United States of PTSD

Send us Fan Mail Erika gives and update on what is happening on the ground in Phoenix, where extreme heat makes shade and hydration a matter of life and death, and where the gap between need and available shelter beds turns “public order” policies into survival crises. We also unpack how mutual aid gets targeted, why lawsuits matter, and what it means when a city’s response leans on policing inste...

Send us Fan Mail Matt opens up about a follow up to his experience with a Men's Group.  The group sent out an all user email with all of the attendees home addresses to each other.  Matt talks about why this is concerning as two things happened.  The first being that there is no valid form that was signed to authorize this to happen.  We talk about contact information would reasonable be defi...

Send us Fan Mail Matt reflects on a retreat and discussed the pro's and con's of peer led support groups.  This is the first episode is a mini series topic about when therapy is weaponized.   Matt talks about the effectiveness of peer groups, in terms of creating a mutual safe space that lacks professional power differentials.  Matt and Erika discuss how this can be an asset to people wh...

Send us Fan Mail Ali shares her story of growing up with a parent who struggles with addiction and behaviors associated with it.  Ali candidly talks about how she learned to cope and how difficult it was for her to come to terms with some of her mother's behaviors.  We discuss the unique and powerful bond from child to mother and how we can compartmentalize to protect our own sanity.  Ali des...

Send us Fan Mail Gaslighting is more than just someone “lying.” It’s the slow, repeated pressure that makes you question your memory, minimize your needs, and hand over your trust in your own judgment. Erika and I explore what this looks like at a deeper level and how it can create PTSD in us.  This extends further when political rhetoric and gaslighting become synonymous.  We talked about how cap...

Send us Fan Mail Another mass shooting occurs in RI while our political system continues to dole out empty thoughts a prayers.  I intentionally did not use the name of the shooter in the podcast, because I believe in taking away the identity of people who engage in atrocities.  As a society we have made murder porn and crime shows our bread and butter.  This is part of the PTSD epidemic.   Since w...

Send us Fan Mail Erika and I wanted to start off season 4 by acknowledging that many of us are having WTF moments.  In the 4 weeks that took off there have been multiple assassinations by ICE/Gestapo/IDF, while multiple genocides continue and they are funded by the US.  We have seen the release of the Epstein Files and we are currently reading through them.   We hope each and every person will con...

Send us Fan Mail We came back from our planned break to speak about the Brown University shooting, the weight of living near it, and the everyday systems that fail to protect people. Healthcare costs, campus safety, and community care weave into a candid, grounded conversation. • premium spikes, broken enrollment, and access gaps • moral injury of vulnerability in a crisis • what the videos miss a...

Send us Fan Mail Happy Holidays everyone.  See you in 2026 and thank you for all the support.   Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/hartzmann/no-time-to-die License code: S4CEQWLNQXVZUMU4 Artwork and logo design by Misty Rae.  Special thanks to Joanna Roux for editing help. Special thanks to the listeners and all the wonderful people who helped listen to and provide feed...

Send us Fan Mail Wendy returns for reunion episode.  Per listener request Matt shares some of his own personal trauma and how it impacted his relationships before and after his resolution.   Below is the poem I wrote when I was 33.  This is how raw the feelings were back then.  Thankfully the pain has been healed.   I am a bastard, thanks to you. I bet 33 years ago you never imagined, your pollute...

Send us Fan Mail Starvation isn’t a metaphor—it’s policy made real. Erika and I sit down on Halloween.  A holiday that is ironically about asking for snacks from strangers.   We map how a government shutdown can remove the barely sustainable payment rails for SNAP, why many families get far less than a livable food budget, and how the benefits cliff punishes a $1 raise with thousands lost in child...

Send us Fan Mail We share Lila’s frontline account from Gaza and the mutual aid network she helps lead for children and orphans, weaving her poetry with hard facts about blockade, targeted healthcare, and the human cost of deliberate deprivation. We explain how to get funds and attention to people on the ground and how to build people power where you live. • bonus context for Lila’s interview and...

