Stress and Trauma in Adults and Adopted Children with Bryan Post

Bryan Post is an entrepreneur, speaker, author, and founder of Post Institute, an organization dedicated to helping parents heal wounds created by trauma. Post Institute has published over 100 books, DVDs, CDs, audio recordings, webinars, and articles on parenting children who have experienced pre-birth and early life trauma. One of America’s leading child behavior and adoption experts, Bryan has taught and offered love-based, family-centered principles and concepts to over one million parents and professionals worldwide. He also currently serves as the Clinical Director for Parents in Training, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization that provides wraparound services to adoptive families throughout Northern California.

Bryan joins me today to discuss trauma and stress and how we can manage our responses to them. He defines trauma and describes its dynamics in adopted children’s lives. He explains why the loss of someone close to us can cause a physiological disruption and why taking the time to grieve is important. He dissects how trauma causes us to become fearful and stress-sensitive. He also shares what we can learn as adults from soothing a child who’s having a tantrum at the supermarket and underscores how we can learn to work through fear-based anxiety and stress responses by practicing mindful breathing.

“All emotional reactivity stems from unfinished business. The moment you find yourself being stressed out, it has far more to do with you than the other person in the situation.”  - Bryan Post

This week on Mastering Overwhelm:

• Bryan’s background and his passion for helping adoptive families
• Adoption and why it can be a traumatic experience for a child
• Bryan’s definition of trauma and the basis of post-traumatic stress disorder
• Society’s aversion to grief and other negative emotions
• How practicing mindful breathing can help us manage fear-based anxiety and stress responses
• The allostatic load and window of tolerance
• Addiction as a trauma response
• The physiology of stress and trauma reactions
• How to help soothe a child having a tantrum in the supermarket
• Navigating emotional highs and lows

Resources Mentioned:

• Book: The Emotional Brain: The Mysterious Underpinnings of Emotional Life by Joseph Ledoux
• Book: Peaks and Valleys: Making Good and Bad Times Work for You - at Work and in Life by Spencer Johnson
• Book: Who Moved My Cheese?: An A-Mazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life by Spencer Johnson

Connect with Bryan Post:

• Bryan Post Website
• Post Wraparound
• Post Institute