1 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:09,240 Speaker 1: Hello everybody, and welcome back to the Psychology of Your Twenties, 2 00:00:09,880 --> 00:00:12,240 Speaker 1: the podcast where we talk through some of the big 3 00:00:12,480 --> 00:00:16,840 Speaker 1: life changes and transitions of our twenties and what they 4 00:00:16,920 --> 00:00:26,520 Speaker 1: mean for our psychology. Hello everybody, Welcome back to the show. 5 00:00:26,600 --> 00:00:30,240 Speaker 1: Welcome back to the podcast. New listeners, old listeners. Wherever 6 00:00:30,280 --> 00:00:32,159 Speaker 1: you are in the world, you know the deal. It 7 00:00:32,240 --> 00:00:34,000 Speaker 1: is so great to have you here. Back for another 8 00:00:34,040 --> 00:00:38,320 Speaker 1: episode as we, of course break down the psychology of 9 00:00:38,360 --> 00:00:42,280 Speaker 1: our twenties. Today, we are talking about a word. We 10 00:00:42,320 --> 00:00:46,560 Speaker 1: are talking about a topic, a concept that carries a 11 00:00:46,640 --> 00:00:50,840 Speaker 1: whole lot of weight, but is also used pretty flippantly 12 00:00:50,880 --> 00:00:55,200 Speaker 1: in conversation and is very misunderstood. We are talking about 13 00:00:55,720 --> 00:00:57,120 Speaker 1: trauma specifically. 14 00:00:57,600 --> 00:00:58,319 Speaker 2: I really want to. 15 00:00:58,240 --> 00:01:02,080 Speaker 3: Talk about how trauma is not just emotional, not just 16 00:01:02,080 --> 00:01:07,640 Speaker 3: psychological or cognitive, but physical as well. This is something 17 00:01:07,640 --> 00:01:09,720 Speaker 3: that in my own personal life, I've been doing a 18 00:01:09,720 --> 00:01:15,319 Speaker 3: lot of deep research, deep knowledge searching on trying to 19 00:01:15,360 --> 00:01:20,080 Speaker 3: find the best resources, trying to find personal experiences, trying 20 00:01:20,080 --> 00:01:24,160 Speaker 3: to find the best books about how trauma is essentially 21 00:01:24,640 --> 00:01:27,840 Speaker 3: trapped in the body. Long story short, I feel like 22 00:01:27,880 --> 00:01:31,280 Speaker 3: I've had a lot of realizations about the kind of 23 00:01:31,400 --> 00:01:35,080 Speaker 3: rage and anger that I carry in my body, about 24 00:01:35,160 --> 00:01:41,080 Speaker 3: the kind of irritation that I'm constantly carrying around, the detension, 25 00:01:42,080 --> 00:01:46,160 Speaker 3: all of these reactions that I have to certain situations 26 00:01:46,800 --> 00:01:49,680 Speaker 3: that I literally have no idea where it came from. 27 00:01:50,000 --> 00:01:54,640 Speaker 3: I've just kind of always been frustrated by until I 28 00:01:54,680 --> 00:01:58,760 Speaker 3: started to really sit with past experiences and sit with 29 00:01:58,800 --> 00:02:03,520 Speaker 3: trauma and just appreciate how you know, it's not just psychological, 30 00:02:03,560 --> 00:02:05,440 Speaker 3: it's not just in my mind. It's not just something 31 00:02:05,480 --> 00:02:07,720 Speaker 3: that happened to me, but it has had like real 32 00:02:07,800 --> 00:02:11,639 Speaker 3: long term behavioral and physical I don't want to say consequences, 33 00:02:11,680 --> 00:02:15,600 Speaker 3: but implications, And it just felt like the appropriate time 34 00:02:15,680 --> 00:02:18,240 Speaker 3: to kind of take all that knowledge and that research 35 00:02:18,280 --> 00:02:20,520 Speaker 3: that I've been doing and put it into an episode 36 00:02:20,560 --> 00:02:23,440 Speaker 3: so that hopefully it's helpful for some of you guys 37 00:02:23,480 --> 00:02:26,000 Speaker 3: out there, those of you who are in their twenties 38 00:02:26,080 --> 00:02:29,000 Speaker 3: like me, who are maybe figuring this out for the 39 00:02:29,000 --> 00:02:32,840 Speaker 3: first time, or even if you are older. Now I 40 00:02:32,919 --> 00:02:36,760 Speaker 3: know that the word trauma it can feel really big. 41 00:02:36,800 --> 00:02:39,680 Speaker 3: It can feel very clinical, very intense. You know, for 42 00:02:39,720 --> 00:02:42,640 Speaker 3: a long time I didn't think that it applied to me. 43 00:02:43,040 --> 00:02:47,760 Speaker 3: I hadn't survived a war, I hadn't lived through some 44 00:02:47,840 --> 00:02:53,520 Speaker 3: giant film screen worthy event. You know, my childhood was 45 00:02:54,000 --> 00:03:00,079 Speaker 3: pretty normal. But this term and this concept means a 46 00:03:00,120 --> 00:03:03,280 Speaker 3: lot more than I think we have been taught it means, 47 00:03:03,400 --> 00:03:08,080 Speaker 3: and it is a lot less limited than previous definitions 48 00:03:08,160 --> 00:03:12,360 Speaker 3: or previous understandings of this experience would make us believe. 49 00:03:12,880 --> 00:03:15,200 Speaker 3: It's one of those terms that we hear a lot, 50 00:03:15,600 --> 00:03:17,760 Speaker 3: and I feel like a lot of us still don't 51 00:03:17,800 --> 00:03:21,840 Speaker 3: think that it applies to us. We have to have 52 00:03:21,919 --> 00:03:25,919 Speaker 3: lived through something really obvious and something very obviously painful 53 00:03:26,040 --> 00:03:29,679 Speaker 3: at the time to be part of this group or 54 00:03:29,760 --> 00:03:33,480 Speaker 3: part of this category of humans who have experienced trauma. 55 00:03:34,000 --> 00:03:38,040 Speaker 3: I think also we tend to sometimes judge the pain 56 00:03:38,160 --> 00:03:41,480 Speaker 3: of a past experience by the symptoms that we have 57 00:03:41,600 --> 00:03:46,000 Speaker 3: now or how much that pain is carried forward. So, 58 00:03:46,040 --> 00:03:49,320 Speaker 3: you know, if we're not having a seemingly big reaction 59 00:03:49,600 --> 00:03:51,880 Speaker 3: to something that's happened in the past, well then that 60 00:03:51,960 --> 00:03:55,600 Speaker 3: experience mustn't have been as traumatic as we thought it was. 61 00:03:55,840 --> 00:03:58,720 Speaker 3: But the thing with realizing how trauma is stored in 62 00:03:58,760 --> 00:04:02,680 Speaker 3: the body is you also start to realize how almost 63 00:04:02,960 --> 00:04:07,160 Speaker 3: unconscious and invisible a trauma response or the long term 64 00:04:07,200 --> 00:04:10,960 Speaker 3: impacts of trauma actually are because we often think about 65 00:04:11,000 --> 00:04:14,680 Speaker 3: it purely. Is this like emotional response, but it is deeply, 66 00:04:15,360 --> 00:04:19,400 Speaker 3: deeply physical. It shows up intention It shows up in 67 00:04:19,720 --> 00:04:22,840 Speaker 3: chronic pain, It shows up in fatigue, It shows up 68 00:04:22,880 --> 00:04:26,120 Speaker 3: in these like immediate behavioral reactions that we have no 69 00:04:26,279 --> 00:04:29,320 Speaker 3: control over, you know, crying when someone raises their voice, 70 00:04:29,400 --> 00:04:33,080 Speaker 3: even if like they're not actually angry. Trauma is stored 71 00:04:33,120 --> 00:04:35,679 Speaker 3: in your nervous system. It's stored in your gut reaction. 72 00:04:35,839 --> 00:04:38,599 Speaker 3: It's stored in how you breathe. You know. It's the 73 00:04:38,680 --> 00:04:42,160 Speaker 3: famous book your body keeps the score even when your 74 00:04:42,200 --> 00:04:45,320 Speaker 3: brain tries to move on. So in this episode, I 75 00:04:45,360 --> 00:04:48,600 Speaker 3: really want to talk about what trauma really is, what 76 00:04:48,760 --> 00:04:52,600 Speaker 3: happens within us when we experience traumatic, something traumatic, even 77 00:04:52,640 --> 00:04:56,040 Speaker 3: if we don't acknowledge or know that it was traumatic 78 00:04:56,080 --> 00:04:59,599 Speaker 3: at the time, and how we kind of get stuck 79 00:05:00,400 --> 00:05:05,720 Speaker 3: in a chronic arousal or chronic stress mode that. 80 00:05:05,720 --> 00:05:06,919 Speaker 2: We don't even realize. 81 00:05:07,360 --> 00:05:09,599 Speaker 3: I also want to talk about how small moments in 82 00:05:09,640 --> 00:05:12,279 Speaker 3: the past really shape our sense of safety, our identity, 83 00:05:12,880 --> 00:05:16,240 Speaker 3: our sense of connection, how we relate to other people 84 00:05:16,279 --> 00:05:19,800 Speaker 3: as well, in again ways that are often quite invisible 85 00:05:19,839 --> 00:05:22,919 Speaker 3: and not acknowledged. I'm going to say this episode is 86 00:05:22,920 --> 00:05:26,080 Speaker 3: not going to try and pathologize every single experience that 87 00:05:26,120 --> 00:05:28,160 Speaker 3: you've had, and it's not going to say that if 88 00:05:28,160 --> 00:05:30,599 Speaker 3: you have trauma, that's it, it will always be there, 89 00:05:30,640 --> 00:05:33,640 Speaker 3: this is who you are. Instead, I just hope you 90 00:05:33,839 --> 00:05:37,920 Speaker 3: understand yourself and your body better through this discussion and 91 00:05:37,960 --> 00:05:41,159 Speaker 3: what it may be holding and storing for you, what 92 00:05:41,320 --> 00:05:44,560 Speaker 3: it may be hiding, so that you continue to feel 93 00:05:45,040 --> 00:05:47,240 Speaker 3: like you are strong and that you are capable enough. 94 00:05:47,560 --> 00:05:50,000 Speaker 3: I think this episode is really about acknowledging that you 95 00:05:50,080 --> 00:05:51,960 Speaker 3: can be soft, and you can be gentle, and you 96 00:05:52,000 --> 00:05:55,080 Speaker 3: can be vulnerable. And that doesn't mean that the trauma 97 00:05:55,120 --> 00:05:57,160 Speaker 3: has won. It's meant that actually you have and you've 98 00:05:57,200 --> 00:06:00,760 Speaker 3: acknowledged its impact on you. So of thoughts, a lot 99 00:06:00,760 --> 00:06:03,440 Speaker 3: to unpack here, a lot of science, a lot of 100 00:06:03,480 --> 00:06:06,640 Speaker 3: research that I have been searching through and digging through 101 00:06:06,760 --> 00:06:09,760 Speaker 3: for many, many months, maybe even years of stage. So 102 00:06:10,200 --> 00:06:12,479 Speaker 3: we're going to take a deep breath and we're going 103 00:06:12,560 --> 00:06:16,680 Speaker 3: to get into exploring exactly how trauma is trapped in 104 00:06:16,720 --> 00:06:24,640 Speaker 3: the body. Stay with us. So before we get into 105 00:06:24,680 --> 00:06:28,120 Speaker 3: how trauma gets trapped in our bodies, we need to 106 00:06:28,160 --> 00:06:31,480 Speaker 3: talk about what trauma really means, which is actually kind 107 00:06:31,480 --> 00:06:34,760 Speaker 3: of tricky because by its very nature, trauma actually means 108 00:06:34,880 --> 00:06:37,360 Speaker 3: very different things for very different people, and it's very 109 00:06:37,400 --> 00:06:41,359 Speaker 3: hard to categorize. But psychologists have given it a go. 110 00:06:41,520 --> 00:06:44,039 Speaker 3: Researchers have given it a go, and there are a 111 00:06:44,040 --> 00:06:46,880 Speaker 3: couple of ways that they see or I hate to 112 00:06:46,920 --> 00:06:51,440 Speaker 3: say it, but rank trauma. Firstly, the big type of 113 00:06:51,480 --> 00:06:55,800 Speaker 3: trauma we often think of is a large, significant, one 114 00:06:55,839 --> 00:07:00,000 Speaker 3: time life threatening event like a natural disaster, a car accident, 115 00:07:00,320 --> 00:07:04,520 Speaker 3: near death experience. This is what we call type one trauma. 