S4 E:2 The Violence/Gun Epidemic hits RI, again.

Another mass shooting occurs in RI while our political system continues to dole out empty thoughts a prayers.  I intentionally did not use the name of the shooter in the podcast, because I believe in taking away the identity of people who engage in atrocities.  As a society we have made murder porn and crime shows our bread and butter.  This is part of the PTSD epidemic.  

Since we recorded this episode the United States of Israel launched an attack on Iran.   Whether this is about cash, a distraction from the Epstein Files, or just out of the leadership sociopathy, this is unacceptable.  Please do whatever you can to help stop the spread of fascism.

• local shooting details, personal proximity, and community impact
• media focus on identity vs root causes of violence
• limits of mental health access and high deductibles
• importance of early trauma intervention and psychological first aid
• practical training: Stop the Bleed, tourniquets, barricading
• preparedness for leaders and communities, kit recommendations
• advocacy, burnout cycles, and the ripple effect of small actions
• Epstein files, power, and accountability questions
• belief, evil, and the stories that shape behavior
• mini-series teaser: red flags in therapy and weaponization of care
• grounding strategies: breath, senses, scope control
• closing with small comforts and caring for pets

Feel free to email me: matt@unitedstatesofptsd.com
I’m going to include Stop the Bleed links and info on the Rhode Island shooting
High temperature susceptibility of sexual reproduction in crop plants | Journal of Experimental Botany | Oxford Academic

Operation Stop The Bleed - RI
Stop The Bleed Class | City of Phoenix

Rhode Island ice skating rink shooting: Suspect killed ex-wife and son, injured 3 - ABC News

Genesis Jones and Dominic Jackson: Police ID victims, recover 50+ shell casings in Richmond mass shooting

Stop the Bleed – Connecticut Chapter of the American College of Surgeons

Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):
https://uppbeat.io/t/hartzmann/no-time-to-die
License code: S4CEQWLNQXVZUMU4

Artwork and logo design by Misty Rae. 


Special thanks to Joanna Roux for editing help.
Special thanks to the listeners and all the wonderful people who helped listen to and provide feedback on the episode's prerelease.  


Please feel free to email Matt topics or suggestions, questions or feedback.
Matt@unitedstatesofPTSD.com 

Transcript

Quick Check-In And Weather Whiplash

SPEAKER_00 0:14

This podcast is not intended to serve as therapeutic advice or to replace any professional treatment. These opinions belong to us and do not reflect any company or agency.

SPEAKER_04 0:27

Hello, everybody, and welcome back to another episode of the United States of PTSD. Hello, Erica. How are you today?

SPEAKER_05 0:36

It is a Sunday where we're going into a week in Arizona where it's going to be 90 degrees next week.

SPEAKER_03 0:43

Okay, rub it in, rub it in.

SPEAKER_05 0:46

But it is, but it is February.

SPEAKER_03 0:50

I know. Oh my god. We are literally at the polar opposite.

SPEAKER_04 0:55

We are about to have a blizzard that they're comparing to the winter of 78 over here. Uh, and you are having 90 degree weather.

SPEAKER_05 1:05

Inappropriately. Inappropriately. You want to know something, Matthew? There is a point of heat where pollen can like plants cannot reproduce.

SPEAKER_04 1:20

Because it's so hot.

SPEAKER_05 1:23

Yes. I just I'm just going to put that out there. Use that. Use that. Continue to look that up. And any person in your life who thinks that what is going on with the administration and environmental protections is a good idea, that you can just go ahead and shove that fact into their face.

SPEAKER_04 1:42

I think at this point, facts don't work on that, the those people. I mean, let's be honest, right? Like, I mean, we can we can show them pictures of people raping children and they're still, oh, you know, they still don't think it's a big deal.

SPEAKER_05 1:59

So oh yes, we're going to circle back to that.

SPEAKER_04 2:02

They are well beyond. At this point, they are completely uh like I have no hope for them. Zero.

SPEAKER_05 2:11

Okay. So at some point we'll have to have a conversation about what you what what do you do with lost causes?

SPEAKER_04 2:19

We're gonna we I certainly think we're gonna have to.

SPEAKER_02 2:23

Yeah.

