Trauma and the body

In their words

“Chronic fear often originates from early life experiences and leads to a persistent stress state that impairs feeling safety and love, so addressing this requires acknowledging the body's role and reducing unnecessary existential threats like excessive news and social media exposure.”

a biologist and former Kinsey Institute executive director specializing in oxytocin research

• Dr Phil emphasizes the importance of affirming one's purpose and unique light to overcome fear and trauma.

  a media host and psychologist with a lapsed clinical license

• Healing requires feeling emotions we may want to avoid, but with safe people and environments, it gets better on the other side.

  a licensed mental health counselor

• Attachment lives in the body and understanding this connection is important to feel secure with oneself and others, as explored in the book SAFE.

  a licensed mental health counselor

• Acknowledging that the person who caused harm in their sleep is not at fault and deciding to be on the same team to figure out a path to healing is essential for recovery.

  a mental health counselor and author

• If you’ve never sat down and walked through those old wounds with somebody safe, it might be time because sometimes your body is carrying something your mind has learned to live with.

  a mental health counselor and author

• The key to healing is understanding why coping mechanisms exist and how they interrupt attachment and the ability to develop security and trust in relationships and one's own body.

  the founder of ManTalks

• If you have a history of sexual trauma and a loss of sexual desire, sitting down with a trauma-informed professional to walk through those old wounds is a hard but worthwhile healing process.

  a mental health counselor and author

• Voluntarily bringing up haunting memories to consciously analyze what has changed and develop a plan for future similar situations is necessary to resolve the unconscious alarm and reduce stress reactions.

  a clinical psychologist and Professor Emeritus of psychology

• To heal avoidant attachment rooted in unmet childhood needs, one must bravely choose to reach out despite fear, as this is the only way to invite reciprocal connection.

  a human connection specialist

• Healing is not about getting rid of triggers but changing how we respond to them by exploring the feelings they bring up and using that information to protect ourselves and maintain connection.

  a human connection specialist

• Understanding why a person clings to possessions is essential to addressing hoarding, as it is not about the stuff but about controlling anxiety and emotional needs.

  a media host and psychologist with a lapsed clinical license

• Healing involves recognizing that others' harmful actions are about their survival mode and capacity, not about your value, which helps stop blaming yourself and frees you emotionally.

  a certified relationship coach

• It is okay to be sad, angry, short-tempered, and to cry when facing grief; honoring these feelings is necessary to avoid shadows casting over your entire life.

  a mental health counselor and authorsponsored

• Healing from trauma and rebuilding trust takes time and requires patience from both partners.

  a mental health counselor and authorsponsored

• Therapy is a helpful tool to unpack grief and trauma from family rejection and to develop coping strategies.

  a mental health counselor and authorsponsored

• Anxiety about divorce or relationship fears often stem from childhood trauma and require trauma work, body work, and sometimes medication to heal and improve relationships.

  a mental health counselor and authorsponsored

• Identify specific triggers, understand that triggers are your body's way of protecting you, and work on healing by accepting you were unsafe then but are safe now, sometimes with therapy.

  a mental health counselor and authorsponsored

• Effective trauma healing requires working with a good trauma therapist and may involve modalities like EMDR, though EMDR works for some and not others; persistence and trying different approaches is important.

  a mental health counselor and authorsponsored

• Long-term psychotherapy can be necessary and healing for patients with complex trauma and deep disconnection, as seen in the eight-year therapeutic relationship described.

  a University of Toronto cognitive scientist

• Embodiment is absolutely primordial and essential to all cognition and existential modes of being, serving as the vehicle by which we participate in being and access the world.

  a University of Toronto cognitive scientist

• Embodiment is crucial for cognition because procedural knowing depends on sensory-motor interaction with the world, which current AI systems lack and which limits their intelligence.

  a University of Toronto cognitive scientist

• Working through relational ruptures involves shifting from detailed factual memory to a more impressionistic, creative, and poetic form of memory that allows integration and transformation of the relationship experience.

  a University of Toronto cognitive scientist

• Healing past trauma restores connection with inner wisdom and self-trust, which is essential for developing a genuine relationship with Source or spiritual consciousness.

  a University of Toronto cognitive scientist

• Therapy that addresses childhood trauma and sexual abuse directly, rather than focusing solely on gender identity, can lead to significant improvement in depression and anxiety.

  a clinical psychologist and Professor Emeritus of psychology

• After trauma, people often rebuild their assumptions about the world toward more positive but realistic views, becoming sadder but wiser rather than returning to naive beliefs.

  a clinical psychologist and Professor Emeritus of psychology

• The vagus nerve perceives safety through senses, interoception, and neurosception; children with complex trauma sense parental stress and danger even without overt abuse, impacting their nervous system development.

  the founder of ManTalks

• Allowing clients to connect with and express grief and unresolved emotions about significant losses can facilitate healing and self-forgiveness.

  the founder of ManTalkssponsored

• To stop numbing out, identify and reduce behaviors and substances used to numb, recognize numbness as a feeling, write about physical sensations of numbness, use breath to reconnect to the body, and focus on physical sensations to feel emotions.

  the founder of ManTalks

• Keeping secrets, especially about trauma, traps individuals and causes physical and emotional harm; expressing these secrets leads to liberation and healing.

  the founder of ManTalks

• Exploring how different family environments felt somatically can help access memories and experiences that are not clear visually or verbally but are stored in the body.

  the founder of ManTalks

Hear every voice

With care

Some of the minds attach conditions. These are worth reading before you begin.

• Dissociation may serve as a coping mechanism for severe childhood trauma, but its classification as meditation or pathological dissociation remains unclear.

  a University of Toronto cognitive scientist

• The metaphysical gulf between physical and non-physical realities complicates epistemology and must be bridged to understand the mind scientifically.

  a clinical psychologist and Professor Emeritus of psychology

• Self-blame, even when inappropriate given true circumstances, can serve as a coping mechanism by providing a sense of control and reducing the perception of randomness in suffering, though it can lead to further external blame.

  a clinical psychologist and Professor Emeritus of psychology

• Numbing out often happens because people feel too much and have not been taught how to feel their feelings or were discouraged from expressing certain emotions.

  the founder of ManTalks

Hear every voice