No guest this time — just Megan and Brian tackling a topic Megan's wanted to cover for a while: trauma. What is it, really?
After the usual check-in chaos (a stolen DoorDash order, a car-seat food disaster), they dig into the Adverse Childhood Experiences study, the doctor who took it from research to clinic, why an ACE score isn't a life sentence, and the four nervous-system responses to danger — fight, flight, freeze, and fawn. It ran long, so it's split in two. This is part one.
Heads up: covers trauma, frequent strong language.
Producer's apology: Brian forgot to post last week, so we're back two weeks in a row to make up for it.
Key Timestamps
[00:00] Intro: Duo Episode & F-Bomb Warning
[02:12] Check-In: Weirdest Fast-Food/Delivery Story
[04:44] Brian's DoorDash Order Gets Stolen
[08:07] Megan's Sub-in-a-Bowl Car Disaster
[14:10] Why Brian Wanted to Talk Trauma Today
[14:44] The Tornado & the Day Trauma Snuck Up on Brian
[16:17] Heart Attack Turns Out to Be Anxiety — and Trauma
[16:51] The ACEs Study: Where Trauma Research Began
[17:18] The Doctor Who Took the Research to Her Clinic
[19:37] Her TEDx Talk & the Shift to Positive Childhood Experiences
[20:26] The Problem With Treating an ACE Score as Fate
[20:52] Trauma Without PTSD
[21:13] Retiring Big T and Little T Trauma
[22:00] Resilience: Why Some People Bounce Back
[24:25] What Is PTSD, Officially? (The DSM, Explained)
[25:06] PTSD's Origin: Vietnam Veterans
[26:09] Neuroplasticity: The Brain Can Heal
[26:35] Least-Trained Clinicians, Most Traumatized Clients
[28:41] Vicarious Trauma & We're All Connected
[29:30] What Trauma Actually Is, in the Body
[30:03] Fight, Flight, Freeze... and Fawn
[31:15] Fawning: The Trauma Response Nobody Talks About
[32:54] Adrenaline, Cortisol & the Body's Overreaction
[33:15] Hypervigilance, Defined
[34:21] The Tornado's Ripple Effect on the Whole Community
[35:54] Producer's Note: Why This One's Split in Two
Standout Quotes
"It's going to include curse words, because you cannot talk about trauma without using F-bombs."
"Everyone experiences trauma, but not everyone gets PTSD."
"[Fawning is] the way that you're getting out of the abuse... it's their only choice. The safest option is to make the abuser feel like you are on their side."
"We are all connected to each other. When one person isn't good, it impacts everybody — and it ripples out."
Megan's Toolkit: The Four Trauma Responses
When your nervous system detects danger, it picks one of four automatic responses:
1. Fight — confront the threat.
2. Flight — run from it.
3. Freeze — shut down, unable to act.
4. Fawn — appease the threat to stay safe; looks like agreement from the outside, but it's the nervous system's survival strategy.
Bonus term: Hypervigilance — an ongoing, heightened scan for threat, and a hallmark PTSD symptom (see: a whole school district closing over any hint of bad weather the week after the tornado).
Resources
- Dr. Nadine Burke Harris's TED Talk: [How Childhood Trauma Affects Health Across a Lifetime](https://www.ted.com/talks/nadine_burke_harris_how_childhood_trauma_affects_health_across_a_lifetime)
- The ACE Study researchers: Dr. Vincent Felitti and Dr. Robert Anda. Their CDC-Kaiser Permanente study was published in 1998 (corrected from the on-air guess). [About the CDC-Kaiser ACE Study](https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/aces/about.html)
Crisis Support
988 - Suicide Prevention Lifeline
Text HOME to 741741 - Crisis Text Line
Find a Therapist:
[Psychology Today](https://www.psychologytoday.com/us) | [Rise & Thrive Wellness](https://riseandthrivewellness.net/)
Connect
📧 [email protected]
📱 @ihavesh_ttosay (Instagram) | IHaveSh_tToSay (TikTok)
- Host: Megan Campbell, LCPC, ATR-BC
- Producer: Brian T Prairie
- Format: Duo episode (no guest) — Part 1 of 2
- Length: ~36:20 (Part 1)
New episode every two weeks on Tuesdays — except this time, we're back next week too.