Rhode Island Rink Shooting Hits Home

SPEAKER_04 2:23

We are gonna be for the listeners, we're gonna be a little shorter today because as I just said, we are expecting a really bad storm. Um, they're predicting at minimum for my area about two feet of snow with winds equivalent to a category two hurricane. And I, you know, obviously I don't know that we're gonna have power and electricity uh and all that stuff. So we're gonna try to be a little brief, but we have a couple of topics we wanted to talk about. As you know, I'm in Rhode Island, Erica's in Arizona, so when things happen in our in our areas, we like to talk about them. We had we talked a while ago, right before the break, about the Brown shooting that happened at Brown University. And just the other day, there was another mass shooting at a hockey ring in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. This was a high school event. There was a couple of different high school teams at it. And interestingly enough, one of the high school teams was from North Smithfield, which is the um town next to where my office is. So I've already had some people coming in with connections to the family. And I went to a comedy show with a friend the other day, and she actually had pictures of the shooter on her phone because at some point in time that that shooter was trying to go on a date with my friend.

SPEAKER_02 3:44

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_04 3:45

So that that's wild when it's that personal when you start to see it come come that close. What's interesting, there's a couple things that are interesting about this particular case, is the shooter identified as trans, but and also a very avid MAGA supporter.

SPEAKER_05 4:05

So there's a that didn't quite come up with some of the articles that I was reading. Because as you as you told, I was like, ah, yes. Yes, and in so many of those articles, they focus very much on the fact that this person was trans and did not.

SPEAKER_04 4:21

They did not mention that part, mentioned the political affiliation. I I believe that there was even some tattoos that were um very MAGA, as I should say. Um where I was going with that, there's a couple things. One is how quickly it becomes about the shooter being trans, like this is the whole focus. I had somebody come in and say, Oh, can you believe it? A trans trans person, they did the shooting, they're all nuts. And I was like, Yes, because 99.999% of mass shooters are straight white men. But yeah, let's focus on the outlier that happened and we could talk about how that's the cause of all of it because that's ridiculous. And they spin that narrative, of course, to get us to focus on a community where there is not actually a problem with mass shootings, it's just another way to disenfranchise the community.

SPEAKER_05 5:10

And also helps undermine the fact that we have a problem in this country. And so rather than address the things that result in this type of problem potentially happening, um, number one, like uh absence of like saying gun regulations in general, uh, two, absence of gun education across the board as a population, absence of mental health care support, and a bunch of number of other things that result in violence.

Media Narratives And Misplaced Blame

SPEAKER_04 5:54

Yeah, and the the governor, interestingly enough, said that they were going to create all of this uh mental health support for the victims in Rhode Island. If you don't live in Rhode Island, one of the things I will say is that we slash mental health services and we've been slashing them for decades. And there are no real great mental health services. We barely have primary care doctors in Rhode Island because the reimbursements are so bad, and the insurance companies are horrible about getting, you know, giving people services. I mean, the large majority of my clients at the beginning of the year have incredibly high deductibles. I mean, we're talking like five to ten thousand dollars of deductibles that they have to pay in mental health services, which usually doesn't go anywhere until about, they don't meet that deductible until about November. So then they meet the deductible, they have a month of kind of free, I shouldn't say free because they've paid exorbitant amounts for it, but there's a month where the insurance company picks up the bill for it, and then in January they have their copies all over again. So it's it is cost prohibitive in many places. I know in Rhode Island it's incredibly cost prohibitive, and there's a shortage of practitioners because you can just go into Massachusetts or Connecticut or um, you know, into New Hampshire, and you're going to be getting reimbursements rates far higher than you're going to be getting in Rhode Island. It's just, it's a so when they say they're increasing mental health services, I know it's a joke. That's not actually real. But they're they're publicizing it like they're doing this really great thing. I did actually, I spoke to somebody at the school and said that I would certainly offer to do any sort of like counseling services for anybody that needed it. And you know, here's another dilemma, and I'm curious what you think about this, Erica, is that it's not the school's job to obviously they shouldn't have to worry about like gun violence and the mental health of what's happening, especially when it's not in school. So this was like a it was not a school, it was not not a school property, right? So the school offered services, but they were on break, right? So by the time the students could take uh take those services, a couple of days had passed, and we know with trauma the faster you intervene, the better they're gonna do. And again, I'm not blaming the school. I think the school's response was great. It's just one of those things where it's just circumstances. They're on break. We don't have great services to begin with. I feel for those kids, and I don't know how much you read of it, but the the victims were the shooters, ex-wife, her-in-laws, and their son. And they also had a son that was playing hockey on the ice, and they had a daughter that was present. So the daughter did not get shot. Now, I would imagine there was a there was a person who charged the shooter and managed to jam their finger, I guess, on the trigger, and the shooter pulled out a separate gun and shot themselves in the head. But the daughter, I mean, I think about her perspective. So not only did she just see her family, minus her brother, shot in front of her. But the reality is that if that guy didn't intervene, she probably would have been the next target. So she's dealing with two different things. She's dealing with seeing her family be executed and then knowing that she survived it. I can't imagine the intense level of trauma she's gonna have for the rest of her life.