116 00:07:05,080 --> 00:07:08,360 Speaker 3: These moments, they just flip life on its head. They 117 00:07:08,360 --> 00:07:11,040 Speaker 3: are unexpected, they come out of nowhere, and the reason 118 00:07:11,040 --> 00:07:13,560 Speaker 3: they are so traumatic is because they make us realize 119 00:07:13,600 --> 00:07:18,360 Speaker 3: how inherently unsafe we are as humans, how vulnerable we are, 120 00:07:18,400 --> 00:07:20,680 Speaker 3: and they cause us to really have to rethink our 121 00:07:20,760 --> 00:07:24,600 Speaker 3: lives and also rethink how we can return to a 122 00:07:24,600 --> 00:07:28,120 Speaker 3: point where we feel safe and stable, which is very 123 00:07:28,120 --> 00:07:31,720 Speaker 3: hard for people. These moments, I think, are very clearly 124 00:07:31,840 --> 00:07:35,000 Speaker 3: traumatic in the eyes of many people, in the eyes 125 00:07:35,040 --> 00:07:38,760 Speaker 3: of society, they are not the only trauma that occurs. 126 00:07:39,240 --> 00:07:44,200 Speaker 3: Smaller repeated traumatic events over time or prolonged exposure to 127 00:07:44,280 --> 00:07:48,360 Speaker 3: traumatic situations are another type of trauma. We call type 128 00:07:48,480 --> 00:07:53,720 Speaker 3: two trauma. Type true trauma includes things like having maybe 129 00:07:53,720 --> 00:07:59,720 Speaker 3: a violent childhood home or experiencing domestic violence, but even 130 00:07:59,760 --> 00:08:07,560 Speaker 3: things racism, discrimination, sexism, workplace harassment, chronic health conditions, all 131 00:08:07,680 --> 00:08:11,120 Speaker 3: things that over time reduce our sense of safety and 132 00:08:11,200 --> 00:08:15,320 Speaker 3: make us feel like we are not in control of 133 00:08:15,400 --> 00:08:18,960 Speaker 3: our life, or our environment or our surroundings. You know, 134 00:08:19,000 --> 00:08:21,240 Speaker 3: I've got to say in twenty nineteen, I don't think 135 00:08:21,240 --> 00:08:23,080 Speaker 3: I've ever talked about this on the podcast before, but 136 00:08:23,200 --> 00:08:26,920 Speaker 3: I survived the Australian bushfires in an evacuation zone and 137 00:08:26,960 --> 00:08:30,720 Speaker 3: I genuinely thought the house was going to burn down. 138 00:08:30,960 --> 00:08:35,240 Speaker 3: I could not call my family. I was absolutely terrified. 139 00:08:35,320 --> 00:08:38,720 Speaker 3: I remember driving through like an active bushfire zone, the 140 00:08:38,760 --> 00:08:40,400 Speaker 3: smell of smoke being like everywhere. 141 00:08:40,400 --> 00:08:41,199 Speaker 2: It was so loud. 142 00:08:42,320 --> 00:08:44,600 Speaker 3: That was traumatic, But it was not as traumatic to 143 00:08:44,640 --> 00:08:47,240 Speaker 3: me as when my boss at the restaurant I worked 144 00:08:47,280 --> 00:08:50,440 Speaker 3: at in the same year was intimidating me and harassing me, 145 00:08:51,360 --> 00:08:54,360 Speaker 3: even if from the outside. You know, those bushfires are 146 00:08:54,360 --> 00:08:57,720 Speaker 3: the thing that people remember to me, Like when I 147 00:08:57,760 --> 00:08:59,320 Speaker 3: look back at my life and I'm like, oh, what 148 00:08:59,440 --> 00:09:02,600 Speaker 3: has really like left a scar? It's not that it's 149 00:09:02,640 --> 00:09:06,200 Speaker 3: this smaller repeated situation that made me feel a lot 150 00:09:06,240 --> 00:09:09,760 Speaker 3: more unsafe day to day than the big natural. 151 00:09:09,440 --> 00:09:10,560 Speaker 2: Disaster that I live through. 152 00:09:11,520 --> 00:09:13,840 Speaker 3: The focus on trauma, what I'm trying to say here 153 00:09:13,880 --> 00:09:17,920 Speaker 3: is that it's less on the magnitude of the event 154 00:09:17,960 --> 00:09:21,679 Speaker 3: itself and more on our own personal response to it, 155 00:09:22,040 --> 00:09:26,680 Speaker 3: and that's often influenced by things like previous experiences, previous 156 00:09:26,679 --> 00:09:31,520 Speaker 3: personal experiences, upbringing, even like our DNA and how stress 157 00:09:31,760 --> 00:09:34,320 Speaker 3: is encoded into our DNA. 158 00:09:34,400 --> 00:09:34,959 Speaker 2: A lot of the. 159 00:09:34,920 --> 00:09:36,920 Speaker 3: Time, I think we tend to dismiss our own trauma 160 00:09:36,920 --> 00:09:39,800 Speaker 3: because it's not big and bad enough compared to what 161 00:09:40,280 --> 00:09:43,000 Speaker 3: others have gone through. It feels like there is this 162 00:09:44,120 --> 00:09:51,400 Speaker 3: ladder almost or this like pyramid of how we rank trauma, 163 00:09:51,960 --> 00:09:54,120 Speaker 3: and if we're not at the top of the pyramid 164 00:09:54,280 --> 00:09:58,040 Speaker 3: experiencing the very worst of what humanity in life can 165 00:09:58,080 --> 00:10:01,240 Speaker 3: throw at us, then we don't don't belong in the 166 00:10:01,280 --> 00:10:03,760 Speaker 3: category of someone who has trauma. And here's the thing 167 00:10:03,800 --> 00:10:07,040 Speaker 3: I always say to this. Someone can have a broken 168 00:10:07,120 --> 00:10:09,079 Speaker 3: leg and you can have a broken arm, and your 169 00:10:09,080 --> 00:10:12,280 Speaker 3: broken arm is still going to hurt. Like, just because 170 00:10:12,280 --> 00:10:15,240 Speaker 3: someone has more pain than you doesn't mean that your 171 00:10:15,320 --> 00:10:19,760 Speaker 3: pain isn't being subjectively experienced as painful. Someone could have 172 00:10:19,840 --> 00:10:22,680 Speaker 3: more trauma than you. It doesn't mean that the trauma 173 00:10:22,720 --> 00:10:28,040 Speaker 3: you're experiencing isn't just as awful. Like it's this weird 174 00:10:28,080 --> 00:10:31,440 Speaker 3: thing where our bodies and our minds can continue to 175 00:10:31,480 --> 00:10:36,440 Speaker 3: adapt to really really terrible, terrible things and our pain 176 00:10:36,600 --> 00:10:40,640 Speaker 3: threshold or our trauma threshold gets bigger and bigger and bigger. 177 00:10:40,800 --> 00:10:43,440 Speaker 3: It doesn't mean that the threshold that you had when 178 00:10:43,480 --> 00:10:46,840 Speaker 3: you experience your trauma wasn't already at a point where 179 00:10:46,840 --> 00:10:49,200 Speaker 3: pain was going to be experienced. I feel like that's 180 00:10:49,200 --> 00:10:51,240 Speaker 3: a really complicated way of explaining it, But hopefully what 181 00:10:51,280 --> 00:10:53,240 Speaker 3: I mean and what you interpret from that is that 182 00:10:53,280 --> 00:10:57,000 Speaker 3: this is an entirely subjective experience. What constitutes a traumatic 183 00:10:57,080 --> 00:11:00,520 Speaker 3: event for one person may not for another, depending on 184 00:11:00,559 --> 00:11:04,840 Speaker 3: their individual biology, their psychological resilience, their support system. You know, 185 00:11:04,880 --> 00:11:06,640 Speaker 3: you could be in a car accident. You could walk 186 00:11:06,679 --> 00:11:09,520 Speaker 3: away and be completely unfazed, but someone else might not 187 00:11:09,559 --> 00:11:11,960 Speaker 3: be able to ever get back in a car, you know, 188 00:11:12,840 --> 00:11:15,880 Speaker 3: as compared to you know, someone maybe in a situation 189 00:11:16,480 --> 00:11:19,040 Speaker 3: they see as life threatening, another person wouldn't see it 190 00:11:19,040 --> 00:11:22,240 Speaker 3: as life threatening. Whose definition of life threatening do we 191 00:11:22,280 --> 00:11:26,360 Speaker 3: therefore follow? And also sometimes something doesn't need to have 192 00:11:26,480 --> 00:11:29,720 Speaker 3: threatened your physical safety to be traumatic, you know, is 193 00:11:29,760 --> 00:11:33,360 Speaker 3: the case with vicarious trauma. A person working in an 194 00:11:33,360 --> 00:11:38,000 Speaker 3: emergency department could be entirely safe from actual danger themselves, 195 00:11:38,320 --> 00:11:42,920 Speaker 3: but still leave that workplace five years later deeply traumatized. 196 00:11:43,600 --> 00:11:46,000 Speaker 3: The point is, if we're looking for some kind of 197 00:11:46,080 --> 00:11:50,160 Speaker 3: yardstick or questionnaire as to whether a situation was traumatic, 198 00:11:50,240 --> 00:11:52,880 Speaker 3: and whether you're looking for a questionnaire or a yardstick 199 00:11:52,880 --> 00:11:56,400 Speaker 3: that is universal and will apply to everyone, we aren't 200 00:11:56,400 --> 00:11:59,959 Speaker 3: going to find one. And yes, that may mean that 201 00:12:00,120 --> 00:12:04,679 Speaker 3: some people may call something traumatic that you wouldn't, but 202 00:12:04,760 --> 00:12:08,560 Speaker 3: I would much rather even the smallest things be labeled 203 00:12:08,559 --> 00:12:13,360 Speaker 3: as traumatic and be treated with grace and gentleness and care. 204 00:12:14,040 --> 00:12:17,440 Speaker 3: Then one person not receive the acknowledgment they need for 205 00:12:17,480 --> 00:12:20,640 Speaker 3: their trauma because they think it's too small to count. 206 00:12:21,200 --> 00:12:23,600 Speaker 3: People can disagree with me on this and say, well, 207 00:12:23,679 --> 00:12:26,920 Speaker 3: that invalidates people who were actually traumatized and who have 208 00:12:27,400 --> 00:12:30,800 Speaker 3: actually lived through terrible things, to which I always say, 209 00:12:30,880 --> 00:12:35,840 Speaker 3: who is determining what actually means? And secondly, we're focusing 210 00:12:35,880 --> 00:12:38,960 Speaker 3: on the wrong thing. Why are we focusing on excluding 211 00:12:39,000 --> 00:12:42,600 Speaker 3: people from the trauma definition when we should be focused 212 00:12:42,600 --> 00:12:47,600 Speaker 3: on reducing shame for all people, expanding resources, expanding how 213 00:12:47,640 --> 00:12:51,480 Speaker 3: we collectively think of trauma as a systemic issue and 214 00:12:51,559 --> 00:12:54,680 Speaker 3: as a community issue where we need to support each 215 00:12:54,720 --> 00:12:57,960 Speaker 3: other and you know, hold each other accountable to not 216 00:12:58,040 --> 00:13:00,960 Speaker 3: harm other people. Like I think we're focusing on the 217 00:13:01,000 --> 00:13:03,280 Speaker 3: wrong thing when we're trying to get people to jump 218 00:13:03,360 --> 00:13:07,320 Speaker 3: over a certain hurdle to be considered to be considered 219 00:13:07,520 --> 00:13:10,440 Speaker 3: as traumatized. It's also important to note as well that 220 00:13:10,640 --> 00:13:16,800 Speaker 3: often the signs of trauma don't immediately show themselves, the 221 00:13:16,840 --> 00:13:21,120 Speaker 3: same way that a bruise doesn't immediately appear on the 222 00:13:21,160 --> 00:13:24,240 Speaker 3: skin after you've experienced like a blunt force trauma injury. 223 00:13:25,000 --> 00:13:28,880 Speaker 3: This is known as delayed trauma on set, and it's 224 00:13:28,920 --> 00:13:32,960 Speaker 3: a lot more common than we think, especially with childhood trauma, 225 00:13:33,040 --> 00:13:36,920 Speaker 3: because our trauma response is often delayed by the fact 226 00:13:36,960 --> 00:13:40,440 Speaker 3: that we may not have the cognitive abilities to process 227 00:13:40,480 --> 00:13:43,880 Speaker 3: what happened or the words to explain what happened until 228 00:13:44,200 --> 00:13:45,760 Speaker 3: our brain catches. 