The Biology of Trauma® With Dr. Aimie

Are you trying to work caring for others while navigating your own chronic health symptoms? In this episode, we'll take a look at one woman's decade-long battle with a chronic illness and the actions she took to build and maintain her practice. Helga Byrne, worked years in corporate, but wanted a more meaningful life. Becoming a licensed therapist, she spent years struggling with a chronic health...

Can your body be stuck in trauma or grief? In this mini episode, Dr. Aimie is answering a listener's question about why her physical symptoms are still bothering her a year after a loved one's death. She dives into why the normal approach to self care won't work and how creating safety can allow the trauma and grief to move through the body instead of staying stuck. Dr. Aimie goes into the biology...

"Emotions need motion" - Paul Denniston Grief is an emotion that many of us try to avoid. But what happens when we don't let it out? In this episode, we explore how hidden grief can get stuck in the body, causing tight shoulders, stomach pain, and nonstop anxiety. Paul Denniston, founder of Grief Yoga, joins Dr. Aimie to explain that grief doesn't simply disappear when ignored. Instead, it hides i...

Preventing people from moving when something terrible happens is what makes trauma a trauma. In this mini episode, Dr. Aimie dives into the biology behind why not being able to move (either physically or internally) can create trauma. She looks more closely at the moment in the trauma response that she calls "hitting the wall" - the pivotal point where we feel powerless and our physiology shifts f...

In response to overwhelm, the body tries to keep one safe in different ways. Sometimes our body feels so shaken and shocked that it makes our mind need to disconnect from the pain of it. This is called dissociating. Yet, the body still remembers what happened. The impact to our biology doesn't go away just because we don't understand or remember something. The impact is how the body keeps track of...

Are you or someone you know feeling stuck in trauma patterns despite years of therapy and personal work? In this mini episode, Dr. Aimie is answering a question about whether there might be a biological component hindering a persons attachment repair progress. Dr. Aimie will buliding off of her conversation with Dr. Jason Loken in Episode 115. She'll be diving deeper into the 3 common biochemical...

Are you or those you help seemingly doing all "right things" but still feeling stuck? That competitive drive, those controlling tendencies, or that persistent anxiety might actually be rooted in our biochemistry. In this episode, Dr. Aimie sits down with Dr. Jason Loken to explore how hidden biochemical imbalances can create patterns of depression, anxiety, and behavioral challenges that talk ther...

Are you or someone you know struggling with the weight of grief, feeling disconnected, exhausted, or immobilized? In this short episode, Dr. Aimie will expand on her conversation with Dr. Mary-Frances O'Connor from episode 114. She will dive deeper into the neurobiology of grief and its impact on the body. You'll hear more on: The three survival mechanisms of grief-related trauma Why grief can tri...

Are you or someone you know struggling with unexplained anxiety, fatigue, or reactivity? In this short episode, Dr. Aimie dives deep into the conversation she had with Dr. Neil Nathan in episode 113 about how hidden infections like mold toxicity and Lyme disease can create a "biology of threat" within your body. She'll explore: How mold and Lyme can trigger physiological symptoms that mimic trauma...

Are you ready to unlock your brain's hidden power? Today, Dr. Aimie will be taking a closer look at the key takeaways from her conversation with Dr. Greg Kelly. She will be going into the biology behind the brain's capacity and what you can do to improve yours. She'll talk about: Removing stressors that are taking up brain capacity Why creating more brain capacity is key long-term Simple tools to...

Of all the different aspects of trauma biology, brain inflammation is the one that will hold you back when it comes to the therapy, trauma work and personal development you're trying to do. In this short episode, Dr. Aimie will share her top takeaways and action steps from episode 110 with Dr. Datis Kharrazian. She'l go into the biology behind brain inflammation in therapy and trauma work. You'll...

Is your biology making it easier to fall into addiction? Today, Dr. Aimie is taking a closer look at this question and other key takeaways from her conversation with the late Dr. Charles Gant around addiction. You'll hear more on: Biological factors that may push someone towards addiction The role of the freeze response in addiction The 3 main biochemical imbalances that are seen in addiction Want...

