Rachael, a trauma therapist and today's storyteller, describes how her early childhood abuse was buried by the protective mechanism of dissociative amnesia.  As Rachael wrote to Dr. H, “The only way I could continue to live, with no way out, with no one to tell, with no words even to describe what was happening to me, was to forget what was happening to me….when our minds forget, our bodies remember.”

Rachael saved herself by forgetting, then was forced to finally face what happened to her when her body carried out its ultimate rebellion in the context of having her third child, her first girl….a little baby girl, with no one to protect her….or at least that’s what the terrible and unrelenting obsessions began to say.

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Rachael Parsons Svendsen

https://www.rachaelsvendsen.com/

Explore the full BFTA Content Catalog:
A listener-built, human-curated index of every Back From The Abyss episode to help you find themes, topics, and episode formats of interest.
Best viewed on a laptop or desktop (not mobile).
Content Catalog (in Google Sheets): https://bftapod.short.gy/index

"I Love You, I Hate You, Are You My Mom?"  An intensive experiential workshop exploring transference with Dr. H and Dr. Hillary McBride, Feb 4th-6th 2026 in Joshua Tree, CA 

https://www.craigheacockmd.com/i-love-you-i-hate-you-are-you-my-mom/

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