 00:20:25,680 Speaker 1: called Operation Outreach within the Veterans Administration. This also made 361 00:20:25,720 --> 00:20:30,520 Speaker 1: possible for comprehensive studies that looked at the impact of 362 00:20:30,560 --> 00:20:34,840 Speaker 1: war on veterans returning home. And then this resulted in 363 00:20:34,920 --> 00:20:39,639 Speaker 1: a research that mapped out post traumatic stress disorder and 364 00:20:39,840 --> 00:20:45,639 Speaker 1: proved a connection between PTSD and combat exposure. And then 365 00:20:46,040 --> 00:20:49,280 Speaker 1: in which again think about it, not that long ago. 366 00:20:50,359 --> 00:20:54,119 Speaker 1: The first time that the a p A acknowledged post 367 00:20:54,119 --> 00:20:56,399 Speaker 1: traumatic stress disorder in the d s M, which is 368 00:20:56,400 --> 00:21:01,560 Speaker 1: the Diagnostic Statistical Manual for mental health disord. So PTSD 369 00:21:01,720 --> 00:21:06,359 Speaker 1: wasn't in there until now. You know how I said 370 00:21:06,560 --> 00:21:08,800 Speaker 1: in the beginning, we're talking about a story within a 371 00:21:08,840 --> 00:21:11,480 Speaker 1: story within a story. Here's another story that I think 372 00:21:11,520 --> 00:21:14,639 Speaker 1: is important, a huge issue with all of this if 373 00:21:14,680 --> 00:21:16,680 Speaker 1: you really sit down and think about it and you 374 00:21:16,720 --> 00:21:19,800 Speaker 1: look at what has happened that The truth is, it's 375 00:21:19,920 --> 00:21:23,320 Speaker 1: really easy to blame a victim when it comes to 376 00:21:23,320 --> 00:21:26,240 Speaker 1: this stuff, especially if you've never experienced what being in 377 00:21:26,240 --> 00:21:28,840 Speaker 1: a situation like this can do and what it feels like. 378 00:21:28,960 --> 00:21:32,440 Speaker 1: And I don't like to compare trauma, but I think 379 00:21:32,640 --> 00:21:35,080 Speaker 1: people might be able to relate to this. Have you 380 00:21:35,080 --> 00:21:37,919 Speaker 1: ever looked at someone and been like, I don't understand 381 00:21:38,000 --> 00:21:42,320 Speaker 1: how she stays with that abusive partner, Well, she or 382 00:21:42,400 --> 00:21:46,200 Speaker 1: he probably isn't really choosing this, And that's what I'm saying. 383 00:21:46,240 --> 00:21:48,760 Speaker 1: It's really easy to blame the victim. It's easy to 384 00:21:48,800 --> 00:21:51,680 Speaker 1: blame that person, especially when they're adults and you think 385 00:21:51,680 --> 00:21:55,720 Speaker 1: that they have full autonomy. However, they are most likely 386 00:21:55,760 --> 00:22:00,480 Speaker 1: traumatized and brainwashed. They're not weak or moral failings of humans. 387 00:22:00,840 --> 00:22:03,639 Speaker 1: And just so we are all on the same page 388 00:22:03,640 --> 00:22:07,560 Speaker 1: with this, there is zero current research that identifies a 389 00:22:07,640 --> 00:22:12,919 Speaker 1: personality trait that makes women more susceptible to abusive relationship. 390 00:22:13,160 --> 00:22:17,280 Speaker 1: It's not because something innately in them. Their makeup changes 391 00:22:17,400 --> 00:22:20,920 Speaker 1: when they are being traumatized. So I just really want 392 00:22:20,920 --> 00:22:24,680 Speaker 1: to say this very loud and very very clear. If 393 00:22:24,720 --> 00:22:28,360 Speaker 1: you have ever felt weak or dumb or like it's 394 00:22:28,359 --> 00:22:32,720 Speaker 1: your fault that you've got yourself in a situation like 395 00:22:32,760 --> 00:22:35,840 Speaker 1: I just mentioned, it's not your fault and nothing is 396 00:22:35,880 --> 00:22:38,600 Speaker 1: inherently wrong with you. You know, there is another direct 397 00:22:38,680 --> 00:22:40,240 Speaker 1: quote that I'm going to take from that book, and 398 00:22:40,280 --> 00:22:41,800 Speaker 1: I don't even know where it is. I just know 399 00:22:41,880 --> 00:22:45,280 Speaker 1: that I wrote it down, and it is this. It 400 00:22:45,400 --> 00:22:49,080 Speaker 1: is sometimes forgotten that men's violence is men's behavior, and 401 00:22:49,600 --> 00:22:52,560 Speaker 1: oh my gosh, that's so good. We should not be 402 00:22:52,640 --> 00:22:56,720 Speaker 1: trying to explain men's behavior by characteristics of women, period. 