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KQED's Forum

Rethinking Healing: Insights from Survivors of Extreme Trauma

KQED's Forum

KQED

News, Politics, News Commentary

4.2 • 726 Ratings

🗓️ 20 April 2026

⏱️ 55 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Psychiatrist Suzan Song has for decades worked with people who have experienced extreme traumas, like being trafficked or recruited as child soldiers. She says she became drawn to those who were able not just to survive, but thrive and flourish – even without access to traditional Western talk therapy. We talk to Song about where she thinks true healing comes from,  and how we can apply that to more ordinary suffering, like a breakup or an unexpected loss. Song’s new book is “Why We Suffer and How We Heal.” Guests: Suzan Song, psychiatrist and global mental health expert; author, "Why We Suffer and How We Heal" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:55.9

From KQED.

0:58.1

Welcome to Forum. I'm Mina Kim. Dr. Suzanne Song has worked with survivors of the

1:03.2

2023 mass shooting in Monterey Park with unaccompanied minors at the southern border.

1:08.7

Farther from home, she has worked with child soldiers,

1:11.6

survivors of torture, and trafficking, and other egregious human rights violations.

1:16.6

One of the things that is fascinated song are the people she's met who have been able to

1:20.7

not only survive but flourish after extreme trauma, realizing they often share one quality,

1:29.9

which helped inspire her new book, called We Suffer and How We Heal.

1:33.0

Dr. Song is a psychiatrist and humanitarian policy advisor with a private practice in Washington, D.C.

1:38.3

in California, Suzanne, welcome to Forum.

1:40.9

Thanks so much for having me.

1:42.0

So I mentioned some of the people and issues you've

1:44.2

studied, but you work with a really broad range of people, right, through both your research and

...

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