The Childhood Trauma Doctor: Your Childhood Trauma Changes The Shape Of Your Brain & Causes Parkinson's! How Not To Ruin Your Kids! Dr. Paul Conti
Mar 21, 2024
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Dr. Paul Conti, a renowned psychiatrist and trauma expert, delves into the epidemic of childhood trauma and its profound effects on mental and physical health. He explains how trauma can accelerate aging and lead to serious health issues, including cardiovascular disease. The conversation covers the intergenerational impact of trauma, highlighting how parental experiences can alter gene expression in children. Dr. Conti emphasizes the need for awareness, compassion, and proper treatment to break the cycle of trauma and promote healing.
Trauma can change gene expression, impacting future generations.
Recognizing and treating hidden trauma symptoms leads to healing.
Behavioral changes like addiction can signal underlying trauma.
Trauma alters coping mechanisms, leading to self-destructive behaviors.
Deep dives
Understanding Trauma's Impact on Gene Expression
Trauma can change gene expression, impacting how genes function and get passed along to future generations. Studies with immigrants and Holocaust survivors show how trauma's effects can continue through generations, affecting mental health and behavior.
Abscess of Trauma: Compare to Hidden Infection
Trauma hidden internally can manifest as symptoms similar to an abscess, impacting mood, behavior, and overall wellness. Recognizing and addressing these symptoms can lead to understanding and treating trauma effectively.
Curiosity and Uncovering Subtle Signs of Trauma
Being curious about behavioral changes, like addiction or negative self-talk, can lead to uncovering underlying trauma. Understanding these subtle signs and their origins can help individuals address trauma and its effects.
Impact of Trauma on Coping Mechanisms and Behavioral Changes
Trauma alters coping mechanisms, leading to behaviors like addiction or aggression as ways to soothe pain. Recognizing these changes in behavior can indicate underlying trauma and the need for healing.
Understanding Trauma's Impact on Coping Mechanisms
Individuals often turn to self-soothing with food or substances due to learned behaviors from trauma-induced despair or desperation. Unhealthy coping mechanisms, like opiates, quickly alleviate distress but bring long-term risks, leading to addiction and danger. The opiate epidemic stemmed from overprescription for chronic pain, showcasing the dangerous allure of short-term soothing solutions.
Brain Changes Due to Trauma
Trauma can cause brain changes, manifesting in amplified negative emotion pathways and decreased trust and safety pathways. Post-trauma brains showcase inflamed regions, affecting mood regulation and promoting cognitive blind spots. These blind spots alter perceptions and decision-making, perpetuating negative self-beliefs and behaviors.
Addressing Cognitive Blind Spots after Trauma
Traumatic events can create cognitive blind spots, leading individuals to internalize false beliefs about themselves. Such blind spots influence decision-making and behavior, often steering individuals towards self-defeating patterns. By revisiting and challenging these learned beliefs, individuals can overcome cognitive blind spots and cultivate healthier self-perceptions.
Overcoming Trauma through Brain Reprogramming
Reprogramming the brain post-trauma involves acknowledging and confronting learned negative patterns and beliefs. By actively countering detrimental self-talk and ingrained responses, individuals can attenuate the impact of trauma triggers. While complete erasure of trauma is unlikely, understanding and reshaping maladaptive responses can promote healing and positive change.
We are living in an epidemic of trauma, causing disease and death, so why are so few of us ready to face it?
Dr. Paul Conti is a general psychiatrist and expert on treating trauma, he is also the founder and CEO of Pacific Premier Group, PC.
In this conversation Paul and Steven discuss topics such as, our current epidemic of trauma, why trauma is making you age faster, how you inherit trauma, and the ways that trauma can lead to an early death.
You can purchase Paul’s book, ‘Trauma: The Invisible Epidemic: How Trauma Works and How We Can Heal From It’, here: https://amzn.to/4ceTKhf