229 00:13:45,520 --> 00:13:46,240 Speaker 2: Up later on. 230 00:13:47,000 --> 00:13:49,000 Speaker 3: Also, a lot of time, a lot of times, people 231 00:13:49,040 --> 00:13:52,440 Speaker 3: are experiencing traumatic things, and the only way they can 232 00:13:52,480 --> 00:13:56,600 Speaker 3: get through that traumatic experience is to completely dissociate from 233 00:13:56,679 --> 00:13:59,800 Speaker 3: the fact that it is happening to them. So it's 234 00:14:00,080 --> 00:14:04,120 Speaker 3: only once they feel a maybe minor or general sense 235 00:14:04,160 --> 00:14:08,720 Speaker 3: of psychological safety or environmental safety and they are out 236 00:14:08,720 --> 00:14:12,160 Speaker 3: of that situation that they are able to appreciate. 237 00:14:12,040 --> 00:14:14,880 Speaker 4: Like, hey, that was really messed up, Like that really. 238 00:14:14,559 --> 00:14:17,120 Speaker 3: Shouldn't have happened to me. Happens a lot of times 239 00:14:17,160 --> 00:14:21,480 Speaker 3: with relationships, or a lot of times again with childhood, 240 00:14:21,480 --> 00:14:24,200 Speaker 3: where you are living under your parents' ruth, you are 241 00:14:24,240 --> 00:14:27,480 Speaker 3: living in a house. You do not have the independence 242 00:14:27,480 --> 00:14:30,960 Speaker 3: and the agency to escape that situation when you're a child, 243 00:14:31,360 --> 00:14:33,960 Speaker 3: so you just have to really like bury deep into 244 00:14:33,960 --> 00:14:37,760 Speaker 3: whatever coping mechanism you may have available to one of 245 00:14:37,800 --> 00:14:42,320 Speaker 3: those being a complete dismissal of your circumstances. A twenty 246 00:14:42,360 --> 00:14:45,760 Speaker 3: twenty paper out of Australia actually found that a lot 247 00:14:45,800 --> 00:14:47,640 Speaker 3: of people have this experience. 248 00:14:47,760 --> 00:14:48,400 Speaker 2: A lot of. 249 00:14:48,360 --> 00:14:54,440 Speaker 3: People report this delayed trauma onset and they also say that, 250 00:14:55,560 --> 00:14:58,040 Speaker 3: you know, the signs that they've been through something really 251 00:14:58,080 --> 00:15:02,880 Speaker 3: difficult only became more noticeable at a certain stage or 252 00:15:02,960 --> 00:15:06,360 Speaker 3: phase in their life. You know, they didn't realize how 253 00:15:06,360 --> 00:15:08,880 Speaker 3: their childhood impacted them until they got into their first 254 00:15:08,920 --> 00:15:11,600 Speaker 3: serious adult relationship and suddenly it was like wow, I 255 00:15:11,640 --> 00:15:15,040 Speaker 3: am a deeply wounded human being. You know, you don't 256 00:15:15,080 --> 00:15:18,040 Speaker 3: realize how much the death of your parent impacted you 257 00:15:18,120 --> 00:15:21,200 Speaker 3: until your family pet dies. You don't process how much 258 00:15:21,280 --> 00:15:24,520 Speaker 3: the bullying you experienced as a child really sat with 259 00:15:24,560 --> 00:15:26,880 Speaker 3: you until you know you're in your thirties and you 260 00:15:26,880 --> 00:15:30,000 Speaker 3: weren't invited on like the bachelorette trip, and suddenly you're 261 00:15:30,040 --> 00:15:32,840 Speaker 3: thirteen again, and all that anxiety and all that social 262 00:15:32,880 --> 00:15:38,720 Speaker 3: claustrophobia and all that fomo is back. But potentially one 263 00:15:38,720 --> 00:15:41,560 Speaker 3: of the biggest ways trauma starts to show up for 264 00:15:41,640 --> 00:15:44,200 Speaker 3: us later on in life or even immediately after a 265 00:15:44,240 --> 00:15:47,720 Speaker 3: traumatic event. And the whole theme of today's episode is 266 00:15:47,760 --> 00:15:53,880 Speaker 3: that it begins to show up physically through the body. Basically, 267 00:15:54,400 --> 00:15:59,040 Speaker 3: you suppress all of this stuff emotionally and psychologically, and 268 00:15:59,120 --> 00:16:02,840 Speaker 3: the only outlet has is physically, and so it starts 269 00:16:02,840 --> 00:16:07,000 Speaker 3: to kind of like trickle out through tension, through fatigue, 270 00:16:07,120 --> 00:16:12,280 Speaker 3: through pain. This is the sematic impact of trauma, the 271 00:16:12,280 --> 00:16:14,120 Speaker 3: sematic response to trauma. 272 00:16:14,200 --> 00:16:15,000 Speaker 2: And of course we. 273 00:16:14,960 --> 00:16:18,400 Speaker 3: Cannot talk about this without firstly acknowledging the book that 274 00:16:18,440 --> 00:16:20,280 Speaker 3: really put this on the map, which is the Body 275 00:16:20,480 --> 00:16:24,040 Speaker 3: keeps the Score, very very famous I think it has. 276 00:16:24,720 --> 00:16:28,360 Speaker 3: I think it's sold like three million copies worldwide. It 277 00:16:28,520 --> 00:16:33,440 Speaker 3: was written by a very famous Dutch psychiatrist, doctor Bessel 278 00:16:33,720 --> 00:16:36,520 Speaker 3: van der Kolk. Hopefully I pronounce that I don't speak Dutch, 279 00:16:36,520 --> 00:16:39,080 Speaker 3: but I think that's right. I think it's been on 280 00:16:39,080 --> 00:16:41,240 Speaker 3: the New York Times bestseller list for like six years. 281 00:16:41,280 --> 00:16:41,480 Speaker 2: Now. 282 00:16:41,560 --> 00:16:43,800 Speaker 4: Everyone knows this book. You have seen it before. 283 00:16:44,320 --> 00:16:47,320 Speaker 3: It's safe to say this has just like completely changed 284 00:16:47,360 --> 00:16:50,400 Speaker 3: how we think about trauma. The core premise of this 285 00:16:50,440 --> 00:16:54,320 Speaker 3: book is that trauma isn't just this story we tell 286 00:16:54,360 --> 00:16:58,960 Speaker 3: in our minds. It's not just memories. It's actually stored 287 00:16:59,000 --> 00:17:03,480 Speaker 3: in our bodies. When we experience something traumatic, our brain 288 00:17:03,560 --> 00:17:07,680 Speaker 3: and our nervous system are significantly impacted in a way 289 00:17:07,760 --> 00:17:11,439 Speaker 3: that can leave us physically stuck in the past. Because 290 00:17:11,480 --> 00:17:16,560 Speaker 3: our mind and our body, like their relationship, cannot be disentangled. 291 00:17:17,040 --> 00:17:21,960 Speaker 3: Something happens that shakes us mentally and emotionally that doesn't 292 00:17:22,000 --> 00:17:24,760 Speaker 3: happen in isolation. Our body is also wrapped up in 293 00:17:24,840 --> 00:17:28,880 Speaker 3: this Prior to this book coming out, the clinical conversation 294 00:17:29,080 --> 00:17:33,080 Speaker 3: and the general social conversation around trauma often centered on 295 00:17:33,720 --> 00:17:37,000 Speaker 3: the cognitive side of things and on cognitive behavioral therapy, 296 00:17:37,040 --> 00:17:39,800 Speaker 3: which really placed an importance on the idea of changing 297 00:17:40,240 --> 00:17:43,240 Speaker 3: thought patterns in order to change feelings, and it doesn't 298 00:17:43,280 --> 00:17:46,000 Speaker 3: so much acknowledge the body is part of this and 299 00:17:46,400 --> 00:17:50,720 Speaker 3: this work, this book really shifted the paradigm from the 300 00:17:50,800 --> 00:17:53,879 Speaker 3: idea that trauma is something purely cognitive to the notion 301 00:17:53,960 --> 00:17:57,399 Speaker 3: of this mind body link. The brilliance of this book 302 00:17:57,440 --> 00:18:01,320 Speaker 3: is that it gave people the language to understand things 303 00:18:01,359 --> 00:18:03,760 Speaker 3: that perhaps a doctor had never given them, the words 304 00:18:03,800 --> 00:18:07,680 Speaker 3: to understand things that the medical community or more traditional 305 00:18:07,720 --> 00:18:10,800 Speaker 3: medical community, had never been able to explain for them. 306 00:18:11,000 --> 00:18:14,240 Speaker 3: Their chronic pain, the way their body was responding to 307 00:18:14,320 --> 00:18:19,720 Speaker 3: certain environmental cues, their stomach issues, their nausea, they're like fatigue. 308 00:18:20,200 --> 00:18:23,400 Speaker 3: None of this was random, none of this was an accident. 309 00:18:23,760 --> 00:18:26,680 Speaker 3: So it's definitely safe to say that the body keeps 310 00:18:26,720 --> 00:18:30,760 Speaker 3: the score has been very important in this discussion. But 311 00:18:30,840 --> 00:18:33,280 Speaker 3: there have been a few criticisms, which is why I 312 00:18:33,320 --> 00:18:35,760 Speaker 3: talk about this book, but I always talk about it 313 00:18:35,880 --> 00:18:38,840 Speaker 3: kind of with like, kind of with a little bit 314 00:18:38,880 --> 00:18:43,679 Speaker 3: of like skepticism. It definitely got some things not wrong, 315 00:18:44,200 --> 00:18:46,879 Speaker 3: but maybe a little bit misconstrued. You know. There was 316 00:18:46,880 --> 00:18:50,040 Speaker 3: an editorial published in twenty twenty three in the Research 317 00:18:50,119 --> 00:18:53,920 Speaker 3: on Social work Practice that highlighted that for many people 318 00:18:53,960 --> 00:18:58,920 Speaker 3: with PTSD, the body keeps the score is deeply revealing 319 00:18:58,960 --> 00:19:03,240 Speaker 3: for them, but it doesn't always give them accurate recommendations 320 00:19:03,280 --> 00:19:07,880 Speaker 3: about where to go from there, and it often when 321 00:19:07,880 --> 00:19:10,960 Speaker 3: it does, it introduces people to these very like intense 322 00:19:11,800 --> 00:19:14,720 Speaker 3: themes and very intense ideas and then makes it seem 323 00:19:14,760 --> 00:19:17,639 Speaker 3: like you can kind of diyatt that you can diy 324 00:19:17,840 --> 00:19:21,040 Speaker 3: some of the therapy therapeutic techniques that are introduced in 325 00:19:21,119 --> 00:19:24,439 Speaker 3: this book, and that's not the case, Like this stuff 326 00:19:24,480 --> 00:19:28,480 Speaker 3: needs to be performed or introduced through a trained practitioner, 327 00:19:29,160 --> 00:19:34,000 Speaker 3: and we don't want people to, you know, read this book, 328 00:19:34,080 --> 00:19:36,080 Speaker 3: or what this article says is they don't want people 329 00:19:36,080 --> 00:19:39,680 Speaker 3: to read this book and then think that somatic techniques 330 00:19:39,720 --> 00:19:41,760 Speaker 3: are the only thing that's going to help them. It's 331 00:19:41,760 --> 00:19:45,080 Speaker 3: often a lot more complex. Another article I read on 332 00:19:45,119 --> 00:19:49,200 Speaker 3: the site mother Jones, it also suggested that this book 333 00:19:49,240 --> 00:19:52,520 Speaker 3: really stigmatizes survivors and it blames victims by making the 334 00:19:52,560 --> 00:19:56,360 Speaker 3: trauma an individual issue, not considering the fact that there 335 00:19:56,359 --> 00:20:00,000 Speaker 3: are these huge social and political systems that are actually responsible. 