Is Childhood Trauma Causing Immune Dysfunction? + Meditation

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In this powerful episode of Heal Within, Dr. Evette Rose explores how unresolved childhood attachment trauma doesn’t just affect your emotions—it imprints deep into your nervous and immune systems, shaping the way your body responds to life. Discover the neuroscience behind why early emotional wounds create lifelong patterns of inflammation, fatigue, anxiety, and disconnection—and how you can begin to reverse these effects through trauma-aware healing.

You’ll learn:

• How attachment trauma primes your brain and immune system
• Why microglia (the brain’s immune cells) become hyper-reactive
• The link between chronic stress, inflammation, and burnout
• Signs your nervous system is stuck in survival mode
• How to begin rewiring your system for safety and connection

💛 The episode closes with a deeply healing Guided Meditation: Reuniting with the Divine Mother & Divine Father for Attachment Healing, helping you reconnect with a felt sense of love, safety, and inner wholeness.

🌿 Affirmation of the Day: “I release the past and receive new nurturing now.”

With love

Dr. Evette Rose

Website: www.metaphysicalanatomy.com

Events: https://metaphysicalanatomy.com/event_s/

Books: https://metaphysicalanatomy.com/books-by-evette-rose/

Book a Session: https://metaphysicalanatomy.com/session/

References

Ainsworth, M. D. S., & Bowlby, J. (1991). An ethological approach to personality development. American Psychologist, 46(4), 333–341. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.46.4.333

Bremner, J. D., & Vermetten, E. (2001). Stress and development: Behavioral and biological consequences. Development and Psychopathology, 13(3), 473–489. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0954579401003042

Danese, A., & Lewis, S. J. (2017). Psychoneuroimmunology of early-life stress: The hidden wounds of childhood trauma? Neuropsychopharmacology, 42(1), 99–114. https://doi.org/10.1038/npp.2016.198

Fields, R. D. (2006). The other half of the brain. Scientific American, 295(3), 54–61. https://doi.org/10.1038/scientificamerican0906-54

Gunnar, M. R., & Quevedo, K. (2007). The neurobiology of stress and development. Annual Review of Psychology, 58, 145–173. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.58.110405.085605

Hennessy, M. B., Deak, T., & Schiml, P. A. (2014). Sociality and sickness: Have cytokines evolved to serve social functions beyond times of pathogen exposure? Brain, Behavior, and Immunity, 37, 15–20. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbi.2013.10.021

Hutchinson, M. R., & Watkins, L. R. (2014). Why is neuroimmunopharmacology crucial for the future of addiction research? Neuropharmacology, 76, 218–227. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropharm.2013.04.008

Kiecolt-Glaser, J. K., McGuire, L., Robles, T. F., & Glaser, R. (2002). Emotions, morbidity, and mortality: New perspectives from psychoneuroimmunology. Annual Review of Psychology, 53, 83–107.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
Hi and welcome.
Welcome here to Heal Withinwith me, dr Yvette Rose, trauma
therapist and also creator ofMetaphysical Anatomy Technique.
And this podcast is your safespace to explore emotional
healing, nervous system repairand also deep inner
transformation.
And if you are ready to godeeper, I would like to also

(00:28):
support you through that journeyand you can book a one-on-one
session with me or with any ofmy metapsychology coaching
practitioners, or you can joinus for one of our upcoming
healing events, whether it's aworkshop or a healing retreat at
metaphysicalanatomycom.
Now let's begin your journeyback to wholeness, one breath

(00:50):
and one breakthrough at a time.
And today we're going to divedeep into a topic that connects
emotional wounds from our earlyyears with real, measurable
impacts in our body, and I wantto walk you through how
unresolved attachment trauma notonly dysregulates the nervous

(01:12):
system, but it also disruptsimmune function and what you now
can start to begin to do toperhaps even reverse that.
Let's begin with thefoundational truth your nervous
system and your immune systemare deeply connected.
If one gets thrown off balance,the other is inevitably going

(01:37):
to follow.
So when the nervous system is,for example, stuck in fear or
this feeling of hypervigilance,you're ready for that other shoe
to always drop, stuck insurvival mode, especially from
early life attachment wounds.
That stress keeps the immunesystem on high alert and, over

(01:58):
time, this ongoing alarm, itcontributes to chronic
inflammation, autoimmunity andeven neurological symptoms like
brain fog, fatigue and, mygoodness, the list can go on.
So here's the neurosciencebehind it and we're going to
look at how childhood fearactually primes the brain.

