Cycle Breaker and Change Maker with Renata Ortega

What is the Fight Response? When the brain perceives danger, it quickly assesses whether fighting back is the best chance of survival. This response is hardwired into us. Think about animals in the wild—when faced with a threat, some stand their ground, puff up their chests, and prepare to defend themselves. Humans do the same thing, but in more complex ways. The fight response isn’t just about physical combat. It can manifest in verbal confrontations, defensiveness, or even the need to be ...

02-20

09:10

If you’ve been following along, you know that I like to take a deep dive into how trauma shapes our behaviors and responses to the world around us. Today, I’m introducing something that will lay the foundation for our next few episodes: the Five F’s of Trauma Response. This is a concept that explains how our brains and bodies react when we feel threatened, even if the threat is no longer present. Trauma lives in the body, and because of that, our responses are not always logical. Sometimes, w...

02-15

08:46

Episode 23 - Introduction to not being able to stay present as a trauma response Are you finding it difficult to stay in the moment, constantly feeling like your mind is re-living the past or in a constant state of worry about the future? Do you often catch yourself losing focus during conversations because you are preoccupied with other thoughts or, perhaps you disconnect and dissociate during stressful situations? If so, this might be tied to your trauma history. If you experien...

02-04

10:10

Introduction to Not Being Seen as a Trauma Response Have you ever felt invisible in your relationships, friendships, or even in your workplace? Perhaps you feel like your needs, thoughts, and feelings don’t matter, or that others rarely acknowledge your contributions or presence. Do you find yourself retreating or staying quiet, even when you’re desperate to speak up? If so, this might be a result of a trauma response—a learned behavior that is rooted in your past experiences. This pattern do...

01-22

09:01

How to manage through the Holiday season as a person coping with trauma If you are living with trauma, the holidays may be a time that you are dreading. You may be overwhelmed and anxious about being around people you do not really want to be with. You may not feel that you can manage all of the pressures the traditional Holiday season can bring. These can be financial pressures, social pressures, travel pressures and so on. Or, perhaps you do not have fami...

12-12

10:19

Episode 20 - Introduction to entering controlling relationships as a trauma response Are you in a relationship personal or professional with someone that makes you feel powerless or scared? Maybe they hold grudges constantly over issues that are actually trivial? Perhaps they make you feel like you cannot do anything right ever, or that there is something wrong with you? Or maybe you are in a situation where the other person makes you feel like you are always the problem in...

11-08

11:50

Episode 19 -Introduction to emotional numbness as a trauma response Have you ever experienced a change in your emotional experience, as if your emotions became something you started to have restricted access to? Or perhaps, have your emotions started to feel completely inaccessible? Maybe you have experienced a feeling of distance and detachment from others, and have developed a strong preference for being alone and isolated. Or are you struggling to experience positiv...

10-25

10:00

Episode 18 - Introduction to people pleasing and ignoring your own needs Do you overcommit to activities or responsibilities that others ask of you? Do you ever find yourself saying yes to everything or struggling to ever say the word no to others? Maybe you often find that you are saying yes to work or personal commitments, despite having too much of a work or personal load already. Maybe you end up regretting saying yes and over-committing yourself. Or, perhaps you look ba...

10-18

09:51

Episode 17 - Introduction to Overworking and Workaholic behavior as a Trauma Response Overworking happens when you are exceeding your capacity at work - this capacity can be physical, mental or emotional. Overworking occurs when you work too long, too hard or too much. Similarly to overworking, workaholics have an inability to control the time they spend on work, even if working has negative health and relationship consequences. Although Overworking and Workaholic behaviors ...

10-07

11:36

Episode 16 - Introduction to the Emotional Recovery from a Critical Illness When you make it through a critical illness you might expect to feel happy, relieved and even energized. You may think that you should be ready to move on with your life and leave that awful event in the past where it supposedly belongs. Afterall, you have overcome the illness or at least the illness’s current hurdle. Those around you might presume that you have moved on too. Even if they...

10-03

08:52

Today's episode is an explanation of why people do not step in to stop abuse and a guide to giving help to someone you suspect is being abused. If anyone that did not step in and help me is listening today - I understand why you couldn't then but I need you to know that it is not too late to help others now. When I was growing up, many parts of my family's situation were kept buried and expertly hidden. Once I became an adult and began advocating for myself I started to truly t...

09-20

11:08

Episode 14 - Introduction to Oversharing In today’s episode I will be discussing oversharing as it relates to a trauma response and providing a three steps to help you overcome oversharing. Divulging excessive information quickly in a relationship is a very common pattern in people who have experienced trauma. Do you ever find yourself explaining things without limits to the wrong person and maybe at the wrong time? Do you go into great detail about your life really quickly ...

09-05

09:40

In today's episode I will be discussing overthinking. In my last episode I discussed catastrophizing, I consider overthinking to be catastrophizing’s equally unhelpful sibling. Overthinking and catastrophizing can stem from similar pasts as a way to cope with trauma, however, like siblings they have their own unique elements. Do you ever find yourself constantly ruminating, going over a situation over and over again in your mind as if on replay, or, do you catch yours...

08-02

11:25

Episode 12 - Introduction to Catastrophizing In today's episode I will be discussing catastrophizing. If you have ever found yourself jumping to the worst case scenario and predicting and preparing for the most awful outcomes all the time you could be experiencing catastrophizing as a result of trauma. The interesting thing that most people don’t know about catastrophizing is that it is a method of trying to gain control over outcomes, control of course helps us feel safe so while catas...

Episode 11 - Introduction to fierce independence or hyper-independence and the inability to ask for help In today's episode I will be discussing fierce independence, also referred to as hyper-independence as it relates to trauma. If you find it extremely difficult to ask for and to receive help, push people trying to help you away and have a preference of doing everything by yourself, you could be experiencing hyper-independence which may be a trauma response. Many people who are ...