336 00:20:00,560 --> 00:20:03,560 Speaker 3: Instead of looking at the social context. For example, things 337 00:20:03,560 --> 00:20:09,440 Speaker 3: like systemic racism or poverty, or structural violence or deep misogyny, 338 00:20:09,840 --> 00:20:13,280 Speaker 3: and how the shape trauma. The book really focuses on 339 00:20:13,320 --> 00:20:17,119 Speaker 3: how you as an individual can heal through somatic practices 340 00:20:17,359 --> 00:20:20,240 Speaker 3: and throughout the book. If you've read it, this may 341 00:20:20,240 --> 00:20:23,320 Speaker 3: have given you the ick as well. But the author portrays, 342 00:20:23,359 --> 00:20:29,399 Speaker 3: you know, survivors as self sabotaging, as not willing to 343 00:20:29,880 --> 00:20:33,960 Speaker 3: take responsibility for their trauma, without actually acknowledging the fact 344 00:20:34,000 --> 00:20:38,919 Speaker 3: that can they really take accountability for their trauma when 345 00:20:38,960 --> 00:20:42,359 Speaker 3: it was caused by a system and a context that 346 00:20:42,560 --> 00:20:46,440 Speaker 3: hasn't taken accountability itself and that continues to retraumatize them 347 00:20:46,920 --> 00:20:51,800 Speaker 3: and continues to keep them down. What this has the 348 00:20:51,880 --> 00:20:56,080 Speaker 3: danger of implying is that it is your personal responsibility 349 00:20:56,160 --> 00:20:59,119 Speaker 3: to deal with trauma, to heal from trauma, and to 350 00:20:59,200 --> 00:21:03,280 Speaker 3: do that alone. And if you aren't able to do that, 351 00:21:03,280 --> 00:21:06,560 Speaker 3: that is a personal failing, and that means that you 352 00:21:06,600 --> 00:21:09,479 Speaker 3: weren't discipline enough, you didn't try hard enough, you were 353 00:21:09,520 --> 00:21:14,720 Speaker 3: self sabotaging. When that is just like seriously not the 354 00:21:14,760 --> 00:21:20,000 Speaker 3: case and also seriously unhelpful, because you know, trauma takes 355 00:21:20,040 --> 00:21:22,840 Speaker 3: a long time to overcome. Some people never overcome it. 356 00:21:23,000 --> 00:21:25,240 Speaker 3: Sometimes it's just something you live with. But if you 357 00:21:25,240 --> 00:21:27,600 Speaker 3: were in those early stages and you're feeling like nothing 358 00:21:27,680 --> 00:21:30,440 Speaker 3: is working and you're reading this book, that's like, if 359 00:21:30,440 --> 00:21:33,680 Speaker 3: you can't manage this, then you're not trying hard enough 360 00:21:33,800 --> 00:21:37,119 Speaker 3: or you're not taking enough responsibility. It's like, well, that's 361 00:21:37,160 --> 00:21:40,360 Speaker 3: going to be deeply discouraging. So I just think that 362 00:21:40,359 --> 00:21:43,720 Speaker 3: that is something that people should really understand when reading 363 00:21:43,720 --> 00:21:46,280 Speaker 3: this work. I know it is a huge introduction to 364 00:21:46,320 --> 00:21:48,480 Speaker 3: this idea of how trauma is trapped in the body. 365 00:21:48,720 --> 00:21:52,080 Speaker 3: But there are also amazing other works and other books 366 00:21:52,119 --> 00:21:55,800 Speaker 3: that you can read on this. Trauma and Recovery by 367 00:21:55,920 --> 00:21:59,360 Speaker 3: Judith Hermann is a great one. The book by Stephanie 368 00:21:59,400 --> 00:22:03,120 Speaker 3: Fu My Bones Know also amazing. If you get a lot, 369 00:22:03,200 --> 00:22:05,120 Speaker 3: if you've got a lot out of The Body Keeps 370 00:22:05,160 --> 00:22:06,840 Speaker 3: the Score and want to expand your knowledge, or you 371 00:22:06,880 --> 00:22:09,560 Speaker 3: haven't read that book yet, those are some other really 372 00:22:09,640 --> 00:22:12,399 Speaker 3: amazing entry points to this discussion. 373 00:22:12,880 --> 00:22:14,080 Speaker 4: So The Body Keeps. 374 00:22:13,880 --> 00:22:18,639 Speaker 3: The Score an amazing introduction to this concept. It is like, 375 00:22:19,080 --> 00:22:22,280 Speaker 3: it's done amazing work in terms of introducing people to 376 00:22:22,320 --> 00:22:25,600 Speaker 3: this like mind body relationship that we all have. But 377 00:22:25,960 --> 00:22:27,400 Speaker 3: I want to kind of go a little bit further 378 00:22:27,440 --> 00:22:32,200 Speaker 3: and explaining why exactly that is the case and how 379 00:22:32,240 --> 00:22:35,000 Speaker 3: to manage it, perhaps in a more collective. 380 00:22:34,400 --> 00:22:35,200 Speaker 2: Space as well. 381 00:22:35,280 --> 00:22:37,000 Speaker 3: So we are going to take a short break here, 382 00:22:37,040 --> 00:22:38,840 Speaker 3: but when we return, I want to talk about the 383 00:22:38,960 --> 00:22:44,359 Speaker 3: exact biological, psychological, neurological mechanisms behind how trauma gets trapped 384 00:22:44,400 --> 00:22:46,879 Speaker 3: in the body, and also how we can start to 385 00:22:47,280 --> 00:22:51,760 Speaker 3: release some of that tension and some of those physical 386 00:22:51,880 --> 00:23:01,280 Speaker 3: effects stay with us. So we know that trauma has 387 00:23:01,320 --> 00:23:03,359 Speaker 3: felt in the body, we know that it's stored there. 388 00:23:04,119 --> 00:23:07,520 Speaker 3: How exactly does that happen? How is this the case? 389 00:23:07,840 --> 00:23:11,000 Speaker 3: Like what is actually happening in our cells, in our muscles, 390 00:23:11,560 --> 00:23:16,280 Speaker 3: in our stomach lining that makes this occur. The first 391 00:23:16,359 --> 00:23:19,520 Speaker 3: way we need to understand this, and the first theory 392 00:23:19,560 --> 00:23:22,720 Speaker 3: we need to understand this through, is something called polyvagal theory. 393 00:23:23,080 --> 00:23:27,040 Speaker 3: It was developed by the American psychologist Stefan Porgus, and 394 00:23:27,400 --> 00:23:31,400 Speaker 3: it is like the dominant theory explaining how exactly this 395 00:23:31,560 --> 00:23:34,639 Speaker 3: comes to be, and the way that we can picture 396 00:23:34,680 --> 00:23:39,800 Speaker 3: it is by imagining a ladder, or even better, I 397 00:23:39,800 --> 00:23:42,800 Speaker 3: want you to imagine one of those games that they 398 00:23:42,880 --> 00:23:46,280 Speaker 3: used to have at old carnivales or fairs where you 399 00:23:46,320 --> 00:23:49,199 Speaker 3: would get the hammer and you would hit it on 400 00:23:49,359 --> 00:23:52,560 Speaker 3: like some sensor and this like little thing would fling 401 00:23:52,680 --> 00:23:55,720 Speaker 3: up and you would hit different parts of if you 402 00:23:55,760 --> 00:23:57,399 Speaker 3: know what I mean, Like you would hit different parts 403 00:23:57,440 --> 00:24:01,240 Speaker 3: like that would tell you how strong you were. I'm 404 00:24:01,280 --> 00:24:04,359 Speaker 3: hoping that you're getting what I'm saying. For some reason, 405 00:24:04,359 --> 00:24:06,320 Speaker 3: I cannot give any more words as to how to 406 00:24:06,359 --> 00:24:09,840 Speaker 3: explain this imagining. It is a ladder, imagining it as 407 00:24:09,960 --> 00:24:13,760 Speaker 3: this carnival toy thing, if you know what I'm talking about. 408 00:24:13,760 --> 00:24:17,439 Speaker 3: But at the bottom of this ladder, at the very base, 409 00:24:17,920 --> 00:24:21,880 Speaker 3: we have what we call the ventral vaguel state. This 410 00:24:22,680 --> 00:24:25,640 Speaker 3: is a state of your nervous system where you are 411 00:24:26,040 --> 00:24:30,080 Speaker 3: deeply regulated. You're content, you're calm, you're grounded, you're connected, 412 00:24:30,600 --> 00:24:33,080 Speaker 3: You're present with your environment, You're present with the people 413 00:24:33,160 --> 00:24:38,000 Speaker 3: around you. You're able to respond and you know, be 414 00:24:38,160 --> 00:24:40,280 Speaker 3: kind of at peace, like you're just kind of existing. 415 00:24:41,000 --> 00:24:43,520 Speaker 3: That is the bottom of the ladder. That is where 416 00:24:43,520 --> 00:24:46,560 Speaker 3: we want to spend most of our time. Above that, 417 00:24:47,000 --> 00:24:50,560 Speaker 3: on the ladder, we have the sympathetic state. Now you 418 00:24:50,600 --> 00:24:53,600 Speaker 3: may know the sympathetic state from the fight or flight response. 419 00:24:54,240 --> 00:24:58,760 Speaker 3: This is where we experience a sense of tension. It's 420 00:24:58,800 --> 00:25:02,080 Speaker 3: where all of our like vible mechanisms are kicking into gear. 421 00:25:03,200 --> 00:25:06,640 Speaker 3: We may be afraid, we may feel threatened, we are scared. 422 00:25:07,480 --> 00:25:11,639 Speaker 3: During a traumatic event, our brain's threat detection system goes 423 00:25:11,680 --> 00:25:16,560 Speaker 3: into overdrive and pushes us into this state. Adrenaline, cortisol. 424 00:25:16,640 --> 00:25:21,080 Speaker 3: They're flooding our system and our body is prepared to 425 00:25:21,200 --> 00:25:24,440 Speaker 3: receive and respond to whatever danger or threat it has 426 00:25:24,640 --> 00:25:26,280 Speaker 3: already kind of recognized. 427 00:25:27,520 --> 00:25:28,240 Speaker 2: In this state. 428 00:25:28,840 --> 00:25:32,320 Speaker 3: This is like where you are having an intense stress response. 429 00:25:33,440 --> 00:25:35,760 Speaker 3: That's not the top of the ladder, though. At the 430 00:25:35,760 --> 00:25:38,639 Speaker 3: top of the ladder you have the dors or vaguel 431 00:25:38,720 --> 00:25:42,240 Speaker 3: state where the body it just stops fighting, just completely 432 00:25:42,280 --> 00:25:45,720 Speaker 3: shuts down. You feel like you can't fight back. The 433 00:25:45,760 --> 00:25:48,880 Speaker 3: situation you are facing is so awful that you are trapped, 434 00:25:49,480 --> 00:25:52,640 Speaker 3: You're helpless. This is where you really feel like your 435 00:25:52,640 --> 00:25:54,800 Speaker 3: life is threatened, your sense of safety is threatened, and 436 00:25:54,920 --> 00:25:58,199 Speaker 3: unlike during the sympathetic state, there's nothing you can do 437 00:25:58,280 --> 00:26:04,240 Speaker 3: about it. Healthy nervous system will rarely encounter the dorsal 438 00:26:04,320 --> 00:26:09,480 Speaker 3: vagel state, if not hopefully ever, and instead it typically 439 00:26:09,600 --> 00:26:12,560 Speaker 3: jumps between the sympathetic state and the ventral vagal state, 440 00:26:12,760 --> 00:26:15,680 Speaker 3: but it spends most of its time in the ventral 441 00:26:16,040 --> 00:26:19,520 Speaker 3: veagl state. It responds to stresses appropriately, then it returns 442 00:26:19,560 --> 00:26:23,439 Speaker 3: to that regulated baseline. But someone who has experienced a 443 00:26:23,480 --> 00:26:26,679 Speaker 3: deep trauma, they have gone all the way up the ladder. 