MaryCatherine McDonald: The Trauma Response Is Never Wrong

Sounds True: Insights at the Edge

Tami Simon

Spirituality, Religion & Spirituality

4.6 • 1.9K Ratings

🗓️ 23 March 2023

⏱️ 68 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

For centuries, we’ve been taught that being traumatized means we are somehow broken—and that trauma only happens to people who are too fragile or flawed to deal with hardship. Instead, says Dr. MaryCatherine McDonald, the trauma response proves our spirit cannot be broken. In this podcast, Tami Simon and “MC” (as her students call her) discuss her new book, Unbroken: The Trauma Response Is Never Wrong—And Other Things You Need to Know to Take Back Your Life, and how we might as a society begin to update our understanding of trauma and its healing. Tune in for this inspiring conversation about the impact of trauma on the narratives that make up our identity; recalibrating the nervous system after trauma; memory and the hippocampus; relearning a sense of embodied safety; dealing with loss in our grief-phobic culture; trauma defined as “an unbearable emotional experience that lacks a relational home”; the unconscious nature of triggers, and how to raise awareness around them; the miracle of your adaptive brain and body; trust and community in the healing of trauma; reconciling life’s ultimate vulnerability; finding resilience and strength in these uncertain times; attunement, holding space, honesty, and other elements that provide a relational home; realizing an anchor in the “tiny little joys”; the healing power of… Tetris?; healthy regulation; and more.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello friends, my name is Tammy Simon, and I'm the founder of SoundsTrue, and I want
0:06.8	to welcome you to the SoundsTrue podcast, Insights at the Edge.
0:12.0	I also want to take a moment to introduce you to SoundsTrue's new membership community
0:17.1	and digital platform.
0:18.9	It's called SoundsTrue1.
0:22.0	SoundsTrue1 features original, premium, transformational docuseries, community events,
0:29.0	classes to start your day and relax in the evening, special weekly live shows, including
0:37.1	a video version of Insights at the Edge with an after show community question and answer
0:43.0	session with featured guests.
0:45.7	I hope you'll come join us, explore, come have fun with us, and connect with others.
0:51.8	You can learn more at join.soundstrue.com.
0:56.5	I also want to take a moment and introduce you to the SoundsTrue Foundation, our nonprofit
1:02.4	that creates equitable access to transformational tools and teachings.
1:08.7	You can learn more at soundstruefoundation.org.
1:12.6	And in advance, thank you for your support.
1:16.5	In this episode of Insights at the Edge, my guest is Mary Catherine McDonnell to PhD.
1:22.8	Mary Catherine, who is called by many of her students and clients, MC, is a research
1:29.1	professor and life coach who specializes in the psychology and philosophy of trauma.
1:35.1	She's been researching, lecturing, and publishing on the neuroscience psychology and lived
1:40.8	experience of trauma since completing her PhD in 2016.
1:46.2	She's published two academic books and many research papers and is the creator of a trauma-based
1:52.5	curriculum that serves previously incarcerated people and veterans.
	...

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