So walk us through a little bit of the difference, complex trauma.

Sure.

I mean, there's all kinds of trauma.

There's the kind of trauma in the-- what people tend to think of is, oh, a plane crash, or somebody dies, or something terrible happens to your life.

But complex trauma is a little more like what wasn't there.

Um, a good attachment to somebody, a good feeling about being able to come home at the end of the day and have somebody greet you with open arms.

Um, when we have attachment problems, when we have uncertainty about who's going to be there for us or who's going to be good or who's, who's not going to be good- We don't grow up with a very good feeling about ourselves, and this can happen at any point in life.

So talk to me about the injury of attachment dysfunctions.

I hate the word triggered

and people use trigger all the time because I mean, when you pull a trigger, you set something in motion and there's no more controlling it.

And people use that as an excuse for why they become angry with people, why they go off on people, why they, you know, can create emotional damage.

But I prefer the term activation because when you feel something stir that nervous system, when you feel something making those thoughts start to happen, It's an activation, and you have a choice right then.

The bullet doesn't just go flying from the end of the gun.

You have a choice of paths ahead of you.

I sometimes use a metaphor of like an open palm.

How can childhood experiences continue affecting someone's dickens later, even when they consciously believe they have moved on?