The Mirage Of Mental Health Support

SPEAKER_05 9:36

I take this moment to like we see that uh level of experiences in in many places in the world. Right. Not just here and like when it hits here. In this moment, so like I actually a couple of weeks ago I did a stop the bleed and um course uh that was also about um active shooter training. And I think that's really important for like for us as citizens, and it's also something that can help you feel like in control of that. Um and like to understand that some people we this type of stuff changed changes people's lives completely, obviously, right? And we see so many people like from Sandy Hook, or so many people who have have family members who have been um killed by gun violence move into advocacy around that to try and um like find some sort of um I don't I don't know what word to use it, like some sort of peace, like a little bit of tranquility or grounding by trying to do something to prevent the thing that happened to you.

SPEAKER_04 11:30

There's therapeutic value in finding purpose or meaning out of something that is a tragedy. And that's a great example. If you then go into advocacy or trying to create change, you have a purpose and a and a mission to help prevent it from happening again. That's a that's a healthy response to trauma. What the the trap for a lot of people is, is that is also assuming that the changes that people are advocating for are within a system that would work. So it can create a sense of futility when somebody then goes in with passion and the desire to make changes, only to realize that they're not going to make those changes. And it has nothing to do with them or their ability to advocate.

SPEAKER_05 12:25

Um yeah, I that is something that I see in organizing work where you have cycles of people who like will burn out, like you have to take breaks. Um, and I think especially from um, you know, things like the genocide is ongoing, right? Like the these things are um existential questions, right? Existential questions for for individuals, for societies, for groups of people. I I have no there's like no good answers on this because futility is, I guess, like from the Buddhist perspective, so you can say futility is part of the human existence, right? Um, and so uh in in some of these questions, like when I've like navigated things um that feel very futile, um you have to it's like well, you have two choices. Like I one way is potentially an oversimplic simplification is you can take a break or you can keep on going, or you can change your strategy. Right. And even if the systems aren't like our political systems and how effective they are, that's that is one one prong of movement work. And so being in the stop the bleed class and the active shooter response course, it was taught by street medics, you know.

SPEAKER_04 14:03

Um and um Erica, is that a do you have to pay for that or is that what this one was sliding scale donation, right?

Trauma On The Ice And Immediate Care

SPEAKER_05 14:14

So it was offered free to the community. I chose to donate because um I have the the privilege of having, you know, being a uh a doctor, uh, I'm you know paid at a level and I have a simple enough rest of my life. That's where I put my money, right? To community organizings that are providing these kind of things um for community. And in that, you learn about tourniquet placement, you learn about how to um deal with different types of wounds in order to try and keep someone alive, you learn about different methods of trying to barricade or trying to respond to or trying to, you know, go at like that person who intervened, right? Um, we start by having to make decisions to prepare ourselves, right? That's another thing is something like involve, like, you know, as with with my work, I have to be mentally prepared to deal with crises. So, you know, from their animals, right? But there are similar things. I have codes all the time. I have people run into the hospital with their companions and their arms. And there are things that you can do and there are things that you cannot. And I think that um it is harder to deal, like for certain people being prepared or starting to ask yourself questions. What would I do in that situation? And getting some training can be really helpful because some of this you have to train your body to respond. Right. And you have to be prepared to respond, just like learning how to hold space for someone in that moment and understanding that words don't have to happen. Right. You can just sit with someone and say, breathe with me. And first get them to regulate their breathing. And and then, you know, because these things, there's no way to really be fully prepared. But there are things like you said, like the sooner that an intervention can be made to support someone through trauma, to name the severity of the trauma, to let them know that it is that that nothing is it is not okay, but and there is care that can support them around it, and they're not alone, and those community bonds can be what get us through. And so that's you know, these cycles of things. And humans have been experiencing horrific violence for thousands of years, and we have that in, we have the ability to support each other through it, um, and try and find ways to continue to storytell and have lessons to it. And sometimes the systems are can gonna continue to be futile. Um, but it doesn't mean that we can't do something in our communities to make a difference.

