Cycle Breaker and Change Maker with Renata Ortega

  Episode 26: Understanding the Flight Response to Trauma   Hello and welcome back to the Cycle Breaker and Change Maker podcast. If you’ve been following along, you know that we are diving deep into the Five F’s of Trauma Response. Last time, we explored the Fight response—what it looks like, why it develops, and how to manage it. Today, we’re moving on to the second response: Flight.  The flight...

What is the Fight Response? When the brain perceives danger, it quickly assesses whether fighting back is the best chance of survival. This response is hardwired into us. Think about animals in the wild—when faced with a threat, some stand their ground, puff up their chests, and prepare to defend themselves. Humans do the same thing, but in more complex ways. The fight response isn’t just about ph...

If you’ve been following along, you know that I like to take a deep dive into how trauma shapes our behaviors and responses to the world around us. Today, I’m introducing something that will lay the foundation for our next few episodes: the Five F’s of Trauma Response. This is a concept that explains how our brains and bodies react when we feel threatened, even if the threat is no longer present....

  Episode 23 - Introduction to not being able to stay present as a trauma response Are you finding it difficult to stay in the moment, constantly feeling like your mind is re-living the past or in a constant state of worry about the future? Do you often catch yourself losing focus during conversations because you are preoccupied with other thoughts or, perhaps you  disconnect and dissociate during...

Introduction to Not Being Seen as a Trauma Response Have you ever felt invisible in your relationships, friendships, or even in your workplace? Perhaps you feel like your needs, thoughts, and feelings don’t matter, or that others rarely acknowledge your contributions or presence. Do you find yourself retreating or staying quiet, even when you’re desperate to speak up? If so, this might be a result...

 How to manage through the Holiday season as a person coping with  trauma  If you are living with trauma, the holidays may be a time that you are dreading.  You may be overwhelmed and anxious about being around people you do not really want to be with.  You may not feel that you can manage all of the pressures the traditional Holiday season can bring. These can be financial pressures, social press...

Episode 20 - Introduction to entering controlling relationships as a trauma response Are you in a relationship personal or professional with someone that makes you feel powerless or scared?  Maybe they hold grudges constantly over issues that are actually trivial?  Perhaps they make you feel like you cannot do anything right ever, or that there is something wrong with you?   Or maybe you are in a...

Episode 19 -Introduction to emotional numbness as a trauma response Have you ever experienced a change in your emotional experience, as if your emotions became something you started to have restricted access to? Or perhaps, have your emotions started to feel  completely inaccessible?  Maybe you have experienced a feeling of distance and detachment from others, and have developed a strong preferenc...

Episode 18 - Introduction to people pleasing and ignoring your own needs Do you overcommit to activities or responsibilities that others ask of you? Do you ever find yourself saying yes to everything or struggling to ever say the word no to others?  Maybe you often find that you are saying yes to work or personal commitments, despite having too much of a work or personal load already.  Maybe you e...

Episode 17 - Introduction to Overworking and Workaholic behavior as a Trauma Response Overworking happens when you are exceeding your capacity at work - this capacity can be physical, mental or emotional.  Overworking occurs when you work too long, too hard or too much.  Similarly to overworking, workaholics have an inability to control the time they spend on work, even if working has negative hea...

Episode 16 - Introduction to the Emotional Recovery from a Critical Illness  When you make it through a critical illness you might expect to feel happy, relieved and even energized.  You may think that you should be ready to move on with your life and leave that awful event in the past where it supposedly belongs.  Afterall, you have overcome the illness or at least the illness’s current hurdle. ...

Today's episode is an explanation of why people do not step in to stop abuse and a guide to giving help to someone you suspect is being abused. If anyone that did not step in and help me is listening today - I understand why you couldn't then but I need you to know that it is not too late to help others now.   When I was growing up, many parts of my family's situation were kept buri...