(02:21):
You see, early attachmenttrauma.
It doesn't just affect yourrelationships, it reshapes your
nervous system, it rewires yourimmune responses and it also
programs your body to live ininflammation.
So many of us walk aroundcarrying this stress, this

(02:43):
chronic fatigue, autoimmunesystems and emotional overwhelm.
And then we blame ourselves,thinking that we're just
sensitive or we're not resilientenough, and then the
self-punishment starts.
Sounds familiar, right, butthere's real science behind what
is actually happening in yourbody and it also begins with how

(03:03):
you first experienced safetyhow you first experienced safety
or fear in your earlyrelationships.
Let's look first at thepsychology of attachment trauma.
Let's start with attachmentright.
So your attachment style isbuilt during your earliest years

(03:24):
and this is going to shape howyour caregivers, for example,
responded to your needs.
You know, were you held whenyou, for example, were crying?
Were you comforted when youwere afraid, or were you ignored
, shamed or punished oremotionally maybe, abandoned?
You see, when those early needsfor emotional safety aren't met

(03:47):
consistently, the child's brainbegins to actually wire around
one strong core belief and thatis that the world is not safe
and I am not safe in it.
You see, this becomes thatoperating system behind that
anxious, avoidant ordisorganized attachment patterns

(04:09):
, and it doesn't just live inyour mind, it lives in your
nervous system.
Now, how this shows up in thenervous system, now that's
another ballgame.
You see, when a baby feelsunsafe and that fear isn't
soothed, the amygdala, which isour brain's fear center,
actually becomes overactive.
And what happens then is thehypothalamic pituitary adrenal

(04:33):
axis, the HPA axis.
That's the part of the brainwhere your body's central stress
response system starts firingmore and more and more, even to
the point where it starts tofire in low threat situations.
And over time this is going tocreate a nervous system

(04:54):
dysregulation, meaning that yourbody actually gets stuck in
survival mode.
When you're stuck in the fightresponse, we know that there's
anger, there's defensiveness.
When you're stuck in the fightresponse, we know that there's
anger, there's defensiveness.
When you're stuck in the flightresponse, that's anxiety,
perfectionism.
When you're stuck in the freezeresponse, that's numbness and
procrastination.

(05:15):
When you're stuck in the fawnresponse, that's people pleasing
and self-abandonment.
You see, you might not rememberthe trauma cognitively, but
your body does and your nervoussystem is constantly scanning
the environment, asking am Isafe now, can I let go, or do I

(05:35):
need to brace myself for impactagain?
And where is the impact?
You see, the neuroimmuneconnection matters.
It's very important.
Here's why it's important.
You see, this is whereneuroscience gets really
interesting, because yournervous system and your immune

(05:55):
system, they are in constantcommunication.
We know that they are part ofthe same network that governs
your stress response.
So when one is dysregulated,the other one becomes
dysregulated as well.
And here is how we can start toprime the nervous system and
the body.
So let's have a look at thisdysregulation process and what

(06:21):
is actually happening.
So first we're going to lookright into the primed microglia,
that's, the brain's immunecells.
Now, in early trauma, certainimmune cells in the brain, which
is called the microglia.
They become primed and they areresponsible for basically
cleaning up waste and supportinglearning and memory.

