1. From Mass Trauma to Collective Healing - The Rules and Regs

Join Dr. Lorie Hood in the inaugural episode of The Traumatic States of America. She will set the foundation, boundaries, and rules for what she envisions will become a microcosm of our society. A group of both non-likeminded and likeminded people who are able to communicate through civil discourse to begin to heal the collective trauma we have suffered.

Transcript

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now stay tuned for another episode of the traumatic states of America. Welcome to the traumatic states of America. Our main goal is to begin to heal some of the trouble we have suffered both individually and collectively. I am your host, Dr Lori Hood and I will be talking with people from all walks of life who has suffered trauma in its myriad forms. Military veterans, attorneys, first responders, football players, stay at home moms and many more. We will hear how trauma has not only affected them, but their families and communities as we take an in depth look at what science has to offer and what can be done to prevent, mitigate and help recover from trauma. Theo Way. Welcome to the very first

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traumatic states of America podcast, where we not only talk about trauma and it's myriad forms. We learned about how trauma affects our brains and bodies and how that, in turn translates to others. I am your host, Dr Lori Hood, and I wont be inviting you into my world. The world of a trauma. Atala, gist and neuropsychologist who was first diagnosed with PTSD a little over a decade ago, World war. I see connections been treating trauma and the opioid crisis, trauma and suicide trauma and bullying and victimisation, but also world where I live with and manage a brain and body that has been traumatized. A perfect storm, if you will not always fun, but definitely a unique perspective. But I also want to learn from it about you. And hopefully we will all learn as we cover everything from the foster care system, an adult literacy to interpersonal violence and mass shootings. All of this and more as guests come on the show and share with us their experiences and perspectives. We will also talk about how we ordinary citizens can consciously choose to come together to find solutions to some of our country's most deeply entrenched issues. But first we have to learn or relearn how to talk to one another, so there will be some rules. They are in this book in my hand, which contains the United States Constitution, complete with preamble, the Declaration of Independence Bill of Rights at amendments, and we will rely on civil discourse which is defined as engagement and conversation intended to enhance understanding. For those of you who like to understand the wise. Like, why is the sky blue? Why do some victims patrolman become bullies? Why do some victims of trauma become victims? Why do you what others become victims and bullies. And yes, that does happen. Why do some people develop PTSD after experiencing the same things as those who don't? Why does she keep asking rhetorical questions? Okay, you know, I'm asking rhetorical questions because hopefully we're gonna answer them at some point. So for those of you, why personalities? This is your show. For those of you who like true human stories, not so much, but for the latter, I promise that the majority of this podcast will be dealing with real people, real events and hopefully, real solutions. Oh, and be ready for really messy stuff. Because guess what? Trauma is messy, really, really messy. For one thing, the field of trauma research has gone through some trauma of its own. We researchers, therapists, counselors, critical incident response leaders for first responders. All of us on the research and clinical side of trauma have been encouraging people to talk about things, talk about their trauma, talk about it, talk about it for years, then a few years ago, some researchers figured out that when people recall trauma and her in a stressed or fight flight state, they can actually be re traumatized. I knew this for my work with and listening to first responders for over a decade. I've heard them say over and over, not ready to talk. I don't want to talk. I just need some time before I talk. But most of them have been forced to talk. Some have even didn't separated, put into an individual rooms for weeks and not allowed to talk to anyone after an incident with a particularly bad outcome. And there were and are, valid legal reasons for a decision like that. But that doesn't take away from the fact that complete isolation after a potentially traumatic event is probably the worst thing possible for someone's mental health. So if a person is still in fight flight mode, the term re psychologist uses over arousal. And yes, I will explain. The terminology is bego because the first time I heard the term over arousal and it's counter term under arousal, I was a bit confused. But for now, let's stick to the fact that researchers and clinicians have been encouraging victims of trauma to talk. So we've got it backwards, folks talking should come last. So if talking should come last than what should come first, the very first thing of victim of trauma needs is to feel physically and emotionally safe. Then they can work on coping techniques, many of which I'll be sharing on future podcasts. Next, a potentially traumatized or victimized person needs to practice calming his or her physical responses. Once all of the's air firmly in place and Onley when they are firmly in place, should someone consider talking about their traumatic experience? The second, messy thing is that we scholars still don't know that much. We know more than we did a decade or two ago, but the human brain and body or complex and we're simply learning as we go Third, we researchers disagree a lot, and I'll address that in the future. Podcast is well, so why did I call this the traumatic states of America? Clearly, I simply replaced united with traumatic Merriam Webster's dictionary defines United as one made one combined to relating to or produced by joint action, which underneath has two definitions. A a united effort or be United family and three in agreement. Harmonious. Webster's defines trump trauma