403 00:22:57,040 --> 00:23:00,840 Speaker 1: So with all of that information, a key to understanding 404 00:23:00,960 --> 00:23:05,280 Speaker 1: PTSD is that the human after the abuse happens is 405 00:23:05,400 --> 00:23:08,720 Speaker 1: different than the human before the abuse, right, So we 406 00:23:08,800 --> 00:23:15,960 Speaker 1: cannot explain somebody's symptoms of abuse by blaming the victim. 407 00:23:16,040 --> 00:23:19,919 Speaker 1: It does not make sense. And basically what I'm talking 408 00:23:19,920 --> 00:23:24,240 Speaker 1: about here is that people have been being overlooked and 409 00:23:24,240 --> 00:23:27,040 Speaker 1: their symptoms of abuse that in trauma have been diagnosed 410 00:23:27,200 --> 00:23:29,919 Speaker 1: wrong for a long time and still are sometimes and 411 00:23:30,080 --> 00:23:33,240 Speaker 1: they're diagnosed a lot of times as personality disorders just 412 00:23:33,240 --> 00:23:39,000 Speaker 1: just personality disorders now is not that long ago. And 413 00:23:39,440 --> 00:23:42,159 Speaker 1: until then we were looking at individuals as the problem 414 00:23:42,160 --> 00:23:45,080 Speaker 1: and not what happened to them. And for me, this 415 00:23:45,160 --> 00:23:49,560 Speaker 1: really allows a lot more empathy and understanding for humans 416 00:23:49,560 --> 00:23:54,000 Speaker 1: of all kinds. And man, I think about Freud and 417 00:23:54,040 --> 00:23:56,440 Speaker 1: how on it he was going back to the conversation 418 00:23:56,480 --> 00:24:00,440 Speaker 1: around hysteria, and how sad it is that he and 419 00:24:00,480 --> 00:24:04,399 Speaker 1: we the world couldn't sit with actual truth. So what 420 00:24:04,640 --> 00:24:08,679 Speaker 1: causes PTSD? Right? Because I said earlier, just because you 421 00:24:08,680 --> 00:24:11,240 Speaker 1: have trauma doesn't mean your PTSD. Why does some people 422 00:24:11,280 --> 00:24:13,720 Speaker 1: get it and some people don't? Well, in a little 423 00:24:13,720 --> 00:24:15,439 Speaker 1: baby nutshell, we're going to talk about this in a 424 00:24:15,440 --> 00:24:19,160 Speaker 1: little baby nutshell. When somebody experiences a traumatic event, it 425 00:24:19,200 --> 00:24:22,040 Speaker 1: invokes the feelings of fight, flight or freeze. Right. This 426 00:24:22,080 --> 00:24:25,080 Speaker 1: is located in the Olympic system of the brain. Sometimes 427 00:24:25,080 --> 00:24:29,320 Speaker 1: this experience is resolved emotionally on its own and it 428 00:24:29,359 --> 00:24:32,679 Speaker 1: moves to whatever storage place it needs to go in 429 00:24:32,680 --> 00:24:36,280 Speaker 1: the brain and it holds an appropriate narrative. However, there 430 00:24:36,320 --> 00:24:39,159 Speaker 1: are times when a traumatic experience is not resolved and 431 00:24:39,200 --> 00:24:42,160 Speaker 1: it gets stuck in the part of the brain that 432 00:24:42,200 --> 00:24:45,800 Speaker 1: holds the feelings of fight, flight or freeze. And something 433 00:24:46,320 --> 00:24:48,960 Speaker 1: that gets confused is that people who are struggling with 434 00:24:49,000 --> 00:24:52,480 Speaker 1: PTSD aren't reliving things in the past. They are reliving 435 00:24:52,520 --> 00:24:55,960 Speaker 1: trauma that is happening currently in their body. If you 436 00:24:55,960 --> 00:24:58,119 Speaker 1: want to know more about this, I highly, highly highly 437 00:24:58,160 --> 00:25:00,879 Speaker 1: recommend reading the book The Body Keeps the Score. It 438 00:25:00,920 --> 00:25:03,280 Speaker 1: goes into detail of all of this stuff. Also, what 439 00:25:03,359 --> 00:25:07,080 Speaker 1: I think people don't fully understand either, is that PTSD 440 00:25:07,160 --> 00:25:10,439 Speaker 1: deals with the emotional brain, not the rational brain. They're different, period. 