(06:43):
But when they are primed bystress, they become
hyperreactive.
Think almost of the microgliaas the brain's housekeepers.
Right, in a healthy state, theykeep it clean, right, they
clear out waste, they prune, youknow, unnecessary neural
network connections and supportlearning as well, including

(07:03):
memory.
But when they are exposed toearly fear, they become overly
sensitive.
These prime microglia nowactually act like an overactive
smoke alarm.
It's going off at every minorstressor, right at every minor

(07:25):
stressor right Now.
Once this microglia are primed,they don't unprime.
They can calm down, they canreturn to a resting state, but
science is showing that theywill almost like be quite
reactive, more reactive at least, than before.
And this is one way that traumaliterally changes the way that

(07:51):
your brain and immune systemoperate.
So instead of quietlysupporting the brain's health,
they actually start releasinginflammatory cytokines causing
neuroinflammation.
Now this is what leads tosymptoms, for example, like
brain fog, decision fatigue,mood swings, cognitive burnout,

(08:12):
emotional reactivity as well.
So once these microglia areprimed in childhood, they don't
necessarily go back to theirunprimed state.
They can rest, but theirdefault is now more sensitive,
and the more stress youexperience in your adult life,
the more easily they're going toget triggered again.

(08:36):
You see, this is where and howtrauma can create a loop right.
Fear equals inflammation,equals more stress as well.
So here's the cycle that playsout when we have early
attachment trauma.
It creates that fear-basedwiring in the brain.
That fear activates the HPAaxis, keeping the nervous system

(09:00):
on high alert.
Now chronic stress causes theprime microglia and immune
dysregulation.
Now the body becomes stuck ininflammation mode, not healing
mode.
Now, you see, inflammation issending these stress signals
back to the brain, reinforcingthe fear, and also round and

(09:25):
round we go.
So why does this matter for theimmune system?
You see, microglia are actuallypart of your immune system.
So when they are on high alert,they release inflammatory
chemicals which can now actuallyspill over into the rest of
your body.

(09:45):
Now that means that your immunesystem gets stuck in that
almost like attack mode, and notbecause of a virus or bacteria,
but because your body perceivesemotional stress as a threat.
Now here's where it gets alittle bit tricky.
You see, early childhood feardoesn't just live in the past,

(10:08):
even if you feel that you'veconsciously moved on.
If that fear was never trulyprocessed, your immune system
might actually still beoperating as if, though that
danger is still present.
As if, though that danger isstill present.
That's how unresolved traumacontributes to conditions like
autoimmune diseases, chronicfatigue, anxiety, pain,

(10:32):
disorders that can start tosurface decades later.
So let's touch on some signsthat you're stuck in
inflammation mode.
Example if you often feel likeyour brain goes offline, right.
If you struggle with decisionfatigue or brain fog.

(10:52):
If you get reactive, tired orsick quite easily after small
stressors, for example, maybelike skipping a meal.
So simple, right, but let metell you, for many it's not that
simple.
And also, if you sleep poorly,this could also be because of
the prized microglia and theimmune dysregulation that is

(11:16):
strongly at play here.
So you see, with consciousawareness of understanding and
knowing where you are at in yourlife, and to not attack that,
to not judge that, but to knowthat every day you're actually
doing your best, even though itdoesn't feel like it, god, let
me tell you, I know, just takingthe judgment out of it and

(11:41):
staying curious and starting todevelop that solution-orientated
mindset, I always tell myselfit doesn't matter what problem I
have, there's going to be asolution.
You see, there's an oppositepolarity to everything in life
when there's sunlight, there'sdarkness, where there's
happiness, there's sadness.

(12:01):
And so where there's a problem,there's a solution.
It's just a matter of sometimesbeing patient enough until we
find it.
And the big breakthrough that Ifelt personally for myself was
realizing that you can't be in asolution-orientated mindset

(12:23):
when you feel disempowered, whenyou feel things are never going
to work out for me, when youfeel things are never going to
work out for me.
You see, this is a reallyimportant shift that I also had
to create in my life In order toalign myself more with
solutions, or at least beingable to have my awareness switch

(12:43):
gears, to be able to see it, totake it in.
And what I would love to dowith you now is to actually take
you through a healingmeditation that can help the
immune system to slow down, torelax a little bit more and to

(13:04):
get your nervous system to takea deep breath and exhale Instead
of just holding it all in exile.
So when you are ready, I inviteyou now to lie down, or you can
sit up, whatever you feel mostcomfortable with, because

(13:25):
remember, your soul remembersthe parents that your spirit
longed for.
So we're gently going to nowReturn to that today, knowing
that let's take a nice deepbreath.
Very good, if you want to, ifyou feel comfortable, you can

