Trauma Therapy Podcasts On Self-Care For Survivors
Trauma may result from a range of experiences across a person’s lifetime, from chronic neglect in childhood to sexual assault as an adult. Traumatic events may affect people in different ways, meaning that two people who survived the same event may experience different post-traumatic symptoms or even no symptoms at all. For this reason, it can sometimes be difficult for trauma survivors to connect with others and feel a sense of community. Reputable podcasts about trauma, while not a substitute for professional mental health treatment, could be one way for people who have experienced trauma to feel seen, learn more about trauma’s impacts, and find out how trauma-informed treatment could help mitigate some of their symptoms.
What is trauma?
It lists traumatic events as including “those caused by human behavior (e.g., rape, war, industrial accidents) as well as by nature (e.g., earthquakes),” and states that such events “often challenge an individual’s view of the world as a just, safe, and predictable place.”
Not everyone who experiences trauma will develop a trauma- and stressor-related disorder like post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). According to the World Health Organization (WHO), of the 70% of people worldwide who will experience trauma in their lifetime, only 5.6% will develop post-traumatic stress disorder. However, even if a person doesn’t develop PTSD, they could still experience mental and physical health impacts as a result of their trauma. That’s why conversations around trauma and seeking treatment can be so important: because of the impact these experiences can have and because so many people will have to cope with them at some point in life.
Trauma therapy podcasts to consider exploring
Trauma fundamentally changes the brain, meaning that a person who has not experienced a traumatic event or worked with trauma survivors may not fully understand its impact. These brain changes can lead to the adoption of core negative beliefs, in which a person blames themselves or others for the traumatic event, causing a range of potential problematic impacts on their mental health and relationships. Trauma podcasts that educate and inform listeners about the effects of trauma through interviews with trauma survivors and trauma experts may help. Here are a few that might be worth exploring if you or a loved one has experienced trauma.
The Trauma Therapist Podcast
The Trauma Therapist Podcast is hosted by Dr. Guy Macpherson, a clinical psychologist with a background in studying the impact of trauma and effective trauma treatments. Dr. Macpherson started The Trauma Therapist Podcast with the goal of raising awareness about what trauma is and the effect it can have on people, along with creating an informational, supportive community for both trauma therapists and trauma survivors.
The Trauma Therapist Podcast currently has listeners in over 160 countries. In recent years, it has specifically focused on the concept of post-traumatic growth—as opposed to post-traumatic stress, which can emphasize the negative effects of trauma and dismiss the positive changes that may result from the process of healing from traumatic experiences. Dr. Macpherson also examines the link between trauma and psychosis, especially how a childhood trauma survivor may experience brain changes that could increase their likelihood of developing psychotic symptoms later in life.
The Trauma Therapist Podcast includes interviews with thought leaders, therapists, and researchers who specialize in treating post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), complex trauma, and vicarious trauma with innovative therapies. These techniques include things like trauma-sensitive mindfulness, eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy, exposure therapy, and the use of psychedelics in trauma processing.
The podcast is sponsored by renowned trauma-focused organizations like the Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (CPTSD) Foundation. Recent episodes include a deep dive on the widely misunderstood dissociative identity disorder (DID) and one on the relationship between mindfulness, addiction, and yoga.
Therapy Chat
Although the word “trauma” is not included in the name of this podcast, Therapy Chat focuses primarily on issues related to trauma and attachment concerns.
Therapy Chat is hosted by Laura Regan, a licensed clinical social worker and psychotherapist who specializes in burnout prevention and is a certified Daring Way facilitator. Daring Way is an empirically based training and certification program that emphasizes building courage, resilience to shame, and the capacity to be vulnerable—all of which are foundational aspects of many forms of mental health care, especially trauma recovery.
Regan uses her knowledge and expertise to facilitate conversations between therapists on her podcast about different techniques used in trauma treatment, including self-care and self-compassion, EMDR therapy, art therapy, sensorimotor psychotherapy, somatic therapeutic methods, and embodiment techniques. Therapy Chat also examines the impact of a person’s early relationships with their caregivers on their later mental and emotional development (what is known as attachment theory) and the ways that these relationships and experiences with trauma can impact future relationships, including romantic relationships and parent-child relationships.
Therapist Uncensored
Therapist Uncensored is hosted by two therapists: Sue Marriott, a licensed clinical social worker (LCSW) and certified group psychotherapist (CGP), and Dr. Ann Kelley, Ph.D. Their podcast focuses on attachment theory, relational neuroscience, and trauma—essentially, how undergoing traumatic experiences like childhood emotional neglect can change a person’s brain in ways that impact their relationships.
Therapist Uncensored emphasizes how community and connection can help a person process trauma in a way that lowers the possibility of developing trauma- and stressor-related disorders like PTSD or acute stress disorder. The podcast teaches ways to improve and expand your community connections to help you build resilience against future stressors.
Therapist Uncensored offers tips and tricks to help improve thought processes, expectations of self and others, parenting, social and romantic relationships, work/life balance, and day-to-day interactions. In addition, Marriott and Kelley donate half of all podcast income from corporate sponsorships and the sale of merchandise to nonprofit organizations that connect “those traditionally left out of mainstream healthcare” with mental health services.
Finding personalized support for processing trauma
As helpful as trauma podcasts may be for trauma survivors, individualized therapeutic treatment is usually necessary to address symptoms of PTSD and other trauma-related disorders. However, for people who have experienced traumatic events and may have intrusive symptoms like flashbacks, the thought of commuting to and attending an in-person therapy appointment may seem overwhelming. Online therapy could be a viable alternative option in these scenarios.
With online therapy through a service like BetterHelp, you can get matched and then speak with a licensed therapist remotely from home or anywhere you have an internet connection. A growing body of research indicates that online therapy may be just as effective as traditional in-person therapy in treating a number of mental health conditions, including those related to traumatic experiences. For example, the findings of one study suggest that online delivery of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), a top treatment for PTSD, helped to reduce PTSD symptoms at a similar rate as in-person CBT.
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