Naked Insights Podcast - Honest Talks about Trauma, Health and Relationships

🎙️ Episode 20 - Becoming: The Psychology of Personal Growth

What does it actually mean to grow?

We talk endlessly about healing, self-awareness, personal development and becoming the “best version” of ourselves. But real psychological growth is rarely comfortable, linear or particularly Instagrammable.

Sometimes growth means changing.

Sometimes it means accepting something you cannot change.

And sometimes it means finally recognising that the coping strategy that once protected you has become the very thing keeping you stuck.

In the final episode of Season 2, Adele and Dr Lindsay Aikman explore the psychology of personal growth: what allows human beings to change, what gets in the way, and why insight alone is rarely enough.

Together, they unpack:

🌱 What personal growth actually means - and why becoming psychologically healthier isn't about becoming endlessly happier, calmer or more productive

🧠 The difference between insight and change - why understanding exactly why you behave the way you do doesn't necessarily stop you doing it

💔 How trauma can interrupt growth - particularly when survival strategies such as avoidance, hypervigilance, people-pleasing, perfectionism, control or emotional shutdown become deeply embedded

⚡ Why triggers can become extraordinary sources of information - revealing the places where our past is still shaping our present

🛡️ Why we resist change even when we desperately want it - because familiar patterns can feel safer to the nervous system than unfamiliar possibilities

🪞 The courage to look at yourself properly - recognising your patterns, taking responsibility for your impact on other people and doing so without collapsing into shame

❤️ Why relationships are such powerful environments for growth - because other people expose the parts of ourselves that are almost impossible to see alone

🧘 Learning to tolerate discomfort - why growth often requires staying with uncertainty, vulnerability, frustration and difficult emotion rather than immediately escaping them

🔄 Psychological flexibility - developing the capacity to adapt, reconsider, learn, repair and allow new information to change us

🌿 Outgrowing old versions of ourselves - recognising when identities, beliefs, relationships or coping mechanisms that once served us no longer fit the person we're becoming

Ultimately, personal growth isn't about reaching some final, perfectly healed version of yourself.

There isn't one.

It's about becoming increasingly able to notice yourself, understand yourself, regulate yourself, challenge yourself and choose what you do next rather than simply repeating what you've always done.

And perhaps that's what growth really is:

Not becoming somebody else, but having more freedom in who you choose to become.

🎧 Join Adele and Lindsay for the final conversation of Season 2 as they reflect on change, trauma, relationships and what they've learned about the extraordinary human capacity to keep evolving.

Topics Covered: Personal Growth, Growth Mindset, Trauma, Triggers, Coping Mechanisms, Psychological Flexibility, Self-Awareness, Behaviour Change, Relationships, Emotional Regulation, Resilience, Personal Development, Psychotherapy.

🎙️ Episode 19 - What Happens Between Us: The Hidden Psychology of Every Conversation

Have you ever started a perfectly ordinary conversation and somehow ended up in an argument that seemed to have very little to do with where you started?

That's because communication never happens between two blank slates.

We bring our histories, attachment patterns, expectations, insecurities, previous experiences and nervous systems into every interaction we have.

In this episode, Adele and Dr Lindsay Aikman explore what happens between two people when their psychology collides — and why understanding the dynamic between us can completely change our relationships.

Together, they unpack:

⚡ Why certain people trigger us more than others and why our reaction isn't always entirely about what's happening in the present moment

🧠 The stories we create about other people's behaviour - how quickly we move from what someone actually did to what we think it means about us, them or the relationship

💭 Projection, assumptions and mind-reading - how our own fears and previous experiences can quietly shape what we believe another person is thinking or intending

❤️ How attachment patterns enter the conversation - why one person may pursue connection while another withdraws, creating cycles that neither person consciously intended

🔥 How escalation happens - when one person's protection strategy activates the other person's, turning a small disagreement into an increasingly powerful feedback loop

🛡️ What happens when the nervous system takes over - why fight, flight, freeze or shutdown can make curiosity, empathy and flexible thinking increasingly difficult

👥 How these dynamics appear everywhere - between couples, parents and children, friends, colleagues, leaders and teams

🏢 The psychology of workplace communication - how hierarchy, power, personality, psychological safety and unspoken team dynamics influence what gets said, what doesn't, and how messages are interpreted

🔄 Why recurring arguments keep recurring - and how couples, families and teams can become trapped in predictable interpersonal roles and patterns

🪞 Learning to recognise your part in the dance - moving away from “Who started it?” and towards understanding what each person contributes to keeping the cycle going

🤝 Rupture and repair - why healthy relationships aren't relationships without conflict, but relationships in which people learn how to notice disconnection, take responsibility and find their way back to one another

The most important shift may be recognising that sometimes:

The problem isn't you.