Did you know your body's connective tissues might be trapping trauma and toxins? In this short episode, Dr. Aimie is sharing valuable insights from her episode with Dr. Christine Schaffner. She talks about the biology behind how trauma manifests in the body through the extracellular matrix, fascia, and lymphatic system. You'll hear more on: How these connective tissues work The healing sequence to...

" In order to think about grief, first you have to think about love and bonding, because that is what gets lost. That is what gets broken." Dr. Mary-Frances O'Connor Understanding why grief feels so physical, why someone still reaches for the phone to call someone who's gone, or why certain memories can trigger intense emotions years after a loss can provide valuable insight for those helping othe...

"If you have a new onset of anxiety or depression that doesn't even make sense to you, think of a more physical cause." - Dr. Neil Nathan Do you have issues with focus, concentration, or even finding the word you want to use? If so, you might be dealing with the hidden effects of mold toxicity and Lyme disease. In this episode, Dr. Aimie sits down with Dr. Neil Nathan to discuss how mold toxicity...

Have you ever felt like your body is stuck in survival mode, holding onto stress and tension no matter how hard you try to let it go? What if this instinct to survive is also what drives chronic inflammation, emotional pain, and even long-term illness? Today, Dr. Isaac Eliaz joins Dr. Aimie to explore the concept of the survival paradox. This process is what keeps your body on high alert and affec...

Have you ever felt like stress is draining your energy, focus, and resilience—no matter how much you try to manage it? What if stress isn't just about what's happening around you, but about how your brain and body process it behind the scenes? In this episode, Dr. Greg Kelly joins Dr. Aimie to dive into the hidden biology of stress and uncover how it consumes your mental bandwidth, disrupts your b...

Are brain fog, fatigue, and mental exhaustion holding you back? These symptoms aren't just stress-related or signs of aging. They're often caused by hidden brain inflammation! In this episode, my guest, Dr. Datis Kharrazian, and I discuss neuroinflammation – What it is, what causes it, and how it affects brain function, mood, and overall health. You'll discover how factors like stress, diet, gut h...

Is our biology predisposing us to addictive tendencies? Addiction isn't just about willpower—it's deeply rooted in biology. Today, we dive into how our own biology can make it easier to fall into an addiction and make it harder to break free. Why is that though? Because it gives us leverage points to both prevent or treat addictions. Similar to trying to treat trauma just with therapy and not incl...

How does trauma impact the "hidden spaces" of our body, making emotions and toxins deeply connected? Welcome to today's episode, where we're diving into a fascinating frontier of healing that might just explain why traditional approaches to trauma and chronic pain sometimes fall short. Whether you're a practitioner working with clients or patients or someone on your own healing journey, you've lik...

What are common beliefs we form about ourselves that leave us unable to connect, trust and receive love later as adults? Have you ever wondered why success doesn't automatically translate to feeling fulfilled? Or why, despite all our achievements, there's still that nagging feeling that we need to prove ourselves? Today's episode sharing an adoption story might just explain why. Today, JJ Virgin j...

Have you ever wondered why you are so reactive - to people, foods, smells, sounds and stress - while other people around you seem completely fine? You are going in overdrive or even going into overwhelm, and think you just must be having a bad day or looking for what triggered you. The answer might surprise you. A specific cell of your immune system, mast cells, could be actually causing trauma re...

How does mold and stored trauma in the body create a feedback cycle that makes us susceptible to the other? Studies are confirming that common mental health symptoms, like depression and anxiety, are associated with brain inflammation. I want to share with you some two often overlooked sources of brain inflammation and emotional fragility, toxins from mold exposure and Lyme infection. More importa...

Have you ever wondered if you have an addiction? Maybe you have openly struggled with one or know someone with one? As an addiction medicine physician, there are more people than the studies estimate who live with an addiction, either because they don't know yet or because no one is asking them the questions to have it be documented. People pull me aside at social events and want to ask me if they...

What does it mean that our behaviors, conscious and unconscious, serve as state propellers, actually giving us exactly what we need in the moment, whether energy or numbing and disconnecting? By answering this question in this episode, you will not only come to understand yourself better, and why you reach for that second or third cup of coffee or binge watch T.V. shows, but it will give you new e...