Episode 21: Trauma Explained: How It Shapes Your Mind, Body, Relationships, and Healing

Trauma is a word we hear often, but what does it actually mean?

In this episode of A Journey to Whole Woman Health, Dr. Jamie Erwin and Dr. Mary Kathryn Nader explore how trauma affects the brain, nervous system, body, relationships, and sense of self.

Together they discuss:

• What qualifies as trauma
• Acute vs. chronic trauma
• Childhood trauma and relational trauma
• Birth trauma, miscarriage, and medical trauma
• PTSD and complex PTSD
• Why certain sounds, smells, or situations trigger strong reactions
• How trauma impacts anxiety, sleep, hormones, and relationships
• EMDR therapy and other evidence-based treatments
• Practical tools for healing and nervous system regulation

Whether your trauma was loud and obvious or quiet and invisible, healing is possible.

You are not broken.
You are not alone.
And your story is not over.

Subscribe for weekly conversations where science, mental health, and faith come together to educate, empower, and encourage women in every season of life.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome to A Journey to Hold Woman Health, the podcast where science, mental health, and faith come together to educate, empower, and encourage women in every season of life. We are your hosts, Dr. Jamie Irwin, board-certified OBGYN, and Dr.

SPEAKER_00 0:17

Mary Catherine Nader, licensed professional counselor with a PhD in counselor education and supervision. Jamie and I have been friends for over 30 years.

SPEAKER_01 0:26

Each week we explore the intersection of body, mind, and soul, bringing you evidence-based medicine, meaningful conversations about mental health, and stories that remind us we're not alone on the journey. So take a deep breath, settle in, and let's begin the journey.

SPEAKER_00 0:43

Okay, welcome back. Another Wednesday in pink. Today we're talking about something that touches nearly every person listening, whether we realize it or not, and that is trauma.

SPEAKER_01 0:55

Trauma is a word we hear often, but many women still wonder what actually counts as trauma? Why do some experiences stay in our bodies for years? Why do certain smells, sounds, conversations, or relationships trigger reactions we can't fully explain?

SPEAKER_00 1:12

So today we're unpacking the different types of trauma from acute trauma and chronic stress to childhood trauma, relational trauma, medical trauma, grief, betrayal, generational patterns. We're gonna talk about what trauma does to the brain and nervous system, how it can affect us physically, how it can affect our sleep, our hormones, anxiety, relationships, even the way we see ourselves and the world.

SPEAKER_01 1:38

And most importantly, we're gonna talk about hope. Healing is possible. We'll discuss evidence-based treatments, practical tools, therapy approaches, nervous system regulation, and how women can begin to move from surviving to truly healing. This is a powerful conversation. We're so glad you're here with us. And let's get started. Dr. Nader, trauma, lead the way.

SPEAKER_00 2:03

Trauma. Okay, so trauma is it's such a big topic right now, and the definition of trauma can vary kind of by what approach and what perspective that you are looking at. But really, um, trauma is a time, I like to think of it as trauma as just being a time where you feel overwhelmed or helpless in a situation. So it could be a physical trauma, it could be an emotional trauma, it could be mental, it could be sexual, um, it could be witnessing a traumatic event, but a time that you feel helpless, you feel maybe fear or overwhelmed. And really what I see with my patients is that it changes the way you see yourself and it changes the way you see the world. So maybe the thought of like, I'm no longer, I'm not safe, or the world is in a safe place, um, or I'm a failure. Um people don't like me in general. Um, just kind of this change of perspective.

SPEAKER_01 3:09

Of course, I'm immediately tapping in and thinking about my patients. Sure. As an OBGYN, my patients come to me perhaps, you know, having already experienced trauma, or especially in the obstetric population, you know, birth, labor, and delivery. I I mean, that's immediately what I go to. So whether it's an emergency, um, I could see how they feel like my body failed me, or I I didn't do it right. I, you know, had to have a C-section, or I'm broken in some way, or even, you know, with patients who experience early pregnancy loss.

SPEAKER_00 3:56

I'm responsible. It's my fault.

SPEAKER_01 3:59

So it it changes how they uh see themselves. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 4:05

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 4:05

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 4:06

Yeah. So um, yeah, so trauma can have major effects um on us, you know, physically, mentally, emotionally, in our relationships, it can play out. We just had the um organ organizers on in the last two episodes, you know, and they talked a little bit about how trauma can affect even the stuff that we choose to keep around us, how how messy our house is or or well kept. Um, it can have so many different effects on us.