444 00:26:27,320 --> 00:26:29,520 Speaker 3: Think of it like a door has been opened, like 445 00:26:29,560 --> 00:26:33,760 Speaker 3: a whole new level is unlocked. The brain now it 446 00:26:33,840 --> 00:26:37,960 Speaker 3: can't forget that that new level, that new level of 447 00:26:38,080 --> 00:26:43,080 Speaker 3: deep stress and just deep hopelessness, is there. It can't 448 00:26:43,119 --> 00:26:45,679 Speaker 3: forget what it felt like to just be in a 449 00:26:45,680 --> 00:26:49,720 Speaker 3: state of complete overwhelm, and it most certainly does not 450 00:26:49,880 --> 00:26:53,480 Speaker 3: want to go back there, and yet it often ends 451 00:26:53,600 --> 00:26:58,880 Speaker 3: up going back there by being retriggered through memories, through 452 00:26:59,080 --> 00:27:04,320 Speaker 3: environmental queue, through any number of triggers. It starts to 453 00:27:04,359 --> 00:27:08,920 Speaker 3: respond to minor things by swinging the stress state all 454 00:27:08,960 --> 00:27:11,240 Speaker 3: the way up to the highest notch, because it believes 455 00:27:11,280 --> 00:27:13,920 Speaker 3: that that is what we have to do in order 456 00:27:13,920 --> 00:27:18,679 Speaker 3: to survive the process. The stress process, the nervous system process, 457 00:27:18,720 --> 00:27:21,639 Speaker 3: has now become dysregulated. And you will hear that word 458 00:27:21,760 --> 00:27:24,720 Speaker 3: a lot when we talk about trauma and and how 459 00:27:24,720 --> 00:27:28,760 Speaker 3: it relates to the body. The intense kind of energy 460 00:27:28,880 --> 00:27:31,639 Speaker 3: caused by the stressful event, it basically gets us stuck 461 00:27:32,240 --> 00:27:35,760 Speaker 3: or trapped in that highest gear, and what we've experienced 462 00:27:35,800 --> 00:27:39,560 Speaker 3: is not processed, it's not released, it's held. It's held 463 00:27:39,600 --> 00:27:44,000 Speaker 3: there waiting for a signal of safety that often never comes. 464 00:27:44,600 --> 00:27:46,400 Speaker 3: And so what you might find is that you're either 465 00:27:46,440 --> 00:27:49,360 Speaker 3: in a state of constant arousal, a state of constant 466 00:27:49,359 --> 00:27:52,840 Speaker 3: stress and hypervigilance, or you're in a state of complete 467 00:27:53,040 --> 00:27:57,080 Speaker 3: numbness or emotional shutdown, both of those estates that we 468 00:27:57,160 --> 00:27:59,159 Speaker 3: do not want to be and we want to be relaxed, 469 00:27:59,280 --> 00:28:02,720 Speaker 3: we want to feel alert, we want to feel content. 470 00:28:03,640 --> 00:28:07,600 Speaker 3: But the vaguest nerve here, it is the key player. 471 00:28:07,760 --> 00:28:12,800 Speaker 3: It is really what is trapping all of these experiences 472 00:28:12,840 --> 00:28:17,879 Speaker 3: in like the deep nerves and the deep cells and 473 00:28:17,920 --> 00:28:23,360 Speaker 3: the deep responses of our body, this chronic state of dysregulation. 474 00:28:23,520 --> 00:28:26,920 Speaker 3: It doesn't just stay in our vague nerve. It doesn't 475 00:28:26,960 --> 00:28:31,120 Speaker 3: just stay in our mind. The vague nerve is the longest, 476 00:28:31,840 --> 00:28:35,720 Speaker 3: biggest nerve in the whole body. It stretches almost the 477 00:28:35,840 --> 00:28:39,360 Speaker 3: length of your body, and it's kind of like the 478 00:28:39,440 --> 00:28:43,760 Speaker 3: highway through which all information is sent out. Now, imagine 479 00:28:43,760 --> 00:28:47,240 Speaker 3: if that highway like is blown up. Imagine if that 480 00:28:47,320 --> 00:28:52,920 Speaker 3: highway is flooded, is swept away, is like something chaotic 481 00:28:52,960 --> 00:28:55,400 Speaker 3: happens to that highway. If you want to get to 482 00:28:56,240 --> 00:28:59,600 Speaker 3: anywhere else in the body, and you can't take that highway, 483 00:28:59,760 --> 00:29:01,960 Speaker 3: and you can't take you have to take back roads 484 00:29:02,000 --> 00:29:05,800 Speaker 3: or there's no road available. Connections or messages sent from 485 00:29:05,840 --> 00:29:09,760 Speaker 3: the brain to the rest of the body, to your limbs, 486 00:29:09,880 --> 00:29:13,840 Speaker 3: to your stomach, to the muscles in your arms, they're 487 00:29:13,880 --> 00:29:16,360 Speaker 3: kind of either not getting there, or when the message 488 00:29:16,440 --> 00:29:19,440 Speaker 3: does get there, it's a bit scrambled and it's been 489 00:29:19,440 --> 00:29:21,760 Speaker 3: a little bit shaken up, and it's not the same 490 00:29:21,760 --> 00:29:26,520 Speaker 3: message that was initially sent out. This chronic state of dysregulation, 491 00:29:27,160 --> 00:29:32,440 Speaker 3: this is why we experience those physical symptoms that we 492 00:29:32,560 --> 00:29:38,040 Speaker 3: acknowledge now our physical responses or the physical manifestations of trauma. 493 00:29:38,360 --> 00:29:42,480 Speaker 3: It's why we get that muscle tension, the digestive issues, 494 00:29:42,520 --> 00:29:45,920 Speaker 3: the chronic pain, the headaches, the jaw clenching, the unexplained 495 00:29:45,960 --> 00:29:49,960 Speaker 3: autoimmune conditions, because our body is still in that state 496 00:29:50,040 --> 00:29:54,720 Speaker 3: of hyper or hypo arousal. And also it just can't 497 00:29:54,800 --> 00:29:58,320 Speaker 3: regulate every single system that's going on because it still 498 00:29:58,360 --> 00:30:02,760 Speaker 3: feels like it is in that really heightened stress response 499 00:30:02,800 --> 00:30:05,160 Speaker 3: and it is in that state of just complete helplessness, 500 00:30:05,200 --> 00:30:09,160 Speaker 3: where there's no point focusing on digestion, there's no point 501 00:30:09,280 --> 00:30:12,960 Speaker 3: focusing on our immune system, there's no point focusing on 502 00:30:13,040 --> 00:30:16,760 Speaker 3: fighting off illness, there's no point in focusing on relaxing 503 00:30:16,760 --> 00:30:21,400 Speaker 3: our muscles or feeling you know, stable, because it still 504 00:30:21,400 --> 00:30:24,000 Speaker 3: feels like it's not going to survive. It still feels 505 00:30:24,000 --> 00:30:26,440 Speaker 3: like there is this terrible thing that is happening to it. 506 00:30:26,880 --> 00:30:29,880 Speaker 3: So let's talk about the pain component of this, and 507 00:30:29,920 --> 00:30:32,479 Speaker 3: the fact that a lot of people who experienced trauma 508 00:30:32,680 --> 00:30:35,880 Speaker 3: end up with chronic pain conditions. There is a very 509 00:30:36,280 --> 00:30:38,560 Speaker 3: famous study. I don't know if it's famous, definitely, I 510 00:30:38,600 --> 00:30:41,120 Speaker 3: hope it becomes more well known, but it's a study 511 00:30:41,120 --> 00:30:45,040 Speaker 3: that essentially found that in groups of participants who were 512 00:30:45,080 --> 00:30:49,960 Speaker 3: experiencing chronic pain, the level of PTSD within those groups 513 00:30:50,080 --> 00:30:53,760 Speaker 3: was significantly higher than in the general population. Up to 514 00:30:53,920 --> 00:30:58,960 Speaker 3: eighty percent of people who reported chronic pain who came 515 00:30:59,040 --> 00:31:02,920 Speaker 3: to their GP their doctor for chronic pain had a 516 00:31:03,200 --> 00:31:07,240 Speaker 3: previous personal history of PTSD or something that was deeply 517 00:31:07,280 --> 00:31:09,200 Speaker 3: traumatic happening to them. 518 00:31:09,560 --> 00:31:09,880 Speaker 2: Now. 519 00:31:10,200 --> 00:31:13,080 Speaker 3: It wasn't just the kind of it wasn't just physical trauma, 520 00:31:13,120 --> 00:31:15,520 Speaker 3: so it wasn't like, Oh, I have chronic pain because 521 00:31:15,520 --> 00:31:17,440 Speaker 3: I was in a car accident, or I have chronic 522 00:31:17,480 --> 00:31:18,600 Speaker 3: pain because. 523 00:31:18,320 --> 00:31:21,200 Speaker 4: I was I fell out of a plane. A lot 524 00:31:21,200 --> 00:31:21,600 Speaker 4: of these. 525 00:31:21,440 --> 00:31:26,680 Speaker 3: People had deeply interpersonal an emotional trauma that left no 526 00:31:26,760 --> 00:31:31,720 Speaker 3: physical stars but was obviously leaving real physical pain. A 527 00:31:31,720 --> 00:31:35,360 Speaker 3: twenty eighteen study published in the Canadian Journal of Pain 528 00:31:35,600 --> 00:31:39,320 Speaker 3: Management looked into the physical symptoms of PTSD in one 529 00:31:39,400 --> 00:31:42,640 Speaker 3: hundred and sixty six participants, and what they found was 530 00:31:42,680 --> 00:31:47,480 Speaker 3: that almost half of the sample actually experienced pain for 531 00:31:47,800 --> 00:31:53,120 Speaker 3: lashbacks associated with memories of past events and trauma. So 532 00:31:53,240 --> 00:31:57,960 Speaker 3: when they relived a past moment of trauma, they could 533 00:31:58,360 --> 00:32:00,800 Speaker 3: tell you where they felt pain in the body, and 534 00:32:00,840 --> 00:32:03,440 Speaker 3: they would say, oh, I can feel this here, and 535 00:32:03,480 --> 00:32:06,400 Speaker 3: I can feel this triggering something in me, and it 536 00:32:06,480 --> 00:32:09,640 Speaker 3: is very very intense for me. These are results, you know, 537 00:32:09,720 --> 00:32:12,880 Speaker 3: you just you can't ignore those results, especially as they 538 00:32:12,920 --> 00:32:16,840 Speaker 3: continue to be replicated time and time again across countries, 539 00:32:17,400 --> 00:32:23,520 Speaker 3: across population groups, across ages, across The type of trauma 540 00:32:23,520 --> 00:32:27,640 Speaker 3: that people have experienced, like this level of pain or 541 00:32:27,920 --> 00:32:32,680 Speaker 3: of physical discomfort is really an epidemic. So if trauma 542 00:32:32,800 --> 00:32:36,560 Speaker 3: is so clearly and vividly present in the body, why 543 00:32:36,600 --> 00:32:42,440 Speaker 3: are these very real symptoms and experiences often ignored, misdiagnosed, 544 00:32:42,600 --> 00:32:46,720 Speaker 3: or just in general dismissed by society. I think it 545 00:32:46,760 --> 00:32:48,640 Speaker 3: comes down to the fact that for a long time, 546 00:32:48,720 --> 00:32:52,800 Speaker 3: the medical community approached health issues with a sense of 547 00:32:52,880 --> 00:32:56,920 Speaker 3: mind body duality. So basically the idea that the mind 548 00:32:57,160 --> 00:33:01,960 Speaker 3: and the body they are two separate things, two separate entities. 549 00:33:02,400 --> 00:33:05,720 Speaker 3: If a physical symptom couldn't be explained by a clear 550 00:33:05,960 --> 00:33:10,520 Speaker 3: organic cause, like a gaping hole in your arm, a 551 00:33:10,640 --> 00:33:14,880 Speaker 3: broken bone, something of the sort, it was often dismissed 552 00:33:14,920 --> 00:33:16,880 Speaker 3: as being in your head. 553 00:33:17,400 --> 00:33:18,120 Speaker 2: But with the. 554 00:33:18,040 --> 00:33:22,560 Speaker 3: Scientific access we now have, neuroscience has really debunked this 555 00:33:22,680 --> 00:33:26,160 Speaker 3: idea and it's provided very compelling proof that the pain 556 00:33:26,240 --> 00:33:28,760 Speaker 3: is absolutely, unequivocally like it is. 557 00:33:29,520 --> 00:33:30,120 Speaker 2: It is real. 558 00:33:30,880 --> 00:33:34,360 Speaker 3: Research using fMRI scans have shown that when people recall 559 00:33:34,880 --> 00:33:38,640 Speaker 3: a traumatic event or they are triggered, the brain regions 560 00:33:38,680 --> 00:33:45,360 Speaker 3: that process psychological distress overlap significantly with the brain regions 561 00:33:45,360 --> 00:33:48,760 Speaker 3: that process physical pain. And I want to say this 562 00:33:49,680 --> 00:33:52,800 Speaker 3: pain is not felt in the body. Pain is felt 563 00:33:53,000 --> 00:33:54,360 Speaker 3: like in your mind. 564 00:33:54,760 --> 00:33:56,280 Speaker 2: If people who are. 565 00:33:56,200 --> 00:34:00,520 Speaker 3: Paralyzed like and their nerves and their like their nerves 566 00:34:00,560 --> 00:34:03,680 Speaker 3: below their waist or below wherever they don't work, and 567 00:34:03,720 --> 00:34:06,840 Speaker 3: someone stabs them in the foot, someone drops a cinder 568 00:34:06,840 --> 00:34:08,560 Speaker 3: block on their foot, They're not going to feel it 569 00:34:08,640 --> 00:34:12,440 Speaker 3: because there's no like that message isn't being sent to 570 00:34:12,520 --> 00:34:17,359 Speaker 3: the brain. The brain is the home of pain, and 571 00:34:17,400 --> 00:34:22,000 Speaker 3: so these fMRI studies are like so revealing that essentially 572 00:34:22,640 --> 00:34:26,520 Speaker 3: all these receptors that we usually associate with physical pain 573 00:34:26,920 --> 00:34:32,160 Speaker 3: are also being triggered by emotional experiences as well. Like 574 00:34:32,239 --> 00:34:37,240 Speaker 3: the brain is literally processing this as a real physical threat. 