SPEAKER_04 17:22

Thank you. It's a great resource. I looked it up and there's a website for that, just the organization. I'll put that in the notes. There's also I I'm gonna include the Arizona chapter, the Rhode Island chapter, and the Connecticut chapter because that's where most of our listeners come from. If people want to reach out, it has contact information. I never thought that we'd be in a place where we would even have to do that, to be honest with you. It's good to know. It's it's certainly something that we could benefit from, right? It's not gonna hurt anybody from taking it.

SPEAKER_05 18:03

If you have like a youth center or a faith, so the trainers that I they do trainings for churches, they do trainings for schools, they do training for, you know, all types of groups. And and I think it's also important as a leader, if you have staff, um, to also understand that there's there are multiple train, like you as a leader should review multiple trainings, multiple theories, because there are, at least in this training and the things that I learned is there are there are things that people have taught historically, like like hide, right? And not like barricade, not like taking action. And and it has actually resulted in more people losing their lives by by kind of like not doing some active things, um, because it it takes time for police to get there, it takes time for emergency responders to get there. If you were a person at an event like that and you carry a tourniquet on you, you can save a life. You can save a life. That's very true. So um, I think North American Rescue has um uh some of the most recommended tourniquets, buying them directly from that. Um, and also like getting trained how to use it is important.

Taking Action: Stop The Bleed Training

SPEAKER_04 19:34

That's very important. There's and just for the listeners to know that as of January 26th, there's been six, so this is doesn't include the month of February, there were 16 mass shootings in the United States already. So we can imagine it's probably double that by now, and not even two days after the Rhode Island shooting, there was a shoot the mass shooting in Virginia, where two people were dead, seven people were wounded. It's just what we know, unfortunately, and this is not to discourage people from doing advocacy work. I love how much advocacy you do, Erica, and and how much other people do, is that it we know that the response is gonna be thoughts and prayers.

SPEAKER_05 20:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 20:18

Right? Like we know that that's what it's gonna be until something happens, and that's why I think the people are starting to feel futile. So if we go to the um the Epstein files, which is what we were also gonna talk about. And there are plenty of people doing huge deep dives into this. So I mean, we're not gonna do like deep dives into it. I have been reading, and it's an overwhelming process. I mean, the first I think, like I don't even know, was like hundreds of things I looked at were just pictures. So I knew some of the pictures were things like furnaces and boilers. So I mean, it was just very tedious before you start to get to the actual emails and documents. Um, but you know, we see there's clearly people implicated in it. And I'm just saying, as based on what's in the files, of course, we're not going to say anybody's guilty because we, you know, we can't do that. But we could talk allegedly, right? We could talk about like what I've read and what I've seen. Um, I can't tell you how many pictures I've seen of Bill Clinton in pools with victims. I mean, that's uh, you know, that's pretty concerning, and a lot of the celebrities that are in there, it's concerning, um, obviously. What I think is adds to that futility is we see other countries arresting people that are in the Epstein files. And you know, Prince Andrew arrested, the former the former prime minister of Norway arrested. Like, these people are being taken, um they're being held accountable. And here we elect them as president, we we put them in the Senate, we put them in the Congress, we put them in Hollywood, and none of them are being arrested. Even, I mean, there's documents.

SPEAKER_05 22:00

I d I don't know if you saw there was one email about um Epstein alluding to them hunting um black people like as sport like hunting them I mean that was one of the things that was in there um lots of allegations of raping minors lots of them it's pretty concerning so um I have a friend she and I are gonna talk about this this is the friend that we talked about uh potential uh another podcast called Mistakes Were Made.

SPEAKER_04 22:42

Oh I did by the way I did listen to it cannot happen it can't it can happen here. I listened to it, I liked it, so I'm gonna keep listening to it.

