Medical Trauma - How to heal when your body is a trigger w/ Dr. Christen Mullane

Therapy in a Nutshell

Therapy in a Nutshell -Emma McAdam

Mental Health, Education, Health & Fitness:mental Health, Self-improvement, Health & Fitness

4.8 • 658 Ratings

🗓️ 24 December 2025

⏱️ 47 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Many people experience trauma not from accidents or violence—but from medical events. ICU stays, surgery, birth trauma, or even routine procedures can leave lasting emotional wounds. In this conversation, Emma McAdam (Therapy in a Nutshell) and Christen Mullane, LMHC, unpack what medical trauma really is, how it differs from medical PTSD, and practical ways to heal. Christen explains how medical experiences can damage trust in your body and in healthcare systems, why “health anxiety” is sometimes actually trauma, and how to gently rebuild a sense of safety and empowerment. Looking for affordable online counseling? My sponsor, BetterHelp, connects you to a licensed professional from the comfort of your own home. Try it now for 10% off your first month: https://betterhelp.com/therapyinanutshell Learn more in one of my in-depth mental health courses: https://courses.therapyinanutshell.com Support my mission on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/therapyinanutshell Sign up for my newsletter: https://www.therapyinanutshell.com Check out my favorite self-help books: https://kit.co/TherapyinaNutshell/best-self-help-books Therapy in a Nutshell and the information provided by Emma McAdam are solely intended for informational and entertainment purposes and are not a substitute for advice, diagnosis, or treatment regarding medical or mental health conditions. Although Emma McAdam is a licensed marriage and family therapist, the views expressed on this site or any related content should not be taken for medical or psychiatric advice. Always consult your physician before making any decisions related to your physical or mental health. In therapy I use a combination of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Systems Theory, positive psychology, and a bio-psycho-social approach to treating mental illness and other challenges we all face in life. The ideas from my videos are frequently adapted from multiple sources. Many of them come from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, especially the work of Steven Hayes, Jason Luoma, and Russ Harris. The sections on stress and the mind-body connection derive from the work of Stephen Porges (the Polyvagal theory), Peter Levine (Somatic Experiencing) Francine Shapiro (EMDR), and Bessel Van Der Kolk. I also rely heavily on the work of the Arbinger Institute for my overall understanding of our ability to choose our life's direction. And deeper than all of that, the Gospel of Jesus Christ orients my personal worldview and sense of security, peace, hope, and love https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/comeuntochrist/believe If you are in crisis, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Hotline at https://suicidepreventionlifeline.org or 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or your local emergency services. Copyright Therapy in a Nutshell, LLC

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, everyone. Today we have a very special guest. It's Dr. Kristen Malayne. She's a licensed clinical psychologist who specializes in treating trauma, especially in helping people who have medical trauma or medical PTSD, work through those sensations and the intensity of that experience and rebuild their trust in themselves and develop a healthy relationship with their caregivers
0:22.6	and the medical system,
0:25.5	which we know is pretty complex.
0:27.8	She's got a great set of skills for working with medical trauma,
0:32.0	and I'm just really excited to have her on the show.
0:33.9	So let's jump in.
0:41.9	Okay. on the show. So let's jump in. Kristen, thank you so much for joining us. I'm really excited to talk about this. I've
0:45.3	been on YouTube and looking, and there's really not very many good resources for people on
0:49.2	medical trauma. So thank you for joining us. Thanks for having me. And you're right.
0:54.4	This has been a, it's one of the struggles we face.
0:57.1	Yeah.
0:57.4	Mm-hmm.
0:58.1	Let's start with what is medical trauma or medical PTSD?
1:00.9	And is there a difference?
1:01.8	So medical trauma is a more broad term for things that happen that might damage our beliefs about ourselves or other people or the world.
1:10.3	Medical PTSD is post-traumatic stress
1:13.1	disorder that arises from medical events. And there are specific diagnostic criteria to meet
1:19.3	if we're thinking about that as a diagnosis. And so in the DSM-5, which is our current, current
1:26.5	version of how we diagnose people, and these things change, which is our current, current version of how we diagnose people.
1:28.9	And these things change, which is important to just remember and recognize.
1:32.5	Yeah.
1:33.1	But currently, in order to meet criteria for medical PTSD, a medical event has to be sudden
	...

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