or traumatic as one psychologically or emotionally stressful in a way that can lead to serious mental or emotional problems to broadly causing distress or anxiety. So with these definitions in mind, we could be the combined states of America or the harmonious states of America. But instead we are the anxious states of America and the distressed states of America. I don't know about you, but I don't feel we're united. I feel we're traumatised. The questions are, Have we ever been truly united? If so, when? How for how long and when did it change, or if we have never been truly united than what is standing in our way? Does our country feel united by some of us and not others? These are big questions, and one of the purposes of this podcast is to find the answers not from Congress, attorneys or even the president of the United States. We can apply the very things that have made this country great. And yes, I think our country is still great. Okay, here we go for all you nerds and I'm right there with you. I believe it helps to have definitions and understandings to communicate in. This podcast is all about communicating. So remember the no spin zone. This is like the no judgment zone or the dialogues owner, the civil discourse, his own. I don't know you all let me know your thoughts as we stumble through this together. But we are not going to stumble blindly. We will ground our dialogues in research. Hence the need for a few definitions. We were referred to the founding documents. When we disagree, we need to understand the framers intent. So let's just start with the obvious number one trauma. The field of psychology has put forth many different iterations of the definition of trauma, and historically, we can't agree as a field of study or practice of human psychology on one definition of trauma, at least not for very long. So instead of trying to choose one, I'm going to use my own definition for trauma that I've been using for years. This definition is based in the latest empirical evidence and is the most current understanding of how we humans experience, process and cope with trauma. Trauma is the sensory and emotional experience of feeling overwhelmingly helpless to protect oneself or loved ones many of us air walking around, misdiagnosed, depressed and wondering what's wrong with us. I know, because I did it for years at the terrible place to live. As I mentioned before, I was first diagnosed with PTSD around 2010 after my former husband was removed from her home for family abusing, kidnapping. I get trauma. I have lived in a traumatized body and with a traumatized brain for years. So if you were a trauma survivor or even a citizen who is his bombarded as the rest of us with traumatic and highly stressful images, sounds and events on a daily basis, I'm right here with you. Another definition that is important is something called the window of tolerance, and I'll be using this throughout the podcast to refer to an optimal zone of arousal when someone is what I used to call, topped out or in over arousal or fight flight. So the window of tolerance is very important. The window of tolerance refers to the optimal zone of mental, emotional and or physical challenge. When one's brain gets a threat signal the sympathetic nervous system kicks in and prepares the body to either fight or flee. If during this fighting or fleeing, the individual is overwhelmed and feels helpless, symptoms of Pts or PTSD may result under arousal, often referred to as collapsed is when the body is so overwhelmed and pumping out so many stress hormones that the person literally collapses. The definition of stress is the physiological or psychological response to internal or external stressors. Stress involves changes affecting nearly every system of the body, influencing how people feel and behave. And that is from a p a Dictionary of Psychology 2019 B Use Dress is positive stress, and we don't talk about use dress very much. But use dress involves optimal levels of is stimulation. It's the type of stress that results in challenging but attainable and enjoyable or worthwhile tasks. Again. The A p A Dictionary of Psychology 2019 A. So those are just a few of the definitions. I won't throw them all out you at once, but I will reiterate them, and I will try to insist on discussing trauma with these definitions so that we're all on the same page and I could have a productive conversation. So there are some things that I'm very clear on. This is getting toward the end of the rules and the definitions here. One. There will be respectful conversation on this podcast to you can disagree with someone else all you want, but nobody is better than another here, and I don't care if you're a Rhodes scholar rocket scientists and have five PhDs. You have no more power than anyone else here. And if I see or hear someone using their education or social standing as a means of power to bully another guest or myself, I will ask you politely to modify your behavior. Stick to the topic. However, If you can't, I will call you out. And if you're still bent on quote, winning the conversation rather than moving the collective conversation forward, I'm a mute your mic and disconnect you and you're part of the podcast will be deleted. So I would like to leave you with this. I wrote the introduction to this podcast and the first several podcasts over the last few weeks, but would be lying if I didn't say there was a little bit of joy when I woke up this morning and heard about Chief Justice Roberts admonishment of the president's Council as well as the House managers quote, I think it is appropriate for me to admonish both the House managers and the president's Council on equal terms to remember that they are addressing the world's greatest deliberative body, Roberts said. One reason it has earned this title is because its members avoid speaking in a manner and using language that is not conducive to civil discourse. Thank you,

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Chief Justice Roberts. Thank you for listening to the traumatic states of America. If you would like to learn more about Dr Lori Hood, go to Laurie Hood. Ph d dot com. The Traumatic States of America podcast is produced and engineered by Band Allah Productions at their studio in Washington, D. C.