The Biology of Trauma® With Dr. Aimie

What happens when a single moment changes the direction of your entire life? Can regret become a force for good? 

In this episode, we’ll hear one man’s journey through the aftermath of accidentally causing his high school sweetheart's death in a car accident at 18 years old and how that trauma has shaped his entire life.

Dr. Aimie is joined by Gregg Ward who shares how this terrible accident c...

Are you a practitioner struggling to balance patient care with your own health needs? In this mini episode, Dr. Aimie looks at the biology behind the Spoon Theory and how practitioners can manage their own health while helping others heal. She answers a listener’s question about why she feels drained after certain client sessions and the actionable steps she can take to keep her energy levels up. 

Dr. Aim...

Are you trying to work caring for others while navigating your own chronic health symptoms? In this episode, we’ll take a look at one woman's decade-long battle with a chronic illness and the actions she took to build and maintain her practice. 

Helga Byrne, worked years in corporate, but wanted a more meaningful life. Becoming a licensed therapist, she spent years struggling with a chronic health issue w...

Can your body be stuck in trauma or grief? In this mini episode, Dr. Aimie is answering a listener’s question about why her physical symptoms are still bothering her a year after a loved one’s death. She dives into why the normal approach to self care won’t work and how creating safety can allow the trauma and grief to move through the body instead of staying stuck.

Dr. Aimie goes into the biology behind w...

“Emotions need motion” - Paul Denniston

Grief is an emotion that many of us try to avoid. But what happens when we don't let it out? In this episode, we explore how hidden grief can get stuck in the body, causing tight shoulders, stomach pain, and nonstop anxiety.

Paul Denniston, founder of Grief Yoga, joins Dr. Aimie to explain that grief doesn't simply disappear when ignored. Instead, it h...

Preventing people from moving when something terrible happens is what makes trauma a trauma.

In this mini episode, Dr. Aimie dives into the biology behind why not being able to move (either physically or internally) can create trauma. She looks more closely at the moment in the trauma response that she calls "hitting the wall" - the pivotal point where we feel powerless and our physiology shifts from a str...

In response to overwhelm, the body tries to keep one safe in different ways. Sometimes our body feels so shaken and shocked that it makes our mind need to disconnect from the pain of it. This is called dissociating. 

Yet, the body still remembers what happened. The impact to our biology doesn’t go away just because we don’t understand or remember something. The impact is how the body keeps track of everyt...

Are you or someone you know feeling stuck in trauma patterns despite years of therapy and personal work? In this mini episode, Dr. Aimie is answering a question about whether there might be a biological component hindering a persons attachment repair progress.

Dr. Aimie will buliding off of her conversation with Dr. Jason Loken in Episode 115. Sh...

Are you or those you help seemingly doing all "right things" but still feeling stuck? That competitive drive, those controlling tendencies, or that persistent anxiety might actually be rooted in our biochemistry. 

In this episode, Dr. Aimie sits down with Dr. Jason Loken to explore how hidden biochemical imbalances can create patterns of depression, anxiety, and behavioral challenges that talk therapy alo...

Are you or someone you know struggling with the weight of grief, feeling disconnected, exhausted, or immobilized? In this short episode, Dr. Aimie will expand on her conversation with Dr. Mary-Frances O'Connor from episode 114. She will dive deeper into the neurobiology of grief and its impact on the body.

You’ll hear more on:

• The three survival mechanisms of grief-r...

Are you or someone you know struggling with unexplained anxiety, fatigue, or reactivity? In this short episode, Dr. Aimie dives deep into the conversation she had with Dr. Neil Nathan in episode 113 about how hidden infections like mold toxicity and Lyme disease can create a "biology of threat" within your body.

She'll explore:

• How mold and Lyme can trigger physiolog...

Are you ready to unlock your brain’s hidden power? Today, Dr. Aimie will be taking a closer look at the key takeaways from her conversation with Dr. Greg Kelly. She will be going into the biology behind the brain’s capacity and what you can do to improve yours.

She’ll talk about:

• Removing stressors that are taking up brain capacity 
• ...

Of all the different aspects of trauma biology, brain inflammation is the one that will hold you back when it comes to the therapy, trauma work and personal development you’re trying to do. In this short episode, Dr. Aimie will share her top takeaways and action steps from episode 110 with Dr. Datis Kharrazian. She’l go into the biology behind brain inflammation in therapy and trauma work. 

You’ll hear mo...

Is your biology making it easier to fall into addiction? Today, Dr. Aimie is taking a closer look at this question and other key takeaways from her conversation with the late Dr. Charles Gant  around addiction. 

You’ll hear more on: 

• Biological factors that may push someone towards addiction
• The role of the freeze response in addicti...

Did you know your body's connective tissues might be trapping trauma and toxins? In this short episode, Dr. Aimie is sharing valuable insights from her episode with Dr. Christine Schaffner. She talks about the biology behind how trauma manifests in the body through the extracellular matrix, fascia, and lymphatic system. 

You’ll hear more on:

• How these connective tissu...

“ In order to think about grief, first you have to think about love and bonding, because that is what gets lost. That is what gets broken.”  Dr. Mary-Frances O’Connor

Understanding why grief feels so physical, why someone still reaches for the phone to call someone who's gone, or why certain memories can trigger intense emotions years a...

“If you have a new onset of anxiety or depression that doesn’t even make sense to you, think of a more physical cause.” - Dr. Neil Nathan

Do you have issues with focus, concentration, or even finding the word you want to use? If so, you might be dealing with the hidden effects of mold toxicity and Lyme disease. 

In this episode, Dr. Aimie sits down with Dr. Neil Nathan to discuss how mold to...

Have you ever felt like your body is stuck in survival mode, holding onto stress and tension no matter how hard you try to let it go? What if this instinct to survive is also what drives chronic inflammation, emotional pain, and even long-term illness?
 

Today, Dr. Isaac Eliaz joins Dr. Aimie to explore the concept of the survival paradox.This process is what keeps your body on high alert and affects every...

Have you ever felt like stress is draining your energy, focus, and resilience—no matter how much you try to manage it? What if stress isn’t just about what’s happening around you, but about how your brain and body process it behind the scenes?

In this episode, Dr. Greg Kelly joins Dr. Aimie to dive into the hidden biology of stress and uncover how it consumes your mental bandwidth, disrupts ...