575 00:34:37,840 --> 00:34:41,000 Speaker 3: The vital point is again pain is the pain is real. 576 00:34:41,560 --> 00:34:45,160 Speaker 3: It may have an emotional, mental, or psychological origin, but 577 00:34:45,200 --> 00:34:48,880 Speaker 3: the pain receptors are being triggered in a very real 578 00:34:48,920 --> 00:34:52,960 Speaker 3: way that will have us experiencing the sensation of pain. 579 00:34:53,040 --> 00:34:55,960 Speaker 3: It is not in someone's head. Just because you can't 580 00:34:56,200 --> 00:34:59,440 Speaker 3: point to a physical wound or a broken limb, I 581 00:34:59,440 --> 00:35:03,239 Speaker 3: think another huge barrier and acknowledging this and getting help 582 00:35:03,320 --> 00:35:08,080 Speaker 3: for this is shame. Shame, God, It is like a 583 00:35:08,120 --> 00:35:12,399 Speaker 3: plague on society. Shame just is like, oh my god, 584 00:35:12,440 --> 00:35:15,480 Speaker 3: I think it just keeps so many people miserable and 585 00:35:15,600 --> 00:35:18,560 Speaker 3: hurt when they don't have to be trauma, you know, 586 00:35:18,680 --> 00:35:23,320 Speaker 3: especially when it's dismissed when it's unseen. It really breeds 587 00:35:23,400 --> 00:35:28,200 Speaker 3: this feeling of if I talk about this, if people 588 00:35:28,239 --> 00:35:31,440 Speaker 3: know this about me, they will only see me as this. 589 00:35:32,440 --> 00:35:35,400 Speaker 3: They will see me differently, they will walk on eggshells 590 00:35:35,400 --> 00:35:38,320 Speaker 3: around me. They will cringe or be embarrassed at what 591 00:35:38,400 --> 00:35:40,960 Speaker 3: I've been through. Like there's always that voice that is saying, 592 00:35:41,920 --> 00:35:45,239 Speaker 3: this isn't that serious. Don't ruin your reputation, don't make 593 00:35:45,320 --> 00:35:48,560 Speaker 3: people uncomfortable, don't make too big of a deal of this. 594 00:35:48,640 --> 00:35:53,120 Speaker 3: And it has to be be silent, be quiet, deal 595 00:35:53,120 --> 00:35:58,160 Speaker 3: with it, and guess what, it never works. The dealing 596 00:35:58,200 --> 00:36:00,440 Speaker 3: with it is not actually dealing with it. 597 00:36:00,440 --> 00:36:01,480 Speaker 2: It's just suppressing it. 598 00:36:01,840 --> 00:36:04,120 Speaker 3: This shame, you know, it prevents people from seeking help 599 00:36:04,120 --> 00:36:07,600 Speaker 3: because they're terrified of being charged. They're terrified of being 600 00:36:07,640 --> 00:36:11,120 Speaker 3: seen as weak. They're terrified that they're going to speak 601 00:36:11,120 --> 00:36:13,040 Speaker 3: about their trauma and someone's going to say, oh, that's 602 00:36:13,080 --> 00:36:16,719 Speaker 3: not that big of a deal. Stop being so dramatic. 603 00:36:17,880 --> 00:36:21,480 Speaker 3: There's also the real kicker to trauma in that you 604 00:36:21,520 --> 00:36:24,080 Speaker 3: often have to retrigger it to get through it. You 605 00:36:24,160 --> 00:36:26,520 Speaker 3: have to talk about it, You have to expose yourself 606 00:36:26,840 --> 00:36:29,400 Speaker 3: to things that you've avoided in a manner that's safe 607 00:36:29,480 --> 00:36:32,520 Speaker 3: so that you can rewire that physiological and psychological reaction. 608 00:36:33,360 --> 00:36:36,520 Speaker 3: That's bloody heart. If all that we're saying is true 609 00:36:37,000 --> 00:36:41,479 Speaker 3: reliving trauma, reliving the memories brings about real pain, then 610 00:36:41,680 --> 00:36:43,319 Speaker 3: the path to healing is. 611 00:36:43,560 --> 00:36:44,280 Speaker 2: Going to be painful. 612 00:36:44,320 --> 00:36:46,440 Speaker 3: And sometimes people just don't want to go through that, 613 00:36:46,600 --> 00:36:52,280 Speaker 3: which is totally totally understandable. But I want to provide 614 00:36:52,560 --> 00:36:56,879 Speaker 3: the silver lining in this very heavy conversation. There are 615 00:36:56,960 --> 00:37:03,400 Speaker 3: some wonderful therapeutic techniques that minimize the pain as you 616 00:37:03,440 --> 00:37:09,280 Speaker 3: are healing and in the long term that don't necessarily 617 00:37:09,320 --> 00:37:12,880 Speaker 3: retrigger you and leave you in that retriggered space and 618 00:37:12,960 --> 00:37:15,359 Speaker 3: can really really help you. And I want to talk 619 00:37:15,400 --> 00:37:18,240 Speaker 3: about some of the ones that have been introduced recently 620 00:37:18,280 --> 00:37:21,160 Speaker 3: that maybe aren't spoken about that much, in which are 621 00:37:21,760 --> 00:37:26,879 Speaker 3: these new frontiers of how we manage mental pain as 622 00:37:26,920 --> 00:37:31,200 Speaker 3: physical pain. Now, I will say one of my criticisms 623 00:37:31,239 --> 00:37:33,120 Speaker 3: of the Body Keeps the Score is that it presents 624 00:37:33,120 --> 00:37:36,319 Speaker 3: these ideas and it kind of makes it seem that 625 00:37:36,360 --> 00:37:39,840 Speaker 3: you can just like, DII why this. You cannot you 626 00:37:39,880 --> 00:37:44,000 Speaker 3: cannot DIY this unless you have like gone through extensive training. 627 00:37:45,239 --> 00:37:47,400 Speaker 3: There are so many amazing people who are experts in 628 00:37:47,440 --> 00:37:51,399 Speaker 3: this who can guide you through these therapeutic techniques. We're 629 00:37:51,440 --> 00:37:56,320 Speaker 3: just going to discuss them from like a lens of 630 00:37:56,320 --> 00:37:59,319 Speaker 3: psycho education and from a lens of like knowledge and 631 00:37:59,480 --> 00:38:02,799 Speaker 3: just knowing they're out there, knowing they're available, knowing the 632 00:38:02,920 --> 00:38:06,440 Speaker 3: core premise, and knowing that they're not scary, so that 633 00:38:06,520 --> 00:38:08,439 Speaker 3: you can go and seek out someone who can help 634 00:38:08,480 --> 00:38:11,040 Speaker 3: you with this at a deeper level. So I just 635 00:38:11,040 --> 00:38:14,040 Speaker 3: have to put that little disclaimer in here, But to 636 00:38:14,160 --> 00:38:17,680 Speaker 3: dive in a lot of trauma therapy these days is 637 00:38:17,800 --> 00:38:21,880 Speaker 3: really about, thank gosh, really about integrating the mind and 638 00:38:21,880 --> 00:38:24,880 Speaker 3: the body. In a large part of that maybe talking 639 00:38:24,880 --> 00:38:27,320 Speaker 3: about what occurred in the past, but it's equally about 640 00:38:27,360 --> 00:38:32,080 Speaker 3: controlling how we respond physically and helping our nervous system 641 00:38:32,120 --> 00:38:34,680 Speaker 3: feel safe so that it can return to a state 642 00:38:34,719 --> 00:38:40,200 Speaker 3: of homeostasis and equilibrium. A really fantastic evidence based therapy 643 00:38:40,440 --> 00:38:45,319 Speaker 3: often recommended for people with PTSD or complex PTSD, is 644 00:38:45,360 --> 00:38:52,240 Speaker 3: called I movement desensitization and Reprocessing therapy or EMDR, which 645 00:38:52,280 --> 00:38:52,640 Speaker 3: you may. 646 00:38:52,520 --> 00:38:53,600 Speaker 2: Have heard of more recently. 647 00:38:53,640 --> 00:38:54,960 Speaker 3: I feel like it's having a little bit of a 648 00:38:54,960 --> 00:38:59,120 Speaker 3: moment because it is fantastic. This was actually developed by 649 00:38:59,200 --> 00:39:02,560 Speaker 3: Francie Shapiriir. The story of how she came up with 650 00:39:02,600 --> 00:39:05,799 Speaker 3: this therapeutic technique is actually, I like it. I think 651 00:39:05,840 --> 00:39:08,960 Speaker 3: it's quite beautiful. She came up with it or discovered it, 652 00:39:09,000 --> 00:39:11,480 Speaker 3: I guess, almost by accident. Like she was walking through 653 00:39:11,520 --> 00:39:15,040 Speaker 3: the park one day and she was reliving or thinking 654 00:39:15,080 --> 00:39:17,760 Speaker 3: about something that was deeply painful to her and traumatic 655 00:39:17,800 --> 00:39:20,960 Speaker 3: to her, and she was moving her eyes side to side, 656 00:39:21,040 --> 00:39:23,720 Speaker 3: like looking at birds and looking at plants and looking 657 00:39:23,760 --> 00:39:26,080 Speaker 3: at the trees, and as she was doing it, she 658 00:39:26,160 --> 00:39:29,759 Speaker 3: was like, Wow, this actually feels like the intensity of 659 00:39:29,800 --> 00:39:34,360 Speaker 3: this memory is going down, Like I'm really starting to 660 00:39:34,440 --> 00:39:38,279 Speaker 3: feel better about this. So she took that experience, she 661 00:39:38,280 --> 00:39:42,560 Speaker 3: did obviously a lot more research and put it into 662 00:39:42,600 --> 00:39:45,560 Speaker 3: a lot of clinical applications, and she came up with AMDR, 663 00:39:45,640 --> 00:39:49,680 Speaker 3: which uses the same principles. Specifically, it uses this method 664 00:39:49,840 --> 00:39:55,200 Speaker 3: known as bi lateral stimulation, which basically means both halves 665 00:39:55,200 --> 00:39:57,360 Speaker 3: of your brains of your brain are active at the 666 00:39:57,400 --> 00:40:00,840 Speaker 3: same time, like a therapist will guide your eyes from 667 00:40:01,040 --> 00:40:04,000 Speaker 3: side to side, or we'll tap you on each side 668 00:40:04,040 --> 00:40:07,800 Speaker 3: of your head as you are recalling a traumatic memory, 669 00:40:08,360 --> 00:40:12,080 Speaker 3: and it's thought to help the brain kind of reprocess 670 00:40:12,600 --> 00:40:15,520 Speaker 3: and reintegrate this memory by moving it from the part 671 00:40:15,560 --> 00:40:18,279 Speaker 3: of the brain that keeps it stuck and active, so 672 00:40:18,400 --> 00:40:21,160 Speaker 3: the amygdala, to the part that stores it as a 673 00:40:21,239 --> 00:40:24,600 Speaker 3: past event that can no longer hurt us, the hypocampus. 674 00:40:25,160 --> 00:40:29,680 Speaker 3: When we experience something really overwhelming, our amygdala takes over 675 00:40:30,160 --> 00:40:32,960 Speaker 3: and our prefrontal cortext the part of our brain that 676 00:40:33,040 --> 00:40:39,239 Speaker 3: is responsible for executive thinking rational thinking. It's basically demoted. 677 00:40:39,960 --> 00:40:43,160 Speaker 3: That means that when we are retriggered or something reminds 678 00:40:43,239 --> 00:40:47,200 Speaker 3: us of the past, it can feel like it's happening right. 679 00:40:47,440 --> 00:40:50,360 Speaker 2: Now all over again, leading. 