Notes on Resilience 148: Adapting After Trauma, with Dr. Jordan Smoller
Resilience isn’t about being unbreakable.
We sit down with Dr. Jordan Smoller—psychiatrist, epidemiologist, and geneticist at Harvard and Mass General—to discuss resilience as adaptation and explore why naming harm matters, how acknowledgment from leaders reduces isolation, and the real-world steps that transform empathy into trust.
Jordan brings a blend of clinical experience and research leadership to questions many of us have: When does a normal response to trauma become a condition that needs care? How do we balance the language of diagnosis with the need to reduce stigma?
We dig into the complexity of mental health science, from brain and body to relationships and social context, and tackle the systems-level issues that shape recovery:
- access to mental health care,
- workforce shortages,
- insurance barriers,
- and the political currents that complicate meaningful change.
Jordan argues for two parallel commitments: immediate access to effective support and sustained investment in research that turns innovation into implementation.
If you’re ready for a grounded, hopeful take on resilience, mental health research, and the power of being seen, this conversation offers perspective and practical insight.
Subscribe, share with someone who needs it, and leave a review with your answer to one question: what change would make the biggest difference for mental health where you live?
Dr. Jordan Smoller is a psychiatrist, epidemiologist, and geneticist whose research focus has been understanding the genetic and environmental determinants of psychiatric disorders across the lifespan and using big data to advance precision mental health including improved methods to reduce risk and enhance resilience. He is Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, Professor in Epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and the Jerrold F. Rosenbaum Endowed Chair in Psychiatry and Director of the Center for Precision Psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital, among many other roles. He is also the author of The Other Side of Normal (HarperCollins/William Morrow, 2012).
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Producer / Editor: Neel Panji
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