How To Heal From Childhood Trauma & Build Emotional Intelligence | Dr. Marc Brackett

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Nov 5, 2025

Dr. Marc Brackett, a Yale professor and emotional intelligence expert, shares his profound journey of overcoming childhood trauma after disclosing sexual abuse at a young age. He highlights the long-term impact on his emotional health and the societal stigmas he faced. A pivotal moment came from his Uncle Marvin, who introduced him to emotional vocabulary, sparking a passion for emotional education. Marc underscores the importance of teaching emotional skills to children, as external success without emotional health can lead to inner suffering.

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ANECDOTE

Childhood Disclosure And Uncle's Question

Marc Brackett disclosed sexual abuse at age 11 and faced community rejection after a televised appearance.
His Uncle Marvin taught him feeling words that began his long healing journey toward emotional understanding.

ANECDOTE

Summer Lessons In Emotional Vocabulary

Uncle Marvin asked simple questions like, "How are you feeling?" and practiced emotion vocabulary with Marc over a summer.
Those conversations inspired Marc to develop a curriculum and pursue formal study in emotional intelligence.

INSIGHT

Personal Experience Meets Scientific Research

Marc saw Emotional Intelligence on Time magazine and recognized his uncle's early work in emotion education.
That recognition led him to formalize a curriculum blending personal experience and scientific study.

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"How many kids in our country are getting the emotional education they need to achieve their dreams in life?" - Dr. Marc Brackett

Dr. Marc Brackett was eleven years old when he finally told someone about the sexual abuse. His mother had a breakdown. His father grabbed a bat and went to kill the man. Then came the arrest, the court case, and the decision that would make everything worse: going on television to talk about it. Overnight, he became the kid nobody wanted their children near. Teachers whispered. Parents pulled their kids away. The bullying intensified. He was labeled damaged goods, living proof that some wounds mark you forever. But one summer, his Uncle Marvin asked him a question nobody else had bothered with: "How are you feeling?" They sat together working through emotional vocabulary, and Marc realized he couldn't name a single time he'd felt elated, but he could talk all day about feeling alienated. That conversation became the foundation for everything that followed.

Years later, Marc saw "Emotional Intelligence" on the cover of Time Magazine and recognized his uncle's work from twenty years earlier. He pulled Uncle Marvin out of retirement, and they met at a Dunkin Donuts in Fort Lauderdale to build a curriculum that would eventually change how schools teach kids about emotions. Marc earned his PhD studying with the scientists who pioneered emotional intelligence research, got a fifth degree black belt in Hapkido, practiced Zen meditation, and spent three decades researching what it actually takes to heal. Now a professor at Yale (the same school that once rejected him), he's honest about what it required: an uncle who cared enough to ask, thirty years of dedicated study, martial arts discipline, and relentless inner work. Lewis and Marc dig into why accomplishing every goal on your list means nothing if you still don't feel enough, and how emotional education is the missing piece most people never get access to.

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