Jun 18, 2026 · 1 hr 50 min · 11 segments
You know that book your friend recommended? The one that rigorously describes the science of trauma, de-stigmatizes abuse and promotes effective treatments? Well here’s the thing: It doesn't actually…
Michael HobbesHost
Peter ShamshiriHost
So for this episode, I talked to four different psychologists, all of whom either specialize in trauma or see a lot of patients who've experienced trauma, and all of them said that this was an important kind of corrective to the field and an important way of broadcasting to the more general public the idea that when you are traumatized, that has physical symptoms, right? It shows up in your sleep.
It shows up in all of these ways that don't necessarily feel like trauma to you, right? It doesn't feel like a trauma response.
That was like really healing for people to be like, oh, it's not that I'm broken.
The other thing that I think was really important about this book is the idea of complex PTSD.
The previous kind of old-school understanding of PTSD was that you had to experience a major single event.
You experienced a sexual assault, or you were in combat, or you i- were in a car accident.
And I also think that's like a really important reframing both within psychology and also among the public.
Because that goes contra what The Sopranos said about Tony having anxiety attacks whenever he saw meat-
... because he traced it to his father's criminal activity when he was young.
So one of the critiques that you always hear of books like this that are kind of individually focused efforts to help you deal with your trauma or self-help books in general is that they don't talk about structural forces, right?
So for this episode, I talked to four different psychologists, all of whom either specialize in trauma or see a lot of patients who've experienced trauma, and all of them said that this was an important kind of corrective to the field and an important way of broadcasting to the more general public the idea that when you are traumatized, that has physical symptoms, right? It shows up in your sleep.
It shows up in all of these ways that don't necessarily feel like trauma to you, right? It doesn't feel like a trauma response.
That was like really healing for people to be like, oh, it's not that I'm broken.
The other thing that I think was really important about this book is the idea of complex PTSD.
The previous kind of old-school understanding of PTSD was that you had to experience a major single event.
You experienced a sexual assault, or you were in combat, or you i- were in a car accident.
And I also think that's like a really important reframing both within psychology and also among the public.
Because that goes contra what The Sopranos said about Tony having anxiety attacks whenever he saw meat-
... because he traced it to his father's criminal activity when he was young.
So one of the critiques that you always hear of books like this that are kind of individually focused efforts to help you deal with your trauma or self-help books in general is that they don't talk about structural forces, right?
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