Restoring your Internal Sense of Safety after Trauma w/ CPTSD Expert Dr. Arielle Schwartz

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

🗓️ 10 October 2025

⏱️ 65 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Let's dive into how to feel safe again after Childhood Trauma, aka CPTSD, Complex PTSD, using a somatic and polyvagal lens. Learn the skills to Regulate your Emotions, join the membership: https://courses.therapyinanutshell.com/membership Check out Dr. Schwartz' online course here- Strengthen Vagal Tone & Transform Trauma Through Somatic Practices & Spiritual Integration | Upcoming 6 month Immersion Course | Begins 11/11/25 : https://shiftnetwork.isrefer.com/go/rnshrEM/a27571/ Building Nervous system resilience- Free webinar: https://shiftnetwork.isrefer.com/go/nshrEM/a27571/ In this conversation, I talk with Dr. Arielle Schwartz about polyvagal theory and how it helps us understand trauma and rebuild a sense of safety. We dive into how the vagus nerve shapes our responses to safety and threat, and how complex PTSD from early developmental trauma impacts the nervous system. We also explore why social connection is a biological necessity and how co-regulation helps us heal. 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

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Welcome back to another episode of the Therapy in a Nutshell podcast. I'm Emma McAdam and I'm a licensed marriage and family therapist.
0:07.0	And this podcast is all about taking the life-changing, but usually kind of complicated topics of therapy and boiling them down into simple, easy-to-understand concepts that you can use in your daily life.
0:18.8	If you find today's episode as helpful to you,
0:21.1	please pass it on to someone else who could benefit from it as well. Each podcast episode
0:24.8	comes from a corresponding video you can find on the Therapy in a Nutshell YouTube channel.
0:29.3	Also, these podcasts are educational and don't replace the advice or direction you may be
0:33.7	receiving from a therapist or other health professionals. Now please enjoy the episode.
0:38.3	Today we are going to be talking about how to restore your sense of safety when you've experienced trauma or chronic stress.
0:46.3	And I am just so excited to have such an amazing guest today. It's Dr. Ariel Schwartz. She has like written the book.
0:56.6	She's written eight of the books on this topic. And she has so much depth of knowledge as far as
1:02.9	somatic approaches to healing trauma, polyvagal approaches, EMDR, also teaches trauma-informed yoga.
1:10.1	She's also written a book, the Polyvagal Theory
1:13.4	Workbook for Trauma, and I've gone through it. It's great stuff. So today we're going to be
1:18.1	talking about how trauma shows up in the body, how to restore your sense of safety. We do two
1:23.5	exercises together where I get to release a little bit of trauma from my body. And we talk about,
1:30.2	is healing from C.PTSD really possible, like actually? And I think you'll be really happy
1:36.5	to hear the answer. So let's jump in. Well, thank you so much for being here today.
1:49.8	Really appreciate you taking the time out of your schedule to join us.
1:52.9	As I mentioned, I've really been looking forward to this.
1:55.6	I admire you.
1:57.2	I admire the information you put out there.
1:59.7	I recommend it to lots of folks to listen
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Therapy in a Nutshell -Emma McAdam, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Therapy in a Nutshell -Emma McAdam and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.