The problem isn't them.

The problem is the pattern happening between you.

And once we can see the pattern, rather than simply blaming the person standing opposite us, we have far more choice about what happens next.

🎧 Join us for a fascinating conversation about triggers, attachment, nervous-system responses and the invisible interpersonal dynamics shaping our conversations at home, at work and in the relationships that matter most.

Topics Covered: Interpersonal Dynamics, Communication, Triggers, Attachment, Projection, Conflict, Nervous System Regulation, Relationship Patterns, Workplace Psychology, Team Dynamics, Psychological Safety, Rupture and Repair, Emotional Regulation.

🎙️ Episode 18 - The Psychology of Listening: How to Make Someone Feel Truly Heard

Most of us think we're pretty good listeners.

But while someone else is talking, how often are we actually preparing our response, deciding whether they're right, thinking of advice, defending ourselves internally or simply waiting for our turn to speak?

In this episode, Adele and Dr Lindsay Aikman explore the psychology of really listening and why making another person feel heard requires far more than staying quiet while they talk.

Together, they unpack:

👂 Why hearing isn't the same as listening - and the difference between receiving someone's words and genuinely understanding their experience

🧠 Why listening becomes so difficult when we're triggered - especially when we feel criticised, blamed, misunderstood or desperate to defend our position

⏸️ The importance of postponing your agenda - temporarily putting aside your need to explain, persuade, fix or be right so you can enter somebody else's world

❤️ Why validation doesn't mean agreement - and how two people can have completely different experiences of the same event without either experience having to be erased

❓ How to ask better questions - replacing assumptions, interrogation and mind-reading with genuine curiosity

🪞 The power of reflection - listening for the feelings, needs and meaning underneath someone's words and checking that you've actually understood them

🛠️ Why advice can sometimes be a form of not listening - and the simple question to ask before jumping in to solve somebody else's problem

🔥 What happens when we're emotionally flooded - why regulation sometimes has to come before listening and how to take space without stonewalling or abandoning the conversation

💭 The dream underneath the argument - why recurring conflicts are often about something much deeper than the thing we're apparently fighting about

🤝 Why understanding has to come before influence - because people become far more capable of hearing our perspective when they no longer have to fight to make us understand theirs

Great listening isn't passive.

It's an active attempt to understand another human being from the inside out.

And sometimes the most powerful thing we can offer another person isn't an answer, solution or piece of advice.

It's the experience of:

“You listened. You stayed. You understood.”

🎧 Join us for a practical, psychologically informed conversation about listening, attunement and why feeling genuinely heard can transform our relationships at home, at work and everywhere in between.

Topics Covered: Active Listening, Attunement, Validation, Communication, Gottman Method, Conflict Resolution, Emotional Regulation, Psychological Safety, Relationships, Workplace Communication, Curiosity, Empathy, Difficult Conversations.

🎙️ Episode 17 - The Psychology of Being Heard: How to Speak So People Actually Listen

Have you ever explained something perfectly clearly - only to discover that the other person heard something completely different?

Good communication isn't simply about choosing the right words. It's about understanding how another human being receives them.

In this episode, Adele and Dr Lindsay Aikman explore the psychology of speaking effectively - from relationships and difficult conversations to workplaces, friendships and families.

Together, they unpack:

🗣️ Why how you say something matters as much as what you say and how tone, timing, language and delivery can completely change the message someone receives

🧠 What happens when people feel threatened or criticised and why defensiveness can make it almost impossible for your message to land

💬 How to say difficult things without immediately putting someone on the defensive

❓ The power of better questions - why curiosity can elicit far more information than interrogation, assumption or advice

🎯 Knowing your real agenda - what are you actually trying to achieve from this conversation: connection, understanding, influence, reassurance, agreement or simply being right?

