The Biology of Trauma® With Dr. Aimie

Does trauma affect our methylation process and our body's capacity to detox?

Trauma doesn't just live in our minds; it resides in our cells, influencing fundamental biological processes. One of these processes is detoxification, our body's natural ability to eliminate harmful substances. When trauma is stored in the body, it affects the biology of our detoxification pathways, making it harder for us to rid ourselves of toxins.

A build-up of toxins can impede our progress in trauma therapy and healing. It's a two-way street: trauma affects our ability to detoxify, and toxins affect our ability to process and release trauma. 

I am very excited about our guest today since he has been a leader in implementing mental health nutrition at the clinical level. It is hard to be a leader, and I want to acknowledge the effort he has put in to create a different experience for his patients.

Albert Mensah has been a family practice physician for over twenty years now. He received his medical degree from Finch University of Health Sciences, Chicago Medical School, and then completed his residency at Swedish Covenant, leading him to follow a very different path than conventional medical, making his approach to body and biochemical imbalances very unique. 

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• The science behind trauma-toxin connection and provide practical insights on what to do about it 
• Learn to recognize methylation imbalances and its health issues
• Understand how to support your body's detox pathways
• Learn nutritional and diet tools

For more information and show notes, please visit our website: https://biologyoftrauma.com/biology-of-trauma-podcast/

How can we better manage anxiety by decreasing adrenaline levels through our food and eating habits?

In this episode, we will be talking about the major hormone of stress and trauma - adrenaline.  This episode will help you better understand the important role of adrenaline in stress, dsyregulation and stored trauma. Moreover, it will give you knowledge of how to learn more about your adrenaline levels based on your eating habits and the nutritional tools for balancing adrenaline. 

My good friend Luis Mojica, a somatic therapist, nutritionist and a musician is my guest for this episode. 

Like me, he started noticing how his biology and nutrition were affecting somatic work, got curious and started asking questions and testing his theories on himself. 

Luis came into this work through personal experience, having endured a lot of relational trauma in his personal life, he realized he used to binge eat thousands of calories in one sitting just to suppress his anxiety and social fear, until one day, by mistake, he played the guitar. 

This is when he discovered co-regulation and parasympathetic response, and he set off to research other modalities that could also create the same feeling of safety and was led to the type of trauma work he does now. 

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• To track cravings back to childhood when we used food for internal regulation 
• How eating certain types of foods can help us metabolize adrenaline   
• How compulsive eating helps us regulate our nervous system
• What foods lead to experiencing perceived threats and chronic PTSD because of their effect on the adrenal glands
• How can we metabolize excess adrenaline using food
• Somatic practices that can help with accessing stored trauma in our stomach, managing cravings and digestive issues

For more information and show notes, please visit our website: https://biologyoftrauma.com/biology-of-trauma-podcast/

Can lithium influence nervous system dysregulation?

In this episode, we are looking at lithium’s role on the nervous system. You will find that it needs to be central to the conversation for mental health, addiction, and the trauma healing journey, particularly its stabilizing effects on the nervous system.

I have brought in a guest whose work I have high respect for and helped me see the possibilities beyond mood medications for myself. Dr. James Greenblatt has been in clinical practice since 1988 and is the founder and pioneer in the field of integrative and functional psychiatry.

In this episode, you’ll learn the role of lithium in helping a dysregulated nervous system become more flexible, regulated and stable:

• Lithium's role in impulsivity 
• The interface between lithium and the immune system
• The use of lithium for depression, suicidal thoughts and addiction
• Why you should understand your family’s mental health history prior to considering lithium treatment
• What other symptoms might indicate the need for a lithium treatment
• How lithium interacts with other minerals like copper and zinc

For more information and show notes, please visit our website: https://biologyoftrauma.com/biology-of-trauma-podcast/

Does growing up in chaos impact our nervous systems even as adults?

In this episode, we are looking at early childhood dynamics and how it’s expressed in adulthood through unconscious behaviors and coping mechanisms.

I have brought in a guest who is especially dear to my heart and has played a very significant and pivotal role in my own journey. Dr. Tian Dayton specializes in addiction and trauma, especially when it comes to speaking to the adult child of an alcoholic.

Dr. Dayton is also a leading voice in psychodrama, and she has a very incredible way of combining movement and the body with it, which gives her patients the opportunity to access different times in their past, be able to role play with them and give them a voice that they did not have before.

In this episode you'll learn:

• The kind of coping mechanisms we develop in response to early trauma
• The importance of integrating movement and emotional expression in therapy 
• The importance of physical touch and intimacy in early childhood development
• How perceived sense of danger can lead to a collapse in the nervous system
• What kind of environments provide the structure needed for trauma resolution

For more information and show notes, please visit our website: https://biologyoftrauma.com/biology-of-trauma-podcast/

What 2 Neuroscience Features Will Reinforce chronic pain and make it habitual?

In this episode, we are joined by Dr. Howard Schubiner, board certified in pediatrics, adolescent medicine, internal medicine and a leading voice in the mind body medicine field. 

We’ll be discussing how the brain regulates and generates a wide range of chronic symptoms, from pain to fatigue to anxiety and how to understand when these symptoms are mind-body related. 

His research and clinical experience led him to develop therapies that help to effectively "unlearn" these chronic symptoms by addressing the underlying neural circuits and emotional factors driving these psychophysiological conditions. 