Send us Fan Mail We unpack reactions to the assassination of Charlie Kirk, the messy truths of trauma responses, and why some grief gets megaphones while other suffering stays invisible. Trauma reactions come in many forms.  But what is it that makes such a tidal wave of reactions when the targets are high profile white men, but a resounding silence when it is from other groups.   • setting intent...

Send us Fan Mail Amy returns to United States of PTSD to complete her powerful story of surviving clergy sexual abuse and the long, winding path to healing through religious deconstruction. Following her abuse at age 15, Amy faced institutional gaslighting from the Catholic Church. Officials questioned what she "did to seduce" the priest and sent her parents a deliberately vague letter w...

Send us Fan Mail Every survivor has a story that deserves to be heard. In this powerful conversation, we're joined by Amy, a social work student and survivor of religious trauma who shares her journey through high-control Catholicism and the devastating abuse she experienced, at the hands of a trusted priest. Amy takes us through her childhood immersed in religious fear – developing religious...

Send us Fan Mail Please welcome guest speaker Julie Botom-Richny Chhay.  Julie shares her family's experience during the Cambodian genocide, drawing parallels to current genocide in Gaza and how generational trauma continues to impact survivors and their descendants. • Cambodia's genocide under Pol Pot's regime killed nearly 2 million people between 1975-1979 • The Khmer Rouge speci...

Send us Fan Mail Dog training experts Zak George and Bree join us to explore the dark side of animal training and how the weaponization of the human-animal bond perpetuates systems of oppression. We examine how our treatment of animals reflects deeper societal values about power, control, and our approach to both animal and human behavior. • Traditional dog training methods often rely on pain and...

Send us Fan Mail John Demarjain shares his emotional journey of coming out as a gay Palestinian American, revealing the complex intersection of cultural identity, family values, and personal authenticity in Western and Middle Eastern contexts. • Western culture emphasizes (by design) individualism and independence, at the cost of community while Middle Eastern culture prioritizes family and religi...

Send us Fan Mail A foreshadowing of the national impending healthcare collapse as we see the beginnings of it in Rhode Island.  As mental health workers face increasing dangers from understaffing, violence, and corporate retaliation against unionization efforts. Matt shares his terrifying classroom experience with possible gunfire, highlighting educators' vulnerability in America's gun v...

Send us Fan Mail In this raw, unedited conversation, we process our emotional responses to the ongoing conflict between Israel and Iran while exploring how intergenerational trauma shapes our understanding of war. • Processing our emotional reactions to Israel's "preemptive strike" otherwise know as a declaration of war against Iran • Examining how media messaging manipulates public...

Send us Fan Mail Matt and Erika explore how people in compassion-based professions navigate feelings of helplessness when confronted with systemic barriers and limitations beyond their control. • The challenges of working in compassion-based professions (healthcare, teaching, social work, veterinary medicine) within systems that often prioritize profit over people • America's dysfunctional re...

Send us Fan Mail Immigration rights are under severe threat as communities across America face increasing persecution and detention without due process, with Kim DeLeon sharing her family's journey through the US immigration system and the fears they still face despite her husband's citizenship. We discuss how the immigration process is far more complex, expensive, and uncertain than mos...

Send us Fan Mail PS: Congress is trying to pass a bill that would prohibit the boycott of the genocidal state of Israel's products. Please contact your rep to tell them to vote against the bill and stop the madness.   H.R.867 - 119th Congress (2025-2026): IGO Anti-Boycott Act | Congress.gov | Library of Congress   Field veterinarian Dr. Kathryn Cehrs shares her experience responding to avian...

Send us Fan Mail Kate, a Ukrainian immigrant living in the US for 25 years, shares her journey navigating American systems while maintaining deep connections to her homeland during Russia's ongoing invasion. • Describes how Russian cultural dominance and systematic erasure of Ukrainian identity extends back centuries, not just since 2014 • Explains coming to America as a young widow seeking o...

Send us Fan Mail Pet grief cuts deeper than many realize. When my beloved cat Hermes passed away recently after 16 incredible years together, I found myself grappling with a profound sense of loss that inspired this raw, emotional episode. The story of Hermes begins in 2009, during a period of personal turmoil when this playful kitten literally ran into my life. Named after the fleet-footed Greek...