Names and some details have been changed in these stories to maintain confidentiality.

Welcome to Back from the Abyss. I'm Dr. Craig Hecock.

One of the curious things that can happen in a windstorm is that most trees withstand the onslaught,

maybe losing some branches and clumps of leaves, but they remain tall and strong,

while other trees are ripped out of the ground and lay there with their naked and surprisingly shallow

root system for the whole world to see.

Ah, we say, that tree looked like it was strong and healthy, but its roots were not.

That's why it toppled in the wind.

Today's guest, Jamie, was that thriving beautiful tree who ran marathons, had dear friends,

loved her work, teaching children, and was about to be married.

But the winds of change were starting to blow, and after a move to her very rural area with

her new husband, along with the loss of connection to her friends and her mother, she began to break down.

For Jamie's roots were damaged indeed. She grew up with an overwhelmed and anxious mother and an

emotionally abusive and hypercritical stepfather in a home where she was mostly alone and not allowed

to go into the various forbidden rooms of the house,

even the living room. She grew up marinated in loss and longing and loneliness,

yet she was able to find her inner strength and resilience and eventually grow tall and flourish,

at least until she left most everything and everyone behind.

Here her story starts with leaving her life in Denver to marry and move to rural

Western Colorado, and she's already starting to feel the waves of fear and panic.

I was getting a little nervous and I went to a doctor before I got married and he prescribed

me some at-of-van just because I felt like my nerves were getting to me as the wedding

...