This is an I-Heart podcast.

Guaranteed human.

I'm Andrea Gunning, and this is a special bonus episode of Betrayal.

Our team loves to dive into the science and psychology behind betrayal and the trauma it can cause.

We often talk about the power of storytelling as a tool for healing,

so we got curious about how the science of storytelling really functions in trauma recovery.

That's how we found Applied Neuroscientist and Clinical Psychologist Dr. Kate Truitt.

An Applied Neuroscientist straddles the line between what's going on in the labs,

what I call the ivory tower of the educational space, and the clinical realm.

I view myself as a translator of the brain to best help people connect with what's happening in their mind-body system.

I specifically focus on the brain areas tied into both trauma and empowerment.

Dr. Truitt also has her own clinical practice in Los Angeles, where she sees clients who've experienced trauma.

The through line, though, and what really, really lights me up is helping people

disseminate the impact of trauma and better understand the weird, painful experiences

that happen in our mind-body system when we've been deeply harmed.

She's very open about her own lived experiences and how they impact her work.

I'm also a survivor. I am a survivor of traumatic grief. I was widowed a week before my wedding.

And I'm harnessing my own vulnerability and knowledge of neuroscience to shine the

light on how change in healing is possible. I wanted to start by asking Dr. Truitt, what trauma really is,

in a clinical sense? For instance, what makes something a traumatic experience to our brains?

When I look at trauma through the lens of neurobiology,

I like to distill it down to the concept of threat, safety, or a lack of safety.

...