The Complex Trauma Podcast

153 Episodes

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Why Do I Keep Replaying Conversations? Rumination and CPTSD

2026-10-2834:19

Do you lie awake replaying a conversation from three days ago, rewriting what you said and wondering if they're mad at you? In this solo episode, I'm talking about rumination and complex trauma: why so many of us replay, rewrite, and overthink, and why it started as a way to stay safe. We get into the difference between rumination, worry, and intrusive memories, why the loop gets stickier over time, what it does in your body, and why "are they mad at me" hits so hard when you grew...

Why Do I Feel Worse After Therapy? EMDR and Complex Trauma

2026-10-2140:07

Ever leave a therapy session looking totally fine, then spend the next three days clenching your jaw, snapping at everyone, and wondering if you’re just bad at therapy? Or find yourself completely checked out mid-session with no idea how long you’ve been gone? In this episode, I answer two listener questions about feeling worse after EMDR and dissociating in therapy sessions. We talk about why therapy can stir so much up when you have complex trauma (CPTSD), the difference between being stirr...

What Greek Myths Reveal About Complex Trauma with Dr. Gillian O’Shea Brown

2026-10-1446:56

Why do we keep reliving the same painful patterns, even when we can see them coming? In this episode, psychotherapist and complex trauma expert Dr. Gillian O’Shea Brown joins me to explore how Greek myths can help us make sense of complex trauma, CPTSD, and the relational wounds we carry from childhood. Gillian is SUCH a good storyteller, and she walks us through four myths that might feel a little too familiar. In this episode, we talk about Why stories can reach us in ways facts and diagnos...

Is It a Part or Is It Dissociation? OSDD, DID, and CPTSD

2026-10-0732:38

Everyone has parts. So how do you know when a part is just a part of you, and when it's crossed into a dissociative disorder like OSDD or DID? This episode came from a listener healing from CPTSD who just found out she has a dissociative disorder. She asked two questions a lot of trauma survivors are carrying. How common are dissociative disorders in trauma survivors? And with parts work like IFS so popular right now, where's the line between ordinary parts and dissociation? So we're walking ...

Why Do I Want Two Opposite Things? Conflicting Parts in Complex Trauma

2026-09-3025:431

Why can you feel lonely and then want everyone to leave you alone, or set a boundary and immediately want to take it back? Today, I explore why conflicting parts and contradictory responses can feel especially intense after complex trauma, drawing from parts work, attachment research, fear learning, and Somatic Experiencing. You’ll hear why missing someone doesn’t mean the relationship was safe, why guilt doesn’t prove a boundary was wrong, and how the body can move toward something while als...

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