441 00:25:11,560 --> 00:25:13,560 Speaker 1: And you know what I don't want to do because 442 00:25:13,680 --> 00:25:15,040 Speaker 1: of what I said in the very beginning of this 443 00:25:15,080 --> 00:25:18,440 Speaker 1: episode is give too much information about things that I'm 444 00:25:18,480 --> 00:25:21,000 Speaker 1: not a full expert in or that I just don't 445 00:25:21,000 --> 00:25:23,000 Speaker 1: know that I need to just be talking about on 446 00:25:23,080 --> 00:25:25,800 Speaker 1: the interwebs. So I'm not going to go through the 447 00:25:25,920 --> 00:25:27,680 Speaker 1: ds M five and I'm not going to talk about 448 00:25:27,680 --> 00:25:31,520 Speaker 1: the diagnostic criteria of PTSD and complex PTSD. What I 449 00:25:31,560 --> 00:25:34,480 Speaker 1: will do is talk about the difference. So trauma is 450 00:25:34,480 --> 00:25:37,800 Speaker 1: trauma is trauma. It's all valid. Trauma is trauma. It 451 00:25:37,800 --> 00:25:40,280 Speaker 1: doesn't matter what kind of is, it's still all valid. 452 00:25:40,560 --> 00:25:43,120 Speaker 1: And there is a huge difference in how different kinds 453 00:25:43,160 --> 00:25:45,440 Speaker 1: of trauma can affect each of us, and so no, 454 00:25:45,720 --> 00:25:49,159 Speaker 1: not all people who experience trauma have PTSD, and not 455 00:25:49,320 --> 00:25:53,560 Speaker 1: all PTSD is complex PTSD. What it is is it's 456 00:25:53,600 --> 00:25:56,240 Speaker 1: all worthy of care and repair and treatment. But they're 457 00:25:56,280 --> 00:26:00,560 Speaker 1: not all the same. So PTSD, or post traumatic stress disorder, 458 00:26:01,119 --> 00:26:04,639 Speaker 1: is defined by symptoms that arise in response to a 459 00:26:04,640 --> 00:26:10,080 Speaker 1: traumatic incident that overwhelms somebody's ability to cope. Complex PTSD 460 00:26:10,320 --> 00:26:13,720 Speaker 1: is different from PTSD in the fact that it is 461 00:26:13,880 --> 00:26:18,159 Speaker 1: a result of chronic exposure to traumatic events over period 462 00:26:18,200 --> 00:26:21,520 Speaker 1: of time months, years, time. The types of events that 463 00:26:21,560 --> 00:26:25,760 Speaker 1: are typical with this type of diagnosis, it's that's more 464 00:26:25,880 --> 00:26:29,080 Speaker 1: like a prisoner of war, any kind of torture, long 465 00:26:29,200 --> 00:26:34,040 Speaker 1: term childhood sexual abuse, just any kind of prolonged abuse, sex, 466 00:26:34,080 --> 00:26:38,480 Speaker 1: trafficking versus one incident. Sometimes the symptoms can look very different. 467 00:26:38,560 --> 00:26:41,760 Speaker 1: Sometimes they can look more severe, there can be more 468 00:26:41,800 --> 00:26:43,920 Speaker 1: re experiencing of the trauma. I mean that can happen 469 00:26:43,960 --> 00:26:47,440 Speaker 1: with PTSD two. But most of the time, the effects 470 00:26:47,480 --> 00:26:51,800 Speaker 1: of complex PTSD and the symptoms are more severe than PTSD. 471 00:26:52,080 --> 00:26:55,040 Speaker 1: And while the treatment might look the same, it might 472 00:26:55,160 --> 00:26:57,679 Speaker 1: take longer. You might have to spend more time in 473 00:26:57,720 --> 00:27:00,960 Speaker 1: certain areas of the treatment. It can it can be 474 00:27:01,480 --> 00:27:06,200 Speaker 1: using the word more complex. So here we are at 475 00:27:06,200 --> 00:27:11,760 Speaker 1: the end of a very emotionally fueled episode. And what 476 00:27:11,880 --> 00:27:16,080 Speaker 1: I hope that what today brought is awareness of the 477 00:27:16,160 --> 00:27:20,520 