SPEAKER_01 4:36

What do you think is the most profound way that trauma affects us?

SPEAKER_00 4:40

I think I think in the view of ourselves, because the way we view ourselves or the world um can play out in every realm of our life. How we treat our body, how we interact with people, how we do our job, how we parent, um, how we live our lives. Um, because now we have taken this, I think of it as on the movie, like on the movie Inside Out, where she has that experience, that memory, and then she creates this belief about herself from that experience. And that's what happens with trauma. We have this event, and then from that event, we create this belief about who we are. Wow. Um, and that can then translate to so many other places um in our lives.

SPEAKER_01 5:28

That's powerful. I do love those movies. They're they're so good, they're so clever, um, so poignant, just really some hard truths that um get portrayed. So if you haven't seen Inside Out one or two of those. Oh my gosh, they're so good. Yeah. Okay. So um, what else do you have for us? Different types of trauma.

SPEAKER_00 5:51

Yeah, there's different kinds of trauma. Um, so the first would be an acute trauma. So something that happens, it's a single incident, it's a one-time thing. This could be like a car wreck.

SPEAKER_02 6:01

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 6:01

Um, just a traumatic event happens one time. Another kind would be chronic. So this could be repeated and um prolonged. So it could be an abuse that happens throughout childhood, it could be bullying at school, it could be um anything that just happens repeatedly over a period of time. And then there's secondary or vicarious trauma. So that's witnessing. So even in the childbirth, you know, maybe for the for the mom, it's an acute, you know, moment of this traumatic thing. Then maybe for the partner who's there with her, it's vicarious trauma. That's traumatic to watch this happen to the person that you love.

SPEAKER_01 6:44

So true.

SPEAKER_00 6:45

Um, and even for the people medical professionals in the room, it's traumatic. Yeah. Um, or it can be. Um, and then there's also PTSD or complex PTSD. So that's from repeated trauma. It could be from multiple different kinds of trauma, and that typically results in some shame and some really strong beliefs about who you are as being maybe I don't matter, um, I'm not worthy or I don't have value, that kind of a thing.

SPEAKER_01 7:15

And that's post-traumatic stress disorder.

SPEAKER_00 7:18

And then complex post-traumatic stress disorder would be that, but just something that's happened in multiple ways for a long time. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 7:26

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00 7:27

Yeah. So let me give an example of how trauma can affect us, is just um thinking from my own experience with just the acute trauma. Um, so I had I was in a car wreck. Uh, I don't think I've shared this story on the podcast, but was driving home from um on on the freeway in the left-hand lane, it comes to a complete stop. So I'm literally parked behind a car on the freeway, nobody behind me, and I see this white truck flying up over the hill. Doesn't see that we're stopped. Um, I have nowhere to go. I'm literally parked, so I just brace myself for impact. And sure enough, this car runs into the back of me, you know, smushes my car between these two trucks. Thankfully, I obviously I'm okay. I was I was okay. Um, but it was very scary and traumatic and a moment of complete helplessness because I literally thought there is nothing I can do. I see it coming in my rearview mirror, and I literally just ooh tense every muscle and just braced. So um after that, I would be driving, and suddenly I would find myself holding my breath and just really tense. And I literally would say, What am I doing? What is wrong with me? I'm just driving down Main Street or whatever. What is it's going on? And I would look in the rearview mirror and there would be a white truck.

SPEAKER_02 8:49

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_00 8:50

So my eyes had seen that white truck send it straight back to that trauma part of my brain that we talked about with Kate Jennings a few episodes ago.

SPEAKER_01 8:59

That, you know, primitive part of your brain. Yes. Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_00 9:01

And had immediately sent it to my nervous system and said, brace for impact. Stop it. This white truck is about to hit you. So I would literally have to make myself take deep breaths, remind myself in the cognitive part, you millions of white trucks have driven behind you probably in your lifetime, and only one of them has hit you. Yeah. Like take some breaths. But that is what trauma does to us. It sees something because remember, our brain's job is to keep us safe, get us back into bed at night. And so it's always looking for danger. So when we've had a traumatic experience, our brain registers that thing as danger, and it wants to protect us. So when we are dealing with trauma, uh, a lot of time that can lead to anxiety, maybe anxiety about driving, about being in another wreck, um, anxiety about um leaving your house. I mean, it can just continue to grow. And so we have to recognize that cognitively, yes, we can work through it, but we also need to work through processing in the back part of our brain what's going on, what our what our brain is telling ourselves that's giving us that response. And I think often we get frustrated with ourselves when we recognize those things, or even in the people we love, when it's it can be such a quick response that we really aren't cognitively thinking through. It's literally can be a knee-jerk reaction that our body is having to this this trauma that we've experienced before. Yeah, in order to keep us safe. In order to keep us safe. That's our that's our brain's job.