680 00:40:50,080 --> 00:40:52,600 Speaker 3: The brain in the body to have that disproportionate response 681 00:40:52,640 --> 00:40:56,160 Speaker 3: because it genuinely thinks like this is really happening. It 682 00:40:56,160 --> 00:40:58,840 Speaker 3: doesn't recognize like, oh this is this is a memory, 683 00:40:59,320 --> 00:41:04,200 Speaker 3: This isn't real. So EDMR helps us reduce the intensity 684 00:41:04,200 --> 00:41:08,839 Speaker 3: of these memories by reducing activity in the brain's fear circuits. 685 00:41:09,000 --> 00:41:12,680 Speaker 3: Whilst we actively recall this event so that it loses 686 00:41:13,320 --> 00:41:17,160 Speaker 3: some of its sharpness, the memory doesn't disappear. It's not 687 00:41:17,200 --> 00:41:20,399 Speaker 3: like hypnosis. We're not trying to make you forget. It's 688 00:41:20,520 --> 00:41:24,759 Speaker 3: just that the emotional physiological charge is neutralized in a 689 00:41:24,800 --> 00:41:29,680 Speaker 3: way that allows us to recall it without the associated terror. 690 00:41:30,120 --> 00:41:31,920 Speaker 3: So this is one of the ways that we can 691 00:41:32,000 --> 00:41:35,880 Speaker 3: create psychological and physical safety for ourselves so that we 692 00:41:35,880 --> 00:41:38,560 Speaker 3: can integrate our experience. We are going to take a 693 00:41:38,560 --> 00:41:40,040 Speaker 3: short break, but then I want to talk about a 694 00:41:40,080 --> 00:41:43,960 Speaker 3: few others, including one of my own favorite techniques that 695 00:41:44,040 --> 00:41:46,040 Speaker 3: I have tried that I love, that I could talk 696 00:41:46,080 --> 00:41:50,040 Speaker 3: about for literal days. So stay with us. We will 697 00:41:50,040 --> 00:41:58,200 Speaker 3: be right back. So let's talk about a few other 698 00:41:58,239 --> 00:42:02,239 Speaker 3: ways that people have studied, examined, and are trying to 699 00:42:02,320 --> 00:42:05,920 Speaker 3: kind of help us integrate our trauma on an individual level. 700 00:42:06,000 --> 00:42:09,000 Speaker 3: Now I did acknowledge this before, but that is something 701 00:42:09,000 --> 00:42:12,360 Speaker 3: about trauma that is very frustrating for many people. Trauma 702 00:42:12,440 --> 00:42:16,760 Speaker 3: is often systemic. It happens within large systems, it happens 703 00:42:16,800 --> 00:42:21,880 Speaker 3: between two or multiple people. Yeah, it's annoying. We are 704 00:42:22,000 --> 00:42:24,360 Speaker 3: kind of forced to heal from it individually. 705 00:42:24,400 --> 00:42:27,200 Speaker 2: It's very unfair. There are definitely. 706 00:42:27,000 --> 00:42:30,759 Speaker 3: Collective methods for this that are I think a little 707 00:42:30,760 --> 00:42:36,200 Speaker 3: bit more underground, collective trauma therapy support groups, things like 708 00:42:36,320 --> 00:42:39,720 Speaker 3: yarning circles. In Australia, these are practiced by First Nations 709 00:42:39,719 --> 00:42:42,680 Speaker 3: people where a group of people sit in a circle 710 00:42:42,719 --> 00:42:46,919 Speaker 3: they share experiences, they share knowledge, advice, support, surrounded by 711 00:42:47,000 --> 00:42:51,279 Speaker 3: their community. But a lot of Western trauma therapy is 712 00:42:51,320 --> 00:42:54,560 Speaker 3: definitely focused on the individual. There is a book I 713 00:42:54,640 --> 00:42:56,720 Speaker 3: really want to read. It's on my bookshelf right now. 714 00:42:57,200 --> 00:43:01,920 Speaker 3: It's called Very Appropriate Appropriately Healing Collective Trauma. But we 715 00:43:01,960 --> 00:43:05,719 Speaker 3: are mainly going to talk about individual methods here, acknowledging 716 00:43:05,719 --> 00:43:10,319 Speaker 3: that there is like a huge gap in the mental 717 00:43:10,360 --> 00:43:13,560 Speaker 3: health and psychology and trauma space to try and help 718 00:43:13,640 --> 00:43:18,640 Speaker 3: people in a collective community way, hopefully and definitely without 719 00:43:18,640 --> 00:43:22,240 Speaker 3: retraumatizing them. It's definitely I think something that more research 720 00:43:22,280 --> 00:43:24,879 Speaker 3: and more funding needs to get to be put into, 721 00:43:25,040 --> 00:43:28,440 Speaker 3: Like we need to stop thinking about trauma is just 722 00:43:28,480 --> 00:43:31,160 Speaker 3: an individual issue and more as a community issue and 723 00:43:31,200 --> 00:43:36,319 Speaker 3: one that can be helped with community. But back to 724 00:43:36,360 --> 00:43:39,759 Speaker 3: these individual therapies, things like somatic therapies, for example, I 725 00:43:39,840 --> 00:43:42,719 Speaker 3: still think they are really, really effective. The goal of 726 00:43:42,760 --> 00:43:46,040 Speaker 3: these therapies isn't, you know, to retell the story of 727 00:43:46,040 --> 00:43:48,680 Speaker 3: the trauma. It isn't to like try and make it 728 00:43:48,719 --> 00:43:51,600 Speaker 3: make sense, because it never will. It's just to gently 729 00:43:51,640 --> 00:43:55,239 Speaker 3: guide the body to let go of its defensive response 730 00:43:55,560 --> 00:43:58,399 Speaker 3: and say this doesn't have to make sense. But I'm 731 00:43:58,520 --> 00:44:01,520 Speaker 3: still safe. Just because I don't have closure for this 732 00:44:01,600 --> 00:44:04,480 Speaker 3: doesn't mean that I'm not in a space where I 733 00:44:04,520 --> 00:44:09,560 Speaker 3: can let myself relax. One of these therapies is known 734 00:44:09,600 --> 00:44:12,920 Speaker 3: as smatic experiencing and it was founded by the psychologist 735 00:44:13,000 --> 00:44:16,080 Speaker 3: and the author, doctor Peter Levine. So within this process, 736 00:44:16,239 --> 00:44:21,280 Speaker 3: therapists use this thing called titration to guide a client 737 00:44:21,360 --> 00:44:26,440 Speaker 3: to just feel or re experience a really small, manageable 738 00:44:26,480 --> 00:44:29,839 Speaker 3: piece of the traumatic sensation in their body and then 739 00:44:29,960 --> 00:44:32,960 Speaker 3: let it go. So it's like slowly releasing the pressure 740 00:44:33,280 --> 00:44:36,359 Speaker 3: from a locked valve, tiny bits at the time, so 741 00:44:36,400 --> 00:44:39,600 Speaker 3: it doesn't all flood out, allowing the stored energy to 742 00:44:39,680 --> 00:44:43,640 Speaker 3: kind of discharge itself bit by bit without overwhelming the system. 743 00:44:44,080 --> 00:44:47,480 Speaker 3: Whilst Lavine, I think he's definitely come under similar criticisms 744 00:44:47,520 --> 00:44:52,680 Speaker 3: to Vanderkolk, sematic experiencing really demonstrates at least some use 745 00:44:52,760 --> 00:44:57,040 Speaker 3: in reconnecting with our bodies and understanding certain physical sensations 746 00:44:57,680 --> 00:45:00,600 Speaker 3: so that we can feel in control of something that 747 00:45:00,640 --> 00:45:04,279 Speaker 3: has often robbed of people who have repeatedly experienced or 748 00:45:04,320 --> 00:45:07,799 Speaker 3: been exposed to trauma. They didn't feel in control of 749 00:45:07,840 --> 00:45:11,600 Speaker 3: how their body reacts and their body responds because it's 750 00:45:11,719 --> 00:45:14,840 Speaker 3: operating on a different plane, as we know. When I 751 00:45:14,880 --> 00:45:18,320 Speaker 3: was also looking into the research behind further body based 752 00:45:18,320 --> 00:45:22,360 Speaker 3: practices for trauma, I also came across a lot of 753 00:45:22,400 --> 00:45:25,120 Speaker 3: evidence for yoga, which didn't surprise me. I have a 754 00:45:25,120 --> 00:45:29,080 Speaker 3: friend who, one friend in particular only thinking about who 755 00:45:29,160 --> 00:45:32,800 Speaker 3: has this like totally truly spiritual story about how yoga 756 00:45:32,880 --> 00:45:36,120 Speaker 3: has helped her overcome some pretty terrible childhood trauma stuff. 757 00:45:37,000 --> 00:45:39,400 Speaker 3: Every time she tells this story to me, like I 758 00:45:39,520 --> 00:45:42,200 Speaker 3: get chills and I get tears, Like every single time, 759 00:45:42,239 --> 00:45:44,160 Speaker 3: I think, I've got to ask you to come onto 760 00:45:44,200 --> 00:45:46,440 Speaker 3: the podcast and if she'd be willing to talk about it. 761 00:45:46,560 --> 00:45:52,320 Speaker 3: But it's just beyond brilliant yoga as a therapeutic technique. 762 00:45:52,320 --> 00:45:55,040 Speaker 3: It's just groundbreaking, you know. For example, there was a 763 00:45:55,080 --> 00:45:57,719 Speaker 3: twenty fourteen study based in the US that looked at 764 00:45:57,760 --> 00:46:01,479 Speaker 3: the effect of twelve sah of yoga on a group 765 00:46:01,520 --> 00:46:06,239 Speaker 3: of women with PTSD, and it compared their symptoms to 766 00:46:06,360 --> 00:46:09,719 Speaker 3: those of people who didn't take part. And what they 767 00:46:09,760 --> 00:46:12,959 Speaker 3: found was that those who completed the twelve sessions demonstrated 768 00:46:13,440 --> 00:46:18,560 Speaker 3: less anxiety, less hyper arousal, and they reported that they 769 00:46:18,600 --> 00:46:25,719 Speaker 3: had less pain and less mental discomfort. Or distress associated 770 00:46:25,760 --> 00:46:28,160 Speaker 3: with re experiencing their trauma on the day to day. 771 00:46:28,800 --> 00:46:30,840 Speaker 3: And if we think of the crucial elements of yoga, 772 00:46:30,920 --> 00:46:34,200 Speaker 3: it really makes sense, you know, the focused, controlled breathing, 773 00:46:35,239 --> 00:46:39,080 Speaker 3: moving our bodies alongside other people. Again, maybe that's pointing 774 00:46:39,080 --> 00:46:42,400 Speaker 3: to again a more collective way of managing trauma. Even 775 00:46:42,440 --> 00:46:47,840 Speaker 3: like the stretching and the release of muscular tension, the flexibility, 776 00:46:48,000 --> 00:46:51,960 Speaker 3: the sense of personal control and agency over our bodies, 777 00:46:52,560 --> 00:46:55,040 Speaker 3: it all comes together to combat the negative side effects 778 00:46:55,080 --> 00:46:59,960 Speaker 3: that stored trauma can cause. In a slightly different vein person, 779 00:47:01,000 --> 00:47:03,719 Speaker 3: I found that running and weight lifting has had a 780 00:47:03,719 --> 00:47:07,400 Speaker 3: similar effect for me. Could never get into yoga, But recently, 781 00:47:08,000 --> 00:47:09,560 Speaker 3: I feel like I've talked about this on our run 782 00:47:09,560 --> 00:47:12,760 Speaker 3: Club episode, I have just found like a new love 783 00:47:12,960 --> 00:47:16,640 Speaker 3: for like endurance running. I don't know where it came from. 784 00:47:17,160 --> 00:47:21,160 Speaker 3: It's not just the endorphins either. It's this sense of 785 00:47:21,560 --> 00:47:26,640 Speaker 3: strength and power that I get from pushing myself traumatic experiences. 786 00:47:26,680 --> 00:47:29,800 Speaker 3: I think they make us feel so weak sometimes and powerless. 787 00:47:29,800 --> 00:47:33,600 Speaker 3: That's literally their very nature. And when I run, I 788 00:47:33,640 --> 00:47:35,920 Speaker 3: feel so strong, I feel so capable. 