❤️ Speaking from your own experience rather than telling another person what they're thinking, feeling or doing wrong

⚡ Why emotional regulation matters before communication - because sometimes the conversation isn't failing because we lack the right words; we're simply too activated to use them well

🤝 Creating psychological safety - how the way we communicate can either invite another person towards us or make them protect themselves from us

🌱 Learning to influence without controlling - communicating your needs and perspective while leaving enough space for another person to have theirs

Ultimately, being heard isn't about speaking louder, explaining yourself for longer or winning the argument.

It's about learning to communicate in a way that makes it possible for another person to stay open enough to actually receive you.

🎧 Join us for a practical, psychologically informed conversation about how to speak with greater clarity, intention and impact — and why changing the way you communicate can completely change what happens next.

Topics Covered: Communication, Difficult Conversations, Psychological Safety, Conflict, Emotional Regulation, Relationships, Workplace Communication, Asking Better Questions, Defensiveness, Influence, Interpersonal Psychology.

🎙️ Perimenopause: The Survival Guide Nobody Gave Us
Hormones, HRT, food, supplements, exercise and what actually helps

Perimenopause can make you feel as though somebody has quietly changed the operating system of your body and forgotten to give you the manual.

Brain fog. Rage. Anxiety. Hot flushes. Broken sleep. Aching joints. Weight changes. Gut issues. Exhaustion. A body that suddenly reacts differently to foods, alcohol, stress and exercise. IT CAN BE TRAUMATIC!

So what the hell are you actually supposed to do about it?

In this episode, Adele and Dr Lindsay Aikman get practical. Drawing on the science alongside their own experiences, they unpack the treatments, lifestyle changes and everyday strategies that can make navigating perimenopause considerably easier.

We explore:

🔥 HRT and hormone therapy - what it can help with, what women need to understand, and why finding the right approach can take time

🧠 The brain and nervous system - why anxiety, mood, cognition, sleep and resilience can change so dramatically during the menopause transition

🥗 Food and the changing body - why foods, alcohol and caffeine you once tolerated may suddenly seem to trigger symptoms

🦴 The musculoskeletal syndrome of menopause - why joints can start aching, muscle and bone become increasingly important, and why women need to think about strength before they become frail

🏋️ Heavy resistance training and impact exercise - why lifting weights and appropriately loading bone may be some of the most powerful things we can do for our future bodies

🥩 Protein and fibre - why eating enough of both becomes increasingly important for muscle, metabolic health, gut health and healthy ageing

💊 Supplements - the evidence behind vitamin D, K2, omega-3, magnesium, creatine and specific collagen peptides, including what's genuinely promising and what's probably being oversold

🌱 What actually worked for us - the things we've tried, what made a difference, what didn't, and what we wish we'd understood sooner

Most importantly, this isn't about creating another impossible midlife wellness checklist.

It's about understanding that perimenopause is a whole-body transition. Changing ovarian hormones don't only affect periods and fertility. They interact with the brain, nervous system, bones, muscles, gut, sleep, metabolism and emotional wellbeing.

And once you understand what's happening, you can start making much more informed decisions about how to support yourself through it.

🎧 This is the perimenopause survival guide we wish someone had handed us years ago.

Topics Covered: Perimenopause, Menopause, HRT, Estrogen, Hot Flushes, Brain Fog, Anxiety, Sleep, Musculoskeletal Syndrome of Menopause, Joint Pain, Resistance Training, Bone Health, Protein, Fibre, Creatine, Collagen, Supplements, Gut Health, Women's Health, PerimenopauseTrauma.

🎙️ Perimenopause Explained: What on Earth Is Happening to My Body?
Hormones, brain fog, rage, anxiety, hot flushes, weight, sleep and why it all happens

One day you feel relatively normal. The next you're forgetting words, waking at 3am, sweating through the night, gaining weight differently, experiencing bizarre anxiety, losing your patience with everyone and wondering whether you've somehow stopped being yourself.

Welcome to perimenopause.

In Part One of our perimenopause deep dive, Adele and Dr Lindsay Aikman unpack what is actually happening inside the female body and brain during the menopause transition and why the symptoms extend far beyond periods and hot flushes.