SPEAKER_01 10:37

Yeah. That's incredible. So even before you had figured out that it was a white truck, your brain had sensed it.

SPEAKER_00 10:45

I would literally re recognize I'm holding my breath and I'm like super tense, and I literally would say, What is what am I doing? What is wrong with me? I'd be driving along listening to music, whatever, uh-uh. And then all of a sudden I'm tense and holding my breath.

SPEAKER_01 10:58

And then you registered and processed that, oh, there's the white Yes, right.

SPEAKER_00 11:02

There's a white truck behind me.

SPEAKER_01 11:04

Fascinating.

SPEAKER_00 11:04

Multiple times. Oh my goodness. Yeah, and it would happen that if I was riding in the front seat, this was fun, in the passenger seat, and we got too close to the car in front of us, I'd oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_02 11:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:15

Which is so annoying for everyone that you're with. Um, my husband Joseph loved it.

SPEAKER_01 11:21

Uh so my son does this. Yes, okay. So my son is now 11, but when he was about five, he was in a car wreck, five or six, with the nanny. Yeah. And um the the airbag deployed. Yes. And he is still he has that same reaction. So if I have to break a little more suddenly because a car, you know, is turning into a parking lot or what have you, he's still years later, years later.

SPEAKER_00 11:55

Yes. Oh, yes, it can last. So what do we do? So, okay, so there's different treatments for trauma. So let's talk about those. Um, there are multiple different kinds. Um, what the first one is trauma-focused CBT, and that CBT is cognitive behavioral therapy. A lot of people have heard of cognitive behavioral therapy. It's really addressing the negative thoughts that we have. Is that therapy? It is therapy. It's talk therapy. Okay. Yeah. So um trauma-focused is it is looking at the specific effects of that trauma and trying to address the negative thoughts that we have. Um, this can be a helpful, a helpful form of it. Um it it can't, to me, it can be difficult just because of what we just talked about. I can reason up here, but not always is that the part that's being affected by the trauma. Um, but people can have good um results from that. Another one is somatic therapy, and that's really focusing on your body and releasing that trauma that we're holding in our body, because we know our our body holds on to trauma. Um, the book, The Body Keeps the Score, is a an old classic, but um really great talking about how we hold on to trauma in our bodies. Say more about that.

SPEAKER_01 13:08

Let's let's dig in a little to that. So because somebody could hear that and be like, what does that mean? Where do I hold that? What what are you even talking about?

SPEAKER_00 13:16

So, okay, so from my own personal experience as a therapist, um, I use and and it goes along with this one, um, EMDR. And EMDR is eye movement desensitization and reprocessing, but it's basically using bilateral stimulation to both sides of your brain. So tapping, I like to use tapping um either on knees or on shoulders because I treat women and that gives them full control. But people can use um lights or their fingers for the client to move their eyes back and forth. For kids, it can be jumping back and forth, it can be anything that's one side to the other. You know, we we do this naturally when we're holding a baby, we rock, you know, it's a natural way that we kind of self-suit. Yeah. Okay. So that's what it does, and it allows us to reprocess. And so what I say this about the body is that to me, the goal of trauma therapy is really to feel safe again in our body and to feel safe again in ourselves and in the world around us. So when we're processing um with EMDR or these other um therapies, what we're trying to do is recognize where we feel it in our body. A lot of times when people are describing for me what's what's happened, I will say, Where do you feel that? Tell me where you feel that. And pretty much every time they can tell me, I feel it right here in my shoulders, really tense, like I did, or I can feel it in my chest, it feels really heavy. Or I feel it in my stomach, or my hands feel tingly. I mean, it can be all over the body. Okay. Um and just going with that, okay. So that's where your body is feeling that or holding that, that's where that memory can can be. And then we process through that with the bilateral stimulation and noticing um how they feel and the differences that they experience as as we go through. So it's it's fascinating because you really can see how they relax as they're going through their the processing, how they start to feel that reduce. We do a suds scale of um how strongly does that you feel it on a scale of zero to ten. So we start to with whatever number they're feeling it at and um hopefully work our way down, which is really fascinating um because you you your body really can hold hold on to it.