Preparedness, Presence, And Holding Space

SPEAKER_05 22:48

Good. Um I'm glad I have a couple other recommendations that will um but so uh she was talking about she's like you know bonombo monkeys um that you know have all this like playful etc like nonviolent uh species in general um but the one time that they do engage in violence is they will the the females will kill a male that engages in violence towards the young and she's like we should be more like bonobos now that I'm I'm not uh condoning that but it's more like the discussion of why when as a society long term there is never accountability why we end up with cycles and people in leadership who feel so untouchable that they decide that those inclinations are things that they are entitled to yeah it's that moral depravity yeah I mean in general like you know I I experienced incidences as a child and as a young um woman and um you know as as a child as an adolescent as a young woman um still you know like I'm at the point where I like you recognize the level of of gender based violence um and violence towards the young um in in my opinion it's just it's always there it's always been there um and there's like a lack of action you know like I know stories within my own family of young women experiencing sexualized violence and even and very young and you know no one wants to talk about it it's like the taboo right and the taboo-ness of it makes it possible for it to happen um and it happens you know not not just in the the halls of power but also in other places it's just that here what it is it is um an economic system you know they they basically use the bodies of young children and young women as as an economy as bartering as as as sexual enslavement enslavement and that it's like you you realize that we are not very evolved from other parts of history I mean there is a reason why history repeats itself people I think the collective memory is about 75 years and people forget that when power when people are given power it's it's it's a weird I don't because I don't know how to fix it.

SPEAKER_04 26:16

I think there the real solution would be that nobody's ever in power right because power has historically corrupted pretty much everybody that has it but that's also not realistic either right to like have a system where like there's nobody in charge right because that just well no billionaires right right no billion would be one thing right like you're not allowed to accrue and hoard that type of wealth. But it doesn't but it doesn't start out that way right so it starts out with people having a little bit of power and then that power just keeps growing and people don't keep them in check. And you know here we are in that that system all over again where even though the large majority of the country does not want to go to war with Iran and is sick of all the shit that Israel's doing and is really just kind of over it, the our people who are making the laws the people who are supposed to represent us have made it very clear they don't care what we think and there's a whole not lot there's not a lot being done about it. I had to chuckle I don't know if you saw this or not but the Israeli bobsled team was disqualified for cheating yeah gotta love that.

SPEAKER_05 27:27

I I I really my favorite thing though was the commentary uh of the announcer uh as they as he talks it I believe he was Swiss Swiss commentary talked over the Israeli bobsled team route where he basically talked about the genocide awesome how it was interesting how these people were able to per for like to compete even though Russia was not and being like hmm interesting yeah you know like this is not this is there's there seems to be some exceptionalism happening here but yeah yeah I would say I mean I I don't know how anybody can just like anybody could justify or support the government of Israel right now.

SPEAKER_04 28:11

It's it's it goes back to that I think lost cause right it's so blatant it's so apparent.

Futility, Advocacy, And Burnout Cycles

SPEAKER_05 28:17

I have to take a look to understand um well yeah I mean it's spectacle right so in some ways what so so this is this is something that I reflect on because we're all like we're just individuals so we as individuals right um listeners here it's easy to think that there's not like individual power or that things are helpless or hopeless but change or big change can't can take long amounts of time it may be intergenerational and this is what I try and think about because the even in systems of enslavement right this country had hundreds of years of chattel slavery and enslavement and there was still like um opposition and resistance at over time over generations like there are many abolitionist allies who were killed and and you know sentenced for their commitment and belief that slavery was wrong and needed to end um and so like like thinking just even if you are just thinking about how do we strategically push how do we strategically push locally right because if you can change things in your local community that is an area that you have created that will allow further change to grow and it's just about skill set like skill shares and the thing is that the the gun economy right the weapons manufacturing economy this is it is so huge and trying to figure out a way to deconstruct an economy of power based off of violence and imprisonment is incredibly challenging but there could be ways I mean you just you have to try or you can try right you can you can think about trying different things and I think that education is important using our voices are important and you know um there are many different ways that you can respond to trying to make sure that you can keep on impacting and supporting your community through these things that you might feel powerless overall to make big change in.

SPEAKER_04 31:15

That's a great point individual I mean individual change does happen. I mean certainly I became aware of all the stuff that was going on because somebody talked to me about it. So I mean it certainly is it it adds that element to it and I think what you said is so important about how long it takes to make change. That's why it feels futile I think for a lot of people because it does it takes sometimes years decades for that change to happen. It's it's hard to sit back and not want immediate change when you're seeing all of these things all of these atrocities happen all of these moral human rights violations when you're when people I think who understand history and know what's happening and you're watching concentration camps be built we're watching the Gestapo kidnap people off the streets.