789 00:47:35,960 --> 00:47:37,560 Speaker 2: I feel a lot. 790 00:47:37,400 --> 00:47:41,480 Speaker 3: Of the rage that I've been carrying kind of releasing 791 00:47:41,520 --> 00:47:45,560 Speaker 3: itself into something that I can feel proud of and 792 00:47:45,600 --> 00:47:48,160 Speaker 3: that I can see my body doing. I also trust 793 00:47:48,280 --> 00:47:52,360 Speaker 3: my body more. I feel like my stress and my 794 00:47:52,440 --> 00:47:56,520 Speaker 3: anxiety have lessened. There is this incredible podcast that I 795 00:47:56,560 --> 00:47:58,520 Speaker 3: actually listened to on this the other day. I'm literally 796 00:47:58,560 --> 00:48:01,239 Speaker 3: gonna get my phone up and I'm going to find it. 797 00:48:01,239 --> 00:48:03,840 Speaker 3: It was with this running influencer that I follow called 798 00:48:04,280 --> 00:48:09,440 Speaker 3: Maddie Runs, and she lives in Utah, and she sat 799 00:48:09,480 --> 00:48:11,440 Speaker 3: down and talked to this person. I'm literally trying to 800 00:48:11,440 --> 00:48:11,719 Speaker 3: find it. 801 00:48:11,760 --> 00:48:12,160 Speaker 2: Here it is. 802 00:48:12,520 --> 00:48:15,200 Speaker 3: It's from the Everyday Ultra podcast. It's called how to 803 00:48:15,239 --> 00:48:19,160 Speaker 3: Heal Through Running and Build Self Belief with Madeleine Wolfbauger. 804 00:48:20,120 --> 00:48:22,440 Speaker 3: And I listened to that podcast and I was like, oh, 805 00:48:22,480 --> 00:48:26,399 Speaker 3: this totally makes sense. This like physical connection that she's 806 00:48:26,520 --> 00:48:29,880 Speaker 3: had with her body has allowed her trauma to be 807 00:48:30,000 --> 00:48:33,160 Speaker 3: expressed in a way that she feels is manageable. When 808 00:48:33,200 --> 00:48:35,640 Speaker 3: she's running, she feels so capable and she feels so 809 00:48:35,719 --> 00:48:38,719 Speaker 3: in control that the negative thoughts can come up and 810 00:48:38,800 --> 00:48:42,319 Speaker 3: she's still she still is like again in control of 811 00:48:42,360 --> 00:48:45,840 Speaker 3: her body and so they're allowed to be released. Incredible podcasts. 812 00:48:45,840 --> 00:48:48,439 Speaker 3: Should absolutely listen to it. She is amazing as well. 813 00:48:48,480 --> 00:48:51,680 Speaker 3: She's just really really cool. But again, all this is 814 00:48:51,680 --> 00:48:54,400 Speaker 3: about connection. Breath work is another one that people talk 815 00:48:54,440 --> 00:48:56,279 Speaker 3: about a lot. We just did an episode on that 816 00:48:56,320 --> 00:49:00,759 Speaker 3: with our expert guests Jessica Dibb. There's so much neuroscience 817 00:49:00,800 --> 00:49:03,000 Speaker 3: to all of this. There's so much neuroscience to the 818 00:49:03,000 --> 00:49:06,000 Speaker 3: way that having a better physical relationship with our body 819 00:49:06,400 --> 00:49:09,640 Speaker 3: allows us to build self trust in the fact that 820 00:49:09,680 --> 00:49:14,799 Speaker 3: we can handle the physical manifestations of our trauma and 821 00:49:14,840 --> 00:49:17,880 Speaker 3: we can. We are in control, We are in charge, 822 00:49:17,960 --> 00:49:20,879 Speaker 3: even if the emotional side of it doesn't make us 823 00:49:21,080 --> 00:49:25,080 Speaker 3: feel that way. I think ultimately healing from trauma that 824 00:49:25,160 --> 00:49:27,120 Speaker 3: is trapped in the body is about helping the body 825 00:49:27,200 --> 00:49:29,680 Speaker 3: understand that the threat is over. That is like the 826 00:49:29,680 --> 00:49:32,719 Speaker 3: line we keep coming back to, It's about building a 827 00:49:32,920 --> 00:49:37,800 Speaker 3: sense of safety. Trauma is the disruption of safety, coming 828 00:49:37,840 --> 00:49:41,560 Speaker 3: back to your body, feeling safe in your body. Therefore, 829 00:49:42,520 --> 00:49:46,560 Speaker 3: I think just like undercuts all, like all the stories 830 00:49:46,600 --> 00:49:47,399 Speaker 3: that trauma is. 831 00:49:47,320 --> 00:49:48,960 Speaker 4: Telling us that we are not safe. You know. 832 00:49:49,040 --> 00:49:50,560 Speaker 3: Of course, we also have to give a shout out 833 00:49:50,600 --> 00:49:53,680 Speaker 3: to like our cognitive and like our talk therapies as 834 00:49:53,680 --> 00:49:55,560 Speaker 3: well for getting a lot of people to the point 835 00:49:55,560 --> 00:49:59,799 Speaker 3: where they can have this sematic and physical approach. But whatever, 836 00:50:00,880 --> 00:50:05,600 Speaker 3: whatever you can do, whatever practice you can find that 837 00:50:05,719 --> 00:50:09,000 Speaker 3: is going to allow you to realize that your mind 838 00:50:09,040 --> 00:50:13,000 Speaker 3: and your body are in unison, and that your emotional 839 00:50:13,040 --> 00:50:18,040 Speaker 3: experiences show up physically in a way that is completely 840 00:50:18,160 --> 00:50:24,600 Speaker 3: valid and completely real and completely felt. That is going 841 00:50:25,400 --> 00:50:28,759 Speaker 3: to help you. The body, like our body, this is 842 00:50:28,840 --> 00:50:31,680 Speaker 3: going to get kind of spiritual, is like, but it 843 00:50:31,920 --> 00:50:34,960 Speaker 3: is like it is such a gift and it is 844 00:50:35,000 --> 00:50:39,240 Speaker 3: such a vessel through which we can deepen our connection 845 00:50:39,320 --> 00:50:43,480 Speaker 3: with our sense of self psychologically, it is like this 846 00:50:43,960 --> 00:50:48,040 Speaker 3: domain and this tool that we have hopefully a lot 847 00:50:48,040 --> 00:50:52,160 Speaker 3: of power over and that we can use as I 848 00:50:52,239 --> 00:50:53,960 Speaker 3: don't even know how to explain this. It's just something 849 00:50:54,000 --> 00:50:57,320 Speaker 3: I've been really like, really feeling deeper and deeper recently, 850 00:50:57,360 --> 00:51:01,719 Speaker 3: Like the guys look at me going but like the 851 00:51:01,760 --> 00:51:03,560 Speaker 3: body is not us, but the body is like an 852 00:51:03,600 --> 00:51:09,200 Speaker 3: extension of us that by taking care of by understanding more, 853 00:51:09,320 --> 00:51:14,960 Speaker 3: by treating with respect, by treating as much like in 854 00:51:14,960 --> 00:51:18,640 Speaker 3: the same way we treat our mind, can really heal us. 855 00:51:19,560 --> 00:51:23,240 Speaker 3: I feel like psychology is it has done so much 856 00:51:23,320 --> 00:51:26,880 Speaker 3: for allowing us to understand the mental side of trauma. 857 00:51:27,440 --> 00:51:29,759 Speaker 2: And how our. 858 00:51:29,760 --> 00:51:31,960 Speaker 3: Sense of self and our sense of safety, and our 859 00:51:32,040 --> 00:51:34,319 Speaker 3: sense of peace, and our sense of harmony and our 860 00:51:34,360 --> 00:51:37,960 Speaker 3: sense of meaning is disrupted by trauma. We need to 861 00:51:38,040 --> 00:51:41,680 Speaker 3: like add this body peace into it and understand that again, 862 00:51:42,120 --> 00:51:47,520 Speaker 3: when these deep painful feelings cannot be expressed through the 863 00:51:47,640 --> 00:51:50,719 Speaker 3: mind and are not allowed to be expressed maybe verbally 864 00:51:51,080 --> 00:51:54,839 Speaker 3: or maybe mentally by thinking about them, they will find 865 00:51:54,840 --> 00:51:57,360 Speaker 3: other ways to come out. And the body is the 866 00:51:57,400 --> 00:52:00,000 Speaker 3: body is like kind of the sacrifice at that point. 867 00:52:00,600 --> 00:52:03,040 Speaker 3: So I hope that this episode has just allowed you 868 00:52:03,160 --> 00:52:07,040 Speaker 3: to understand the mechanisms behind that better and what people 869 00:52:07,120 --> 00:52:09,319 Speaker 3: mean when they say the body keeps a score or 870 00:52:09,400 --> 00:52:11,520 Speaker 3: trauma is stored in the body. 871 00:52:12,280 --> 00:52:12,880 Speaker 4: Yeah, I don't know. 872 00:52:13,040 --> 00:52:14,840 Speaker 3: I feel like once you understand this, you're just like 873 00:52:14,880 --> 00:52:17,880 Speaker 3: I see my life differently and I see my body differently. 874 00:52:17,920 --> 00:52:21,359 Speaker 3: And hopefully you go and check out some of those 875 00:52:21,360 --> 00:52:23,759 Speaker 3: other resources that I've shared and those other people who 876 00:52:24,160 --> 00:52:26,200 Speaker 3: talk about this a lot more excellently than I do, 877 00:52:26,360 --> 00:52:30,279 Speaker 3: and who have even more marvelous and incredible stories and 878 00:52:30,960 --> 00:52:35,520 Speaker 3: facts and insights to share. If you have made it 879 00:52:35,560 --> 00:52:39,600 Speaker 3: this far, leave a little emoji down below of what 880 00:52:39,680 --> 00:52:42,440 Speaker 3: represents peace for you. The opposite of trauma, the opposite 881 00:52:42,480 --> 00:52:46,160 Speaker 3: of pain. Where do you feel most at peace? Like 882 00:52:46,400 --> 00:52:50,680 Speaker 3: what symbolizes real contentment and safety for you? Thank you 883 00:52:50,719 --> 00:52:53,120 Speaker 3: for listening if you did make it this far as well. 884 00:52:53,160 --> 00:52:54,879 Speaker 3: I really appreciate when people make it all the way 885 00:52:54,880 --> 00:52:56,680 Speaker 3: to the end of the episodes, when you make it 886 00:52:56,719 --> 00:52:59,120 Speaker 3: all the way the end to my little rants. 887 00:52:59,000 --> 00:53:02,240 Speaker 4: And my little brand poo and me going off script, 888 00:53:02,520 --> 00:53:03,600 Speaker 4: So thank you. 889 00:53:03,680 --> 00:53:06,000 Speaker 3: Make sure as well that you are following us on 890 00:53:06,040 --> 00:53:09,600 Speaker 3: Instagram at that psychology podcast if you already follow us, 891 00:53:09,640 --> 00:53:12,279 Speaker 3: you know, we do like episode summaries. We sometimes ask 892 00:53:12,400 --> 00:53:17,000 Speaker 3: for episode suggestions, we announced tour dates, We do all 893 00:53:17,080 --> 00:53:18,960 Speaker 3: that stuff over there that we don't always do. 894 00:53:18,920 --> 00:53:19,480 Speaker 2: On the podcast. 895 00:53:19,560 --> 00:53:21,160 Speaker 4: Whoopsies, that's totally my fault. 896 00:53:21,239 --> 00:53:23,279 Speaker 3: But follow me over there so that you can be 897 00:53:23,320 --> 00:53:26,120 Speaker 3: engaged with the community. Make sure that you are following 898 00:53:26,160 --> 00:53:28,520 Speaker 3: us as well on Spotify or Apple podcasts wherever you 899 00:53:28,560 --> 00:53:31,040 Speaker 3: are listening, and give us a five star review if 900 00:53:31,040 --> 00:53:34,279 Speaker 3: this episode resonated with you, if you feel called to 901 00:53:34,360 --> 00:53:36,440 Speaker 3: do so, make sure you take care of yourself. I 902 00:53:36,480 --> 00:53:38,960 Speaker 3: know this episode was rather heavy. It was a bit 903 00:53:38,960 --> 00:53:41,399 Speaker 3: of an info dump. It definitely was perhaps a little 904 00:53:41,400 --> 00:53:44,880 Speaker 3: bit retriggering if some of these concepts are ones that 905 00:53:45,360 --> 00:53:47,839 Speaker 3: you know, you don't always talk about and which are 906 00:53:47,920 --> 00:53:50,000 Speaker 3: very heavy for you, so I'm going to leave some 907 00:53:50,040 --> 00:53:54,080 Speaker 3: resources below as well, but please again be kind to yourself, 908 00:53:54,120 --> 00:53:56,880 Speaker 3: be gentle, take care of yourself, and we will of 909 00:53:56,920 --> 00:53:58,959 Speaker 3: course talk very very soon. 910 00:53:59,080 --> 00:53:59,640 Speaker 2: See you later,