SPEAKER_01 15:40

Wow. That's awesome. And you've you've had great success with clients.

SPEAKER_00 15:45

Yes, I can't ever guarantee anything, but um it's I I there's not been many people that I haven't that it haven't said it was helpful for them.

SPEAKER_01 15:55

Yeah, mm-hmm. That's fascinating.

SPEAKER_00 15:57

It's really, really neat to see. And I when I first became a therapist, I did not think I wanted to do trauma therapy. Um, but it's actually one of my favorite things because you're able really to s to see how it can help set people free. They're exp the change in their that they physically feel um and how it affects their lives. It's it's pretty amazing. That's powerful. Yeah. Yeah, it is. So those are just some of the ki types of oh, and there's prolonged exposure exposure, prolonged exposure therapy. So there's all different kinds. I I personally use EMDR and and that's typically what people use for PTSD. That's usually a lot of what the VA uses for for vets. Um, and it can be uh a helpful therapy for people. Um and for me, that's what I actually did too for my car wreck. So um going to EMDR therapy was amazing. Like I felt a difference driving home after my first session. It was it was incredible, and it literally was like I think of it as trauma, it's like we create, like we talked about with Inside Out, this this belief about ourselves, or it's like I think of it as a file. We create this file now. I am a failure, or I am unsafe, or I don't matter. And now suddenly anything that might slightly relate to that goes into that file. So the file continues to get bigger and bigger and bigger because we've created this file in our brain. So when we're processing, what we're doing is we're opening that up almost like a junk drawer, shaking this stuff out and saying, Hey, here's this memory. What how I interpreted it was I'm unsafe, or I'm not a good person, or it's my fault. Um, is that really true? Um, and we're kind of re almost like the reorganizing episode, saying, Okay, actually that goes in this file over here of I did the best I can.

SPEAKER_02 17:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:54

You know, I'm human, I make mistakes. Um, I am safe. Now that's over. Because a lot of times when with when we think about trauma, we feel like we're still there. Like me, what my brain was thinking, I'm still here. I'm gonna get hit by this white track when I'm not there anymore. I'm in a totally different situation. So refiling it of that's not happening anymore. I'm okay now. I am safe. So um when we're doing that reprocessing, it's that's how I think of it. Like we're refiling um and making more sense of it. Because if it's untreated, trauma can lead to addictions for sure. We see that a lot with PTSD. Um, it can lead, of course, to anxiety because we're anxious. I mean, for example, maybe you have a panic attack because I think, oh no, that white car's gonna hit me. So then I feel anxious about having a panic attack because I don't want to have that. So it just kind of spirals, like we've talked about with anxiety, how it just continues to grow. Um, and this can be trauma can be the thing that kind of sets that off. Okay, now I don't want to drive anymore. Right. Okay, now I'm not gonna get in the car with anyone. Okay, now I'm not gonna leave my house. I mean, I've seen clients like this. It can just escalate, it just continues to grow um because we just hold on to it um and aren't able to process it. Then it can lead to relationship issues. You know, I loved the example the organizers gave us of the driving in the car but not being able to see out on the road trip. I mean, that's kind of can be what trauma feels like too. It clouds our vision. We're not able to see things clearly um or the people around us. Um and then it affects the people that are around us because we're responding in these knee-jerk ways that maybe aren't even about them. It's about our own stuff, but they don't understand that. You know, our kids don't know that. We're just responding so quickly. Um and so that can affect them as well.

SPEAKER_01 19:46

Wow. I I'd love to talk through maybe um, you know, make it make it closer to home in my field of OBGYN. Yeah. Um and maybe talk through a scenario where um a patient has a traumatic birth per se. Hypothetically, of course. So, you know, one potential complication of childbirth is postpartum hemorrhage.

SPEAKER_00 20:14

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 20:15

So when that happens, a lot of times there's no risk factors identified. It just happens it for no for no particular reason. Let's talk through kind of how a patient, her loved one, me as the doctor, might be affected by that with that sort of traumatic incidence. What do you think?

