Healing Through Joy, Grief, and the Body with Dr. MaryCatherine McDonald

The Angry Therapist Podcast

John Kim

Health & Fitness, Mental Health

4.6 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 3 June 2026

⏱️ 49 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Joy, trauma, grief, healing. What if they’re all connected? In this conversation, John sits down with Dr. MaryCatherine McDonald to explore what trauma actually does to the nervous system, why joy is more than a fleeting feeling, and how small moments of joy can help us stay grounded through life’s hardest seasons. They discuss the science behind joy, common misconceptions about trauma, how childhood experiences shape adult relationships, and why healing may require letting go of identities built around suffering. The conversation also touches on grief, psychedelics, nervous system regulation, and finding meaning after loss. In this episode: • Why joy can help regulate and rewire the nervous system • What trauma really does to the body and brain • How childhood trauma shows up in adult relationships • The danger of identifying too strongly with your wounds • Why grief may be more transformative than we realize • The role of flow states, surfing, and presence in healing Also mentioned: • MaryCatherine’s books Unbroken https://www.amazon.com/Unbroken-Trauma-Response-Never-Things-ebook/dp/B0B19CVVNM and The Joy Reset https://www.amazon.com/Joy-Reset-Trauma-Steals-Happiness/dp/0306836262 • Her upcoming K-12 resilience curriculum focused on trauma, stress, and joy • Her current work exploring grief through writing and poetry If this episode resonated with you, follow the podcast, share it with someone who may need it, and leave a review to help others find these conversations. Follow Dr. MaryCatherine McDonald Website: https://www.drmcmcdonald.com/ IG: https://www.instagram.com/mc.phd/?hl=en 🎙️ More about John: 📘 Pre order my new book, Love Hard On Purpose. Toss the blueprints. Build something honest. https://a.co/d/031PzkW4 John’s book publishing company: Soulprint https://www.soulprintmedia.co 📘 Read John’s book in progress Sh*t Your Therapist Would Never Tell You on John’s SubStack ⁠HERE⁠ If you’re ready for deeper work, the Secure Self course is available HERE Order John's new book, Break Up. On Purpose,⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ HERE⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Follow John on Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ HERE⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Find out more about John⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ HERE⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	What does trauma actually do to the body that most people don't know about?
0:04.4	Trauma recalibrates your entire nervous system.
0:16.9	My name is John Kim.
0:18.2	You're listening to the Angry Therapist podcast and on today's episode,
0:22.1	Joy, trauma, and a little magic. And see, I'm going to be a little magic. I'm the little magic part of this.
0:29.9	Why are you taking the magic role? No, I'm just kidding. Let's wait. Together we will make magic. That'll be the thing.
0:35.1	Yes, that is true. What is this? So, you know, there's a lot of zinc on my head. And I'm obviously, you know, I shaved my head. There's zinc on my face all the time. In the morning, I look like a geisha. Oh, for just for sunscreen? A sunscreen. Yeah. And the sun's so hot here. You're like caking your face with zinc, sunscreen. I mean, oh, wow. Yeah, someone like you with like porcelain skin, you got to wear hats here. And so I have, I have shit on my face all the time. So it's like, it's like, it's crusty zinc or it's food or it's crumbs at something. But anyway, that's one of the reasons I always wear scarves is because I can't, there's not enough. There's not a sunscreen in the world that like, yeah. The first like summer I was in L.A. I was like shocked by how relentless the sun is because it's just not like that on the East Coast. Yeah, it's like, and you don't get a break. It's never rainy. Like it's not like you, you don't get two days off or whatever it's just yeah it's
1:27.9	relentless dr mc and i go way back way way way back i would say it feels like a past life because
1:36.0	i feel like so much life has happened dude our faces have changed like have you you just made me really insecure, but yes.
1:46.0	No, but I mean, like, in a, not in a bad way, but just like, if we look back at, like,
1:49.0	photos from 2011 or whatever or like little screenshots from videos, it's like we are
1:54.0	literally different people.
1:55.0	It's crazy.
1:57.0	It's...
1:58.0	MC, I'm 53 years old.
2:00.0	53 years old. Isn't it weird to think, like, I remember when I was um, MC, I'm 53 years old. 53 years old.
2:01.3	Isn't it weird to think like, I remember when I was 12.
2:04.5	I think I had an uncle or it's some grand, someone who was in their 50s and it's like,
2:08.6	oh, that person's done.
2:09.7	I mean, they're like social security.
2:11.6	They're, you know, cane.
2:12.8	Ancient, yeah.
	...

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