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• Predictive processing and the brain’s role in chronic pain
• The role of emotional injuries and neural circuit pain in chronic conditions
• How pain can become habitual and reinforced by fear and conditioned responses
• Why you should treat the brain like a child and the principle of graded exposure
• How Internal Family Systems can be used to address fear and anger towards sensations and pain

For more information and show notes, please visit our website: https://biologyoftrauma.com/biology-of-trauma-podcast/

How can we change our biochemistry to change our trauma responses?

In this episode, we are looking at thoughts and behavior through hormones, metabolism and biochemistry. 

I have brought in a distinguished guest, Dr. Robert Lustig, a pioneering neuroendocrinologist. A neuroendocrinologist is someone who studies and works with the intersection of the nervous system with the endocrine system, or hormones. His work has been instrumental in understanding metabolic disorders and their role in stress and mood. 

He had a big influence on me as I came into functional medicine in search of answers for my own health issues during my surgery residency. His work on metabolic chronic health issues, obesity, diabetes, and metabolic syndrome, was fascinating, especially coming in with my background, with a Masters degree in biochemistry. It helped to make sense of what I was experiencing in my own physiology, health and mood at the time.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Whether the global epidemic of chronic health problems are a result of separate issues or part of a single larger root issue in our stress resilience and physiology.
• The four "brakes" of the amygdala in fear conditioning 
• How our metabolism influences serotonin and our stress and mood regulation
• The intersection of our metabolism, cortisol, and insulin on depression 
• How our thoughts and actions are created at the cellular level by biochemistry and proteins

For more information and show notes, please visit our website: https://biologyoftrauma.com/biology-of-trauma-podcast/

How can tapping on specific points on the body help regulate the autonomic nervous system and promote holistic wellness?

 I'm really excited for this episode because we're talking about acupuncture and meridian points on our body as a tool to work with our trauma. 

We're going to hear the powerful story of Jennifer Partridge, a friend of mine, who found EFT tapping and it changed her life and helped to reverse her colitis. The outcome was so profound that she made it her life's purpose to empower others through tapping and the gift of emotional mastery that it brings.

Jennifer is a world renowned tapping expert, author and speaker. Not only will she explain how to use tapping to reduce physical symptoms and relax the nervous system, but she'll also explain how she uses tapping to enliven the system and tap into your purpose. 

In this episode, you will learn about:

• The possibilities with tapping and reducing various physical health problems
• How to integrate Chinese medicine, energy healing and Western medicine
• How trauma affects the autonomic nervous system and why this leads to chronic health issues
• Methods to create a safe environment that allow us to access and work through buried traumas
• How tapping techniques can help with inner child work
• Understand the importance of setting energetic boundaries to prevent the absorption of others’ stress and emotions

For more information and show notes, please visit our website: https://biologyoftrauma.com/biology-of-trauma-podcast/

How can authenticity help us heal from trauma and achieve deeper, more intimate relationships?

Dr. Aimie Apigian is joined by Dr. Peter Levine, the pioneer of Somatic Experiencing, to discuss how trauma disrupts our connection to our authentic selves, which in turn affects our ability to form deep, meaningful relationships. Together, they will explain how we can begin to restore deep intimacy and connection with others through the practice of somatic healing. Allowing for genuine intimacy and presence in our lives after having experienced trauma.

In this episode, you will learn about:

• How trauma disrupts our authentic self and impacts our relationships
• The significance of authenticity and human connection when it comes to healing this trauma
• How to achieve greater intimacy through authenticity
• How a dysregulated nervous system impacts our ability to achieve our goals and strategies how to manage this
• The connection between the flow state and authenticity
• The importance of authenticity and self-awareness in personal growth

For more information and show notes, please visit our website: https://biologyoftrauma.com/biology-of-trauma-podcast/

How does unresolved trauma disrupt our sleep patterns, and what can we do about it?

I’m thrilled to welcome Dr. Michael Breus, a double board-certified clinical psychologist and clinical sleep specialist. We’ll be discussing the profound effects of trauma on our sleep, exploring how our nervous system processes life experiences and their lasting impact on our rest. Dr. Breus will explain how trauma can disrupt sleep patterns, examine unique case studies from his practice and explore practical solutions for overcoming these challenges.

In this episode, you will learn about:

• How past traumas continue to affect sleep long after the event
• The importance of a felt sense of safety for falling asleep
• The link between freeze response, escapism and sleep and how to stop numbing in order to sleep
• How to discover your chronotype and improve your sleep cycle based on it
• How nightmares prevent emotional processing and how dream therapy can help individuals work through trauma 
• How trauma can make us feel 'wired and tired'
• 2 practical techniques for calming the mind and body before sleep

For more information and show notes, please visit our website: https://biologyoftrauma.com/biology-of-trauma-podcast/

What is the role of genes and epigenetics in trauma at the cellular level?

Joining us today is none other than Dr. Bruce Lipton, an internationally recognized leader in bridging science and spirit. Dr. Lipton will share his pioneering insights into how our perceptions and environment can reshape our biological responses, especially regarding trauma and together we’ll explore the foundational concepts of epigenetics, the role of the environment in gene expression, and how our consciousness plays a crucial role in trauma development.

In this episode, you will learn about:

• Do genes or environment determine our cellular behavior
• How identical cells in different environments perform
• How positive or negative thoughts alter the chemical composition of our blood
• How chronic trauma affects our epigenetics making us more susceptible to diseases
• The cause of cancer through the eyes of epigenetics and 
• Practical tools to apply the principles of epigenetics and consciousness to your life to promote an innate state of healing

For more information and links for this episode, please visit our website: https://biologyoftrauma.com/biology-of-trauma-podcast/