We explore:

🧬 What perimenopause actually is - when it starts, how long it can last, and why symptoms can appear years before your periods stop

📈 The hormonal rollercoaster - what happens to estrogen, progesterone and other reproductive hormones as ovarian function becomes increasingly unpredictable

🧠 Your brain on perimenopause - why changing estrogen signalling can affect memory, concentration, motivation, mood and emotional regulation

😡 Anxiety, irritability and rage - why women can suddenly feel less emotionally resilient or simply not quite like themselves

🔥 Hot flushes and night sweats - what happens to the brain's temperature-control system and why tiny changes in body temperature can suddenly trigger an enormous physiological response

😴 Sleep disruption - why perimenopause can completely dismantle sleep and how poor sleep can then amplify mood, cognition, appetite, pain and stress

⚖️ Weight and metabolic changes - why body composition and fat distribution can begin changing even when you're doing many of the same things you've always done

🥗 Gut and food changes - why some women notice digestive symptoms or find that foods, caffeine or alcohol they previously tolerated suddenly seem to affect them differently

🦴 Aching joints, muscles and bones - the emerging concept of the musculoskeletal syndrome of menopause and why estrogen matters far beyond reproduction

💔 Trauma and the nervous system - why this transition can feel particularly destabilising when your nervous system is already carrying a significant stress or trauma load

And perhaps most importantly, we talk about something women desperately need to hear:

These symptoms aren't random.

Perimenopause is not simply your periods becoming irregular. It's a major biological transition involving hormone-sensitive systems throughout the brain and body.

Understanding that changes the conversation from:

“What on earth is wrong with me?”

to:

“Okay. Now I understand what's happening. What can I do about it?”

And that's exactly where Part Two: The Perimenopause Survival Guide Nobody Gave Us begins (stay tuned for Episode 17 for that).

🎧 If you're somewhere in your late 30s, 40s or 50s and wondering why your body or brain suddenly seems to be operating by a completely different set of rules, start here.

Topics Covered: Perimenopause, Menopause, Estrogen, Progesterone, Brain Fog, Anxiety, Rage, Hot Flushes, Night Sweats, Sleep, Weight Gain, Metabolism, Gut Health, Joint Pain, Musculoskeletal Syndrome of Menopause, Trauma, Nervous System, Women's Health.

Autism is not a disease to be cured or a behaviour to be fixed. It's a different way of experiencing, processing, and responding to the world. Yet for many autistic people, living in a world that wasn't designed for their nervous system can be deeply exhausting, and, at times, traumatic.

In this episode, Adele and Dr Lindsay Aikman explore autism through a compassionate, evidence-based, and trauma-informed lens, moving beyond outdated stereotypes to understand the unique strengths and challenges of the autistic nervous system.

Together, they unpack:

🧠 What autism really is and why it's so much more than social communication differences

⚡ How the autistic nervous system processes sensory information, emotion, and stress differently

👂 The vital role of sensory processing, masking, and autistic burnout

💔 How repeated experiences of misunderstanding, exclusion, and chronic overwhelm can contribute to anxiety, trauma, and emotional exhaustion

🔬 The latest science on autism, including common co-occurring conditions such as ADHD, anxiety, sensory processing differences, and other neurodevelopmental profiles

🌱 Why creating safety, predictability, and genuine acceptance can transform wellbeing for autistic individuals across the lifespan

Rather than asking, "How do we make autistic people fit the world?", this episode asks a different question:

"How do we better understand and support an autistic nervous system in a world that often misunderstands it?"

This is a thoughtful, compassionate conversation about neurodiversity, resilience, and what it means to thrive without trying to become someone you're not. Whether you're autistic yourself, parenting an autistic child, supporting someone you love, or simply wanting to understand autism more deeply, this episode offers practical insights grounded in both science and humanity.

🎧 Join us as we explore autism beyond the stereotypes—and discover why understanding the nervous system changes everything.

Topics Covered: Autism, Neurodiversity, Sensory Processing, Autistic Burnout, Masking, ADHD, Anxiety, Trauma-Informed Care, Nervous System Regulation, Autism Research, Psychology.

For decades, ADHD has been described as a disorder of attention. But what if we've been looking at it the wrong way?

In this episode, Adele and Dr Lindsay Aikman explore the growing understanding of ADHD as a condition that is fundamentally about self-regulation, executive functioning, and managing the brain's resources, not simply paying attention.