(13:50):
begin by closing your eyes verygently, and just continue to
focus on your breath.
Just notice as you're breathing, as you're breathing, as you're
exhaling and inhaling, asyou're exhaling and inhaling,

(14:49):
and notice and see if you canbecome so quiet, so still
breathing in, filling your lungswith the breath of life and
breathing out, releasing anytension from it, allowing your

(15:18):
body to soften, allowing yourshoulders to drop, feel your jaw
and the lining of it, justrelaxing, allow your heart to
ever so slightly Relaxing, allowyour heart to ever so slightly

(15:57):
slowly start to open, bringingyour awareness now to the center
of your breath, almost likewaves that's gently rising and

(16:18):
falling.
And now I invite you to imaginethat you're standing in a vast,
safe meadow, surrounded by thebeautiful scent of wildflowers,

(16:45):
the soft warmth, golden light ofthe sun and feeling stillness.
Warmth, golden light of the sunand feeling stillness, almost

(17:08):
like as though it's a sacredpresence there with you.
And notice as well that whileyou are there, you deeply

(17:34):
familiar.
This is the presence of theDivine Mother, and she comes not
from your past but from yoursoul's memory of unconditional

(17:56):
love, safety and completeacceptance.
She radiates compassion so purethat you can feel your inner

(18:17):
child lean forward almostinstinctively, and noticing how
she's opening up her arms andhow that inner child embraces
her and she embraces you.

(18:38):
There's no judgment, there's noexpectation, just love.
Let yourself be held and letyour inner child also be held.

(19:11):
Feel how she whispers into yourheart you were never too much,
you were never too much, youwere never too little.

(19:32):
I see you and I love you andyou are safe with me.
Feel her soothing presence washover every place in your

(19:58):
nervous system, that nervoussystem that once braced for
disappointment or rejection.
Feel her hands on your back,telling your body you're not
alone.

(20:25):
And now, to the right, anotherpresence appears Strong,
grounding and steady.
This is the divine father.

(20:49):
His energy is protective, it'ssafe and it's warm.
Not controlling, not absent,not angry.
He walks toward you withkindness in his eyes and steady

(21:18):
devotion in his steps, child,and hold your hand, saying you
are worthy of my love.
I will stay with you.

(21:44):
You were never a burden.
You are my joy.

(22:07):
Feel those words, let it settlein every single cell in your
body, let it flow through thenervous system and notice, as
you're exhaling, that fight andflight leaves with it.

(23:01):
It leaves your body with yourbreath, creating space for the
presence of unconditional, pureand stable Feeling.
The Divine Father now standingbehind you almost like a shield,
like a guardian, and the DivineMother stands before you, soft,
radiant and loving, andrealizing now, in that moment,

(23:33):
that you are surrounded inperfect balance, you are held,
protected and nourished and seenBreathe into this moment,

(24:02):
allowing their love To pourthrough you Almost like golden
light, flowing through everywound, every stressful memory,
every unmet need, filling that,healing that.

(24:35):
And you can even imagine themstanding behind you during
moments of fear, walking besideyou during moments of challenge,
whispering encouragement, whenyou doubt your worth, because
you no longer walk alone.

(24:56):
These divine archetypes areliving inside of you and you can
call them in at any time.
And now, as you gently start tocome back, you can bring them

(25:25):
with you, bring their presencewith you, bringing your
awareness back to the presentmoment.
Also, before you open up youreyes, place your hand over your

(25:46):
heart and repeat, silently orout loud I am safe to be loved,

(26:09):
I am worthy, I am held.
Take one more deep breath ingently open well done.
You have now returned Gentlyopen.

(26:30):
Well done, you have now returned, but something within you has
shifted and your inner child hasnow been seen, and love real,
unconditional love is now partof your healing story.

(26:51):
And remember that you're notalone.
You are healing one step at atime, one breath at a time as
well, and remember that if thisepisode touched you, then please
share it also with someone whois perhaps also on their healing
journey and, as always, breathedeep, listen within and always

(27:14):
stay gently curious.
And the affirmation for todayis I release the past and I
receive new, nurturing now.
Thank you so much for beinghere, thank you for your love
and your energy, and I lookforward to seeing you in our
next episode and, until then, bethe light that you are.