Epstein Files, Power, And Accountability

SPEAKER_05 32:02

We are watching the slaughter of people in other countries that our taxes are paying for we're watching fascist governments controlling the world we like we know where it's heading you know but it's I think a lot of people are still they've got the blinders on yeah I so I think about when I was uh leaving not one more vet one of the last things that I did uh before I resigned from the board um was I gave a uh speech an anti-war speech at their gala and and and part of what I was conveying is uh through the allegory of water right we think about the drops right a a single drop of water and then all the drops together become an ocean you know all the drops of water come become a bucket become a puddle become a lake become an ocean right in addition each drop that falls into the body of water ripples outward right and that even though you might feel like you are just a single drop you might cause ripples or you by your actions by the conversations you have by the people you impact cause ripples and you may never know how that changes things. And it's kind of this except it's a it's a different form of ego death I find I call it because our desire to see that change and that change done by our own hands or in our lifetime it is a natural response to want to see that. And I feel like it's a component of the ego and sometimes you have to accept and release and breathe to say that you might not be able to see it. You might not have get to have that knowledge you just have to act in good faith and trust and also believe in yourself that you have an impact when you take action but the most important is taking steps and practicing taking action you know and sometimes there are some days where all you can do is just sit and breathe and that's okay because each day you sit and breathe you are able to then maybe the next day or maybe when you can do something that might ripple outward Erica I don't think I've ever I actually don't think I know this about you and I'm curious and I know you've talked a lot about Buddhism what are your thoughts on because there's been a lot of allegations of demon worship in the Epstein files and you know blood rituals and them eating cannibalism like eating babies and blood human sacrifices and all of that stuff what are your beliefs about the if that is if there is like a negative entity like do you believe that there is a like a negative um energy or like higher being or something that is influencing that I have thought a lot about that I mean so I at like I am I was it's just can't I can't being like raised in the milieu of it and steeped in it I there is a component of reincarnation um or cycles of because there's cycles of reincarnation and and and there's also this concept of of cycles of destruction right that happen. And I think that um one of the challenges sometimes with the karmic thing is this this thing that oh when the bad things happen like it must have been deserved right so that's that is the the the dark side of that analogy right that the either there was something done or or a debt that had to be paid from a previous life. Like there's some there are some things that deserve questioning and unpacking um I don't know like it's it's things that I hope I hope that there is accountability in some time or space or realm that I may or may not understand. That is something that I hope for and that's the thing about like not knowing um but like you know like as I also studied like the nervous system that kind of thing as a scientist and we are a lot like you know life uh we could probably have a whole nother like philosophical argument about that looking at cell like what does it mean right as collections of cells electrical stimuli protein signaling that comes together. I mean we've been as humanity reflecting on the root of consciousness and spirit since we were able to you know transmit through time that we were having those thoughts right um so yeah like what does it mean for evil to exist like absolutely those things those those those are demonstratively evil things and these are things that only humans seem to do in like at that scale right that level of creativity oh no I but I meant do you like do you think there is like an like a a higher like any sort of like higher being like a demon or so like do you think that that's a real thing I mean it's almost like we've created it in reality by acting for it. So whether or not the being exists or not or whether we've created or we've created it out of our own methods right and that's what this like humanity creates their own experience by the stories that they tell right and so whether or not the being actually exists is not necessarily for like for me logically speaking as far as my brain it doesn't matter as much because the human beings did actions in a way to make that being be part of reality by choosing to do choosing to do those behaviors.

SPEAKER_04 38:27

I think the the hidden positive in that then is that it also works in the inverse so if you can create like if if if that's true like if all of this negative energy by destructive forces creates this entity for evil then the opposite would be true. So that if people put a lot into good then that would also be created or if justice right or right or if there was like an evil uh you know uh entity then there would be a good entity right so like I mean there I guess on both sides it gives a little bit of hope.

SPEAKER_05 39:02

Well I mean I think that we have those same stories about human beings fighting against evil things right both on the planet as like actual people who are doing evil things and in this other concept of uh forms of justice and retribution in which many theologies there is like some sort of component of justice right um done by either gods god um angels you know uh in these different roles and and then also sometimes people right and so when you think about that when you think even in these storylines there are people taking actions in order to have that embodiment of justice and sometimes the gods and you know um I should say if they're angels angels will participate right but in those storylines those individual those human beings are are there to witness right but who's to say about their presence itself is a ponent a component of the taking of action that's very true.