Episode 14 - Introduction to Oversharing In today’s episode I will be discussing oversharing as it relates to a trauma response and providing a three steps to help you overcome oversharing.  Divulging excessive information quickly in a relationship is a very common pattern in people who have experienced trauma.  Do you ever find yourself explaining things without limits to the wrong person and may...

In today's episode I will be discussing overthinking.   In my last episode I discussed catastrophizing, I consider overthinking to be catastrophizing’s equally unhelpful sibling.  Overthinking and catastrophizing can stem from similar pasts as a way to cope with trauma, however, like siblings they have their own unique elements.  Do you ever find yourself constantly ruminating, going over a s...

Episode 12 - Introduction to Catastrophizing In today's episode I will be discussing catastrophizing.  If you have ever found yourself jumping to the worst case scenario and predicting and preparing for the most awful outcomes all the time you could be experiencing catastrophizing as a result of trauma. The interesting thing that most people don’t know about catastrophizing is that it is a me...

Episode 11 - Introduction to fierce independence or hyper-independence and the inability to ask for help In today's episode I will be discussing fierce independence, also referred to as hyper-independence as it relates to trauma.  If you find it extremely difficult to ask for and to receive help, push people trying to help you away and have a preference of doing everything by yourself, you co...

In today's episode I will be discussing lack of accountability in relationships, why this happens and how this contributes to a negative cycle.    If you have ever explained to someone how something they did to you hurt you and experienced them completely denying, disregarding or even blaming you for what happened, you may have experienced a lack of accountability.  Victims of childhood traum...

Todays episode is an Introduction to the invisibility of abuse.  You may be wondering what happened in my household and how the abuse I endured or anyone endures, can go unseen. Most of us are familiar with the age-old adage - things are not always what they seem.  In today's world we are surrounded by social media.  For the most part, users control the way the world sees them and only share...

This episode features an introduction to anticipatory fear - also referred to as fear of what is going to happen next or dreading the future and anticipatory anxiety,  If you have ever experienced worry about something that has not happened yet you have experienced anticipatory fear or anxiety.  As a primal need to feel safe in the future, this fear makes complete sense.  However, for some, this f...

Video link to episode is: here (https://youtu.be/HIe_IUu-R4k) So what exactly is a critical illness? A critical illness can be a progressive, degenerative or malignant condition that places a person’s life in jeopardy.  It may also be a medical condition in which immediate medical support of vital organ functions is needed in order to survive due to severe illness or major surgery.   My story: Fro...

We know enough about negative intergenerational trauma cycles to understand they are unhealthy and dangerous and that there is a huge personal and financial cost.  However, what are we truly doing as a movement to prevent this?  There are people trying to make a difference yet why has this not taken off when so many I would argue lesser important trends and issues have? I am proof that one can hea...

Episode 5 - Introduction To Triggers - emotional triggers, mental health triggers or psychological triggers In today's episode I will be discussing an introduction to emotional, mental health or psychological triggers.  It is important to understand that not all strong emotional reactions are a trigger response - if you are grieving the death of a loved one it is appropriate to have intense e...

Episode 4 - Introduction to letting go  In today's episode I will focus on an introduction to letting people go.  This can be a friend, a colleague, a relative or anyone that is in your life that is not serving you well.   So what exactly does letting go of someone mean?  I will be discussing letting go of a relationship in the following framework: You have already accepted how a relationship...

This episode is all about abandonment, what it is, what it can cause and how to break its vicious cycle.  You may be surprised at the amount of events that can lead to abandonment trauma.  Additionally you will also learn how I almost lost my life when I was abandoned an how I have overcome my fears of being alone. Support the show Thank you for listening to todays episode! I would love to hear fr...

In today’s episode I will be discussing the cycle of getting into repeated negative relationships.  Negative relationships can include intimate partners, friendships, supervisors and any other relationships that occur in your life where you have a connection and repeated interactions with another person. You will hear about my personal experience and how I broke the negative relationships cycle ch...