SPEAKER_00 20:37

So I think that's a great example. So it could be that thought of for the patient, maybe there's I did something wrong, even though they didn't, it's we can still interpret it that way, like there's something wrong with my body, or I failed somehow. The belief can be I'm unsafe, you know, I did everything uh right, it seemed like for my the birth, but but I don't feel safe in my own body. Um, it can even be the thought I'm going to die, you know, which is scary. Um and for the the person, the support person who's there with them, their partner, it can be the same thing of thought of like they're going to die, um, or this is unsafe. I can't help them. I can't help them, a helplessness feeling. Um, so what we would do um for m in EMDR is we would say, okay, when you're talking about that, you know, where do you feel that in your body? And they can typically locate it. What's the belief that you have about yourself when you think about that? Um, we give it a scale on that zero to ten of how strongly they feel it. Sometimes even we think back is there a sometimes it's feels so strongly because there's another instance of this that it's kind of connected to, kind of like that file. Maybe this isn't the first time this file has been c created. Maybe there's been other kinds of medical trauma, or maybe this this um partner has like isn't it? Is an EMT and has seen these things happen, you know, and seen somebody die.

SPEAKER_01 22:04

Or maybe the patient had a hard time getting pregnant, or maybe she had multiple miscarriages. So she feels like her body failed her then and then she finally did have the baby, but then she almost bled to death.

SPEAKER_00 22:16

Yes. Yes. So that file m which could make it even stronger, because it's like, see, I told you, could be already there. I mean, this could be the first time or it could be other times. So we kind of might explore that a little bit. Um and typically if it's been a thought that there's has been there previously, we'll start back there because it's almost like a domino effect of working our way and you gotta start at the beginning towards it. Mm-hmm. If we can, yeah. So um, and then we start processing through. Yeah. Um and then we also try to replace it with a positive belief, like I said, that and now I'm okay, or I did the best I can, it's over, I survived. So um recognizing the belief that we have about our it's not necessarily it's kind of like the anxiety, um, where it's not actually the the trigger, but what we tell ourselves about the trigger. Similar thing here. I mean, it is the trauma, but it's now what we take that we believe about ourselves that we're really addressing because of that trauma.

SPEAKER_02 23:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:16

We're not saying that was okay, I was fine. We're saying no, that was scary. How do we want to think about it?

SPEAKER_01 23:21

Not minimizing it, but reframing it. Um I think with birth trauma in particular, some women can approach pregnancy as, well, my body was made for this. This is a natural process.

SPEAKER_00 23:39

Kind of like breastfeeding.

SPEAKER_01 23:40

Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Which turns you.

SPEAKER_00 23:43

You try to do it and you're like, what in the world? Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:46

Exactly. You just think it just happens, right? But you know, it it just doesn't hold up because in fact, our bodies are falling apart all the time, right? We're aging, things like cancer happen, things break down, heart attacks happen, strokes happen. Um, you know, no, your body is actually trying to kill you, right? Like, and and thank goodness for medical science and modern medicine, um and things like C-section and blood that we can transfuse and ICU settings and doctors and nurses and all the people who can step in to help. So, but I I think that's part of the story that women can tell themselves. Uh, this was supposed to be a natural process. My body was made for this, but yet this trauma happened, whether it be I needed an emergency C-section, or I had a miscarriage, or I couldn't get pregnant, or I hemorrhaged, or I had a shoulder dissociation. I mean, the list goes on and on. But the truth is, like, we bad things happen. We live in this fallen, broken world where unfortunately there are complications and hard things do happen. So I think that's an important takeaway. Yeah, it's so true. In my field and what I deal with every day. What would you say to the doctors and nurses and healthcare providers who and the EMTs and the CRNAs and all of the people who are surrounded by, you know, trauma. Trauma. I mean, I think in a way I'm I'm a little hesitant because I'm like, well, I don't do I call that trauma? Do I you know, like I I do feel like are we overusing it? Right, are we not?

SPEAKER_00 25:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:36

Do I need to name it? Do I need to call it what it is? Right. But what how do you how do you approach those? Because we have a lot of listeners who are colleagues and doctors and and caretakers in general.

SPEAKER_00 25:48

So I think that when you notice yourself a physical response after an event, I think that's a good way. Any sort of flashbacks, any sort of difficulty sleeping or waking up replaying it, um, that can be a sign that it was traumatic for you. And I do have medical professionals that I treat that, you know, they'll they'll message me after they've had a particularly significant thing, and we can process through this, you know, um, so that it doesn't continue to affect them um in the future. And so taking the time to be aware, be mindful of how something affects you physically, emotionally, um, it can be really helpful because it can, you know, but having that experience and that, oh no, this is a similar situation, is that gonna happen again? Um, kind of the white track. Like you feel yourself go into that response, yeah, and then are like, Why why am I acting this way? I've done this thousands of times. What what is the difference here?