SPEAKER_04 40:31

So that that's the um how should I say that well I don't even know what this would be called theological analysis that sounds good theological anthropological anthropological analysis that's a that sounds good no I'm just a scientist and a philosopher I guess like running my mouth well I mean I guess we're all philosophers at the end of the day right we we all are apologies to the professionally trained philosophers who may or may not be offended I do not mean to diminish your work oh so that that leads us to um the other thing and I'm sure we'll talk more about the stuff that surfaces as as it that comes up um Erica and I have decided this actually it was Erica's uh um idea I thought it was a great idea to do a mini series on when therapy goes bad or things to look for if you're trying to get into therapy yourself and uh maybe like red flags or warning signs about people you're working with or um I know Erica ethical uses of your own lessons through therapy too. Which is true. And you had talked about the weaponization of therapy too which I thought is a which I thought is a really great topic. So this is something that I think if you're listening to the show and you've been listening to the show for a while and you want us to answer questions about that, that would be a great time to email me and ask if you've ever had therapy or if you've been thinking about therapy and you've had some questions about it or you've had maybe bad experiences or good experiences and you want us to talk about that, that would be a great way um to get some of your questions answered. So feel free to email me it's matt at united states of ptsd dot com. I'm also gonna put the links to stop the bleed um which is what Erica you told us about I think that's a great resource and a link to the uh the shooting that happened in Rhode Island.

SPEAKER_05 42:19

Um and then hopefully everybody will wish me luck that I won't become stuck in a a big ice iceberg over the ice palace while while Erica's getting a nice tan um now why I'm like fretting about the friggin' living in Haiti um anything else you want to add Erica before we wrap up um no I I think that um you know as there's so much going on right um and I think that there are many people talking about how overwhelming that is um and I think perhaps something that can be helpful with it for I know that this is helpful for me. So if it can be helpful for anyone who's listening um or helpful for anyone that you know um as far as continuing to like deep breathe, reconnect to your present situation and where you are through engaging your senses. This is a common therapeutic practice as far as like re-regulating your nervous system. And also I think that thinking about scope, you know, when you're thinking about the big world to bring yourself back to where you are and give yourself permission to give yourself some time to regroup before thinking about the world again at the scope. You can give yourself permission to bring things down to a smaller scale focus on your smaller scale until you're ready to You know, think about the larger scales again. And each time that that happens, it's just when you notice that you might be doing what I call spiraling for myself. It's like when I notice I'm spiraling, that is the decision that I make for myself. Is you know, sometimes I decide that I'm gonna let myself spiral for a little bit. And sometimes I know that I need to, you know, also take care of my body and and then I try and come back to the local level.

SPEAKER_04 44:30

That's great in terms of grounding and breathing is so important. And the other thing that could really help is if you have a pet and you want to cuddle the pet. By the way, my exactly by the way, my cat.

SPEAKER_05 44:44

My whole life purpose for supporting that bond.

SPEAKER_04 44:47

My cat's back at the greenhouse, by the way.

SPEAKER_05 44:53

On all your creatures.

SPEAKER_04 44:55

Interesting, fun thing I found out last night. So the cat that snuggles with me every night, she is obsessed with this piece of string. I think this is a good story to end on. Like obsessed with it. She has a hundred toys in the house, but it's this little string, it's like this big, and it's like a nylon string. She walks around with it in the house in her mouth all day long. Well, she plays fetch with it, right? So, like last night, she was playing fetch while I was trying to sleep for a good 45 minutes. She just kept dropping it off and throwing it, dropping it off, throwing it. So then I said, because she's not the first cat I've had that played fetch. So I looked it up to see if it's common for cats to play fetch, because I've heard about it a lot.

Evil, Belief, And The Stories We Tell

SPEAKER_03 45:35

Well, in my debate, this is just my debate why cats are better than dogs, it's because it said that cats are like they train themselves to play fetch. Like it's not because people are training them. So I was like, just another part why cats are superior.

SPEAKER_05 45:55

Now, I I don't necessarily uh express my preference openly to my clients. I definitely am equally dedicated to any species that I see, but I do have a very, very special affection for cats.

SPEAKER_03 46:13

I mean, they're they're so smart. I mean they self- they self-domesticated. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 46:18

Yeah. They're they are absolutely tremendous. There are so many things that cats can do. They're they are incredible.

SPEAKER_03 46:24

So cuddle your cuddle your cuddle your creatures. That's the that's that's the message. All right, thank you, Ericas.

SPEAKER_05 46:30

All right, take care. Stay warm.

SPEAKER_03 46:56

This is just a reminder that no part of this podcast can be duplicated or copied without written consent from either myself or Wendy. Thank you again.