Together, they unpack:

🧠 Why ADHD isn't an inability to pay attention, but a difficulty regulating attention, emotion, motivation, and behaviour

⚡ The role of executive functioning, working memory, emotional regulation, and impulse control

🔬 What neuroscience tells us about dopamine, motivation, and why ADHD brains often struggle to engage with tasks that aren't immediately rewarding

🌪️ Why many people with ADHD experience rejection sensitivity, emotional overwhelm, burnout, and difficulties managing everyday life

👂 The often-overlooked connection between ADHD and sensory processing differences and why understanding your sensory profile can completely change how you manage your symptoms

💊 The role of stimulant medication, what we know about its benefits and limitations, and why medication is only one part of long-term ADHD management

🌱 Practical strategies for building capacity, working with your nervous system, and creating environments that support your brain rather than constantly fighting against it

This episode moves beyond outdated stereotypes and explores ADHD through a compassionate, evidence-based lens. Rather than asking why people with ADHD can't concentrate, we ask a different question:

How can we better support a brain that struggles to regulate itself in a world that constantly demands it?

Whether you've been diagnosed with ADHD, suspect you might have it, or love someone who does, this conversation will help you understand why ADHD is about far more than distraction and why effective treatment means understanding the whole person, not just the diagnosis.

🎧 Join us as we challenge the myths surrounding ADHD and explore what it really means to live with a brain that experiences the world differently.

Anxiety isn't simply worrying too much or being unable to relax. It's what happens when your brain becomes so focused on detecting danger that it struggles to recognise when you're actually safe.

In this episode, Adele and Dr Lindsay Aikman explore anxiety through a compassionate, trauma-informed, and neuroscience-based lens, unpacking why the brain can become trapped in survival mode, even when there is no immediate threat.

Together, they explore:

🧠 What anxiety really is and why it's a protective system that's become overactive rather than something that's "wrong" with you

⚡ How the brain's threat detection system can begin treating everyday situations as dangerous

💔 The role of trauma, chronic stress, attachment experiences, and life adversity in shaping an anxious nervous system

🔬 What happens in the brain and body during anxiety, including the role of the amygdala, stress hormones, and the autonomic nervous system

🌪️ Why anxiety shows up in so many different ways, from panic attacks and health anxiety to social anxiety, overthinking, perfectionism, and constant hypervigilance

🌱 Why reassurance, avoidance, and control can unintentionally keep anxiety alive and what actually helps the nervous system relearn safety

Rather than asking, "How do I stop feeling anxious?", this episode asks a different question:

"What would it take for my brain to believe I'm safe again?"

This is a compassionate, evidence-based conversation that moves beyond symptom management to explore the deeper biological and psychological processes that drive anxiety. Because healing isn't about eliminating fear, it's about helping your brain rediscover safety, flexibility, and trust.

🎧 Join us as we explore why anxiety develops, why it persists, and how recovery begins when we stop fighting the nervous system and start understanding it.

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder isn't about being neat, organised, or liking things a certain way. It's about what happens when the brain becomes convinced that uncertainty itself is dangerous.

In this episode, Adele and Dr Lindsay Aikman explore OCD through both a scientific and trauma-informed lens, asking what happens when a nervous system becomes trapped in an endless search for safety. Because beneath the rituals, checking, reassurance-seeking, and intrusive thoughts is often a person trying desperately to prevent something catastrophic from happening.

Together, they explore:

🧠 Why OCD is driven by an intolerance of uncertainty rather than a desire for perfection

⚡ How the brain's threat detection system becomes overactive, convincing us that "just in case" rituals are necessary for survival

🌀 The many faces of OCD, including intrusive thoughts, relationship OCD, health OCD, contamination fears, moral and religious OCD, magical thinking, and the relentless need to make things feel "just right"

💔 How early experiences of unpredictability, trauma, shame, or chronic emotional invalidation can shape a nervous system that struggles to tolerate uncertainty

🔬 What neuroscience tells us about the brain circuits involved in OCD and why compulsions temporarily relieve distress while strengthening the cycle over time

🌱 Why healing isn't about achieving certainty, but gradually teaching the nervous system that uncertainty is survivable

Rather than asking, "What's wrong with this person?", this episode asks a different question:

"What happened that made the brain believe certainty was the only path to safety?"

This is a compassionate, evidence-based conversation that moves beyond stereotypes to explore the deeper psychological and neurobiological processes that keep OCD alive and why recovery is possible when we learn to build safety from within rather than chasing certainty outside ourselves.

🎧 Join us as we explore one of mental health's most misunderstood conditions and discover why freedom from OCD begins not with finding the right answer, but with learning that you can survive not knowing.