The Nervous System, Hormones & Trauma with Paula Rastrick (Episode 221)

Apr 9, 2025

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If you’ve ever felt like your mood has a mind of its own during PMS, pregnancy, or perimenopause, you already know that hormones like estrogen and progesterone don’t just affect your body — they shape your entire sense of well-being. And if you’ve lived with trauma or neurodivergence, like ADHD, you also know how reactive the nervous system can be. What happens when all of that collides during midlife and menopause…and hormone therapy gets added to the mix? For some women, the results are anything but balanced. This week’s guest, trauma therapist Paula Rastrick, knows that firsthand. She opens up about her harrowing experience with high-dose hormone therapy — an intervention that nearly unraveled her — and shares what she’s uncovered about the deep, complex relationship between hormones, nervous system sensitivity, trauma, and stress.

Paula Rastrick is a trauma therapist, author and creator of The Brain-Body Method, an integrated trauma-informed and neurodiverse approach to hormonal sensitivity. She is a BSc (Hons) in Sport & Exercise Psychology; has postgraduate certification in Psychological Trauma, Eye Movement Desensitisation & Reprocessing (EDMR) Trauma Therapy, is a Safe and Sound Protocol Practitioner and has training in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), pain science, and integrated kinetic neurology. She’s also done trauma-informed continuing professional development work in yoga therapy, applied polyvagal theory in yoga, vagus nerve integration, HRV training, performance psychology, and somatic psychology. You can learn more about her work at www.thebrainbodymethod.com and check out her e-book at

https://subscribepage.io/hormonal-sensitivity-els-trauma-pdf

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