Speaker 1: multiple facets of stories woven in this information, the ability 478 00:27:20,520 --> 00:27:23,120 Speaker 1: to change, the importance of knowing where we came from, 479 00:27:23,160 --> 00:27:26,040 Speaker 1: the importance of continuing to learn, and the importance of 480 00:27:26,359 --> 00:27:29,720 Speaker 1: one trusting what we learn. If Freud would have trusted 481 00:27:29,720 --> 00:27:32,760 Speaker 1: what he learned about women back in the day, things 482 00:27:32,760 --> 00:27:35,680 Speaker 1: would have been a little bit different. And the ability 483 00:27:35,760 --> 00:27:39,359 Speaker 1: to differentiate and own our stories rather than have people 484 00:27:39,400 --> 00:27:42,600 Speaker 1: tell us what is our story and what our story means. 485 00:27:42,640 --> 00:27:46,199 Speaker 1: Because one thing that I might do with clients is, 486 00:27:46,800 --> 00:27:50,800 Speaker 1: you know, gently acknowledge that what they've experienced is considered trauma. 487 00:27:51,280 --> 00:27:53,679 Speaker 1: But what I won't ever do is tell them what 488 00:27:53,760 --> 00:27:56,400 Speaker 1: that trauma means for them. I won't do that. That 489 00:27:56,520 --> 00:28:00,240 Speaker 1: is up to an individual to identify and name and own, 490 00:28:00,480 --> 00:28:02,919 Speaker 1: because so much of the work when it comes to 491 00:28:03,040 --> 00:28:09,360 Speaker 1: trauma is creating a narrative and having them individual being 492 00:28:09,400 --> 00:28:11,600 Speaker 1: control of that narrative. And another thing I want us 493 00:28:11,600 --> 00:28:13,760 Speaker 1: to learn is that it is so easy to blame 494 00:28:13,800 --> 00:28:16,520 Speaker 1: a victim it has been very easy to blame victims 495 00:28:16,520 --> 00:28:19,200 Speaker 1: in our past, and at some point we've really got 496 00:28:19,240 --> 00:28:22,119 Speaker 1: to learn from our past, and I think that point 497 00:28:22,320 --> 00:28:25,240 Speaker 1: might be now, and to offer those who may be 498 00:28:25,359 --> 00:28:27,919 Speaker 1: struggling to show up the way you want them to 499 00:28:27,920 --> 00:28:31,600 Speaker 1: show up, offer them some grace and maybe the benefit 500 00:28:31,720 --> 00:28:35,320 Speaker 1: of the doubt. I always say that people weren't born 501 00:28:35,720 --> 00:28:39,200 Speaker 1: with these core beliefs about the world and themselves that 502 00:28:39,240 --> 00:28:41,959 Speaker 1: are negative and ikey. There are things that are taught 503 00:28:42,160 --> 00:28:46,640 Speaker 1: and learned, and so are the things that people end 504 00:28:46,720 --> 00:28:50,920 Speaker 1: up doing and experiencing in the aftermath of being exposed 505 00:28:50,960 --> 00:28:54,200 Speaker 1: to complex trauma. So I don't really know how to 506 00:28:54,280 --> 00:28:56,880 Speaker 1: end this one because I feel like I've just talked 507 00:28:56,880 --> 00:28:59,320 Speaker 1: about a lot of like really serious stuff in a 508 00:28:59,560 --> 00:29:01,640 Speaker 1: very mad or a fact way. I don't know that's 509 00:29:01,720 --> 00:29:04,440 Speaker 1: just me, but yeah, I guess it's you just have 510 00:29:04,560 --> 00:29:07,480 Speaker 1: to end it. So thanks for listening, And if you're 511 00:29:07,480 --> 00:29:09,400 Speaker 1: listening on Monday, I hope you guys are having a 512 00:29:09,760 --> 00:29:12,200 Speaker 1: good day off if you get that. I also acknowledge 513 00:29:12,240 --> 00:29:14,400 Speaker 1: that not everybody gets to have this day off, and 514 00:29:14,680 --> 00:29:16,360 Speaker 1: so if you don't get this day off, then I 515 00:29:16,400 --> 00:29:18,320 Speaker 1: hope you're also having not a good day, but the 516 00:29:18,400 --> 00:29:20,880 Speaker 1: day you need to have. And I will talk to 517 00:29:20,920 --> 00:29:22,960 Speaker 1: you guys on Wednesday for couch talks