SPEAKER_01 26:48

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 26:49

Oh yeah, last time XYZ happened. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:51

And for that hypothetical patient who then conceives again next pregnancy after she has this history of whatever it may be. Yes, postpartum hemorrhage, sure, emergency C-section, miscarriage. Yeah, you know, how did how does that look for her and what do we do to help her?

SPEAKER_00 27:07

Yeah. So similar thing. Um, when somebody has had something like that happen, we kind of talk through what was the timeline of traumatic things. You know, maybe it was they went to the restroom and noticed some blood, you know. So we might start probably start there, um, noticing, or maybe before that, if like you mentioned there was difficulty um with conceiving, or maybe there's been a previous previous miscarriage before that that's connected to. So I really try to take a good history of what where we are in this journey, what this file basically looks like. And then from there we kind of start either at the beginning, or if there's something that's so recent and it's just like nightmares, can't sleep, then we'll we might start with that. It just kind of depends on the situation. Um, but it can be helpful, and then maybe they feel like they've processed everything and then they get pregnant again, and then they're near that week that that something has happened before, and it might bring up new things, you know. Even if we've processed it, it's your body's like, Hey, I remember this, and you know what happened last time. Um, and so then we'll process that at that point. Yeah. So I have a few patients that have had a miscarriage, then we've walked through a pregnancy together, then they've had a baby. So just kind of continuing to stay in contact and deal with them as they notice those things that you know it's okay. And we can deal with it.

SPEAKER_01 28:31

Taking inventory, being aware. Oh, of course I'm feeling naming it. Yeah, I think naming it and validating it, like of course I'm feeling like this is the week that I had the loss. So of course I'm going to be feeling these things that this white truck is here.

SPEAKER_00 28:47

Yes. Well, and even just like the the the body, I mean, another thing I think of is remembering working through COVID. I was working at the hospital, I know you were too. It was it was scary, it was traumatic. And I hadn't used my backpack that I used during COVID, and I pulled it out for something and I put it on, and just that I didn't think of it that way as it being that COVID backpack, but just the weight of it, just the feel of it as I was putting it on my back the first time, I immediately had this like physical response and memories. It's so fascinating how our body holds on to those things. So when we recognize those things, not to be, you know, freaked out by it, but to be aware of it and say, okay, this is something that I need to to process. This is something I need to deal with.

SPEAKER_01 29:36

And not ignore it.

SPEAKER_00 29:38

And recognize, hey, our body is wanting to deal with it, it's wanting to process this trauma. That's why it's coming up for me.

SPEAKER_01 29:45

Mm-hmm. That's amazing. What else do you want to say about trauma, Mary Calvin?

SPEAKER_00 29:50

I mean, this is again just like a very, very short tidbit that trauma is a huge, huge topic. Um, and there are other ways of um processing it. Of course, I mentioned the EMDR just because that's the treatment that I use. I'm not a trainer in it, though, so I can't speak to all that that piece of it. Um but talking to your provider, if you're noticing these symptoms, seeing what they recommend for you, and really just paying attention to your body and these responses that you're feeling and knowing that there's hope. You don't have to feel this way forever. There is treatment available, and it it it really can help you feel so much better.

SPEAKER_01 30:29

I'm so glad you shared all this. Healing is not weakness, healing is brave, and healing often begins with understanding what happened to us and approaching it with compassion, like you said, instead of shame and guilt. Whether your trauma was loud and obvious or quiet and invisible, your pain matters, and your body does remember what your mind may have tried to bury. That's so true. There's real science, there's real hope, um, which can lead to a real healing process. If today's episode resonated with you, we encourage you to reach out for support, talk to a trusted friend, a counselor, a therapist, a physician, a pastor, or someone safe. You do not have to carry this alone. Thank you for joining us for another episode of A Journey to Whole Woman Health. If this conversation encouraged you, would you please share it with a friend, leave a review, and send it to someone who may need hope today. We'll see you back next time.

SPEAKER_00 31:31

Thank you for joining us on a journey to whole woman health. If this episode encouraged you, share it with a friend, leave a review, or subscribe so you don't miss future conversations. Remember, your questions matter, your health matters, and wholeness is a journey. Until next time.

SPEAKER_01 31:51

Now for the legal language. The information shared in this podcast is for educational purposes only and is not intended as medical or mental health advice. Listening to this podcast does not establish a doctor patient or therapist client relationship. Always consult your own qualified healthcare provider regarding any medical concerns.