Dr. Kate Truitt

Journaling is proven scientifically to be an incredible way to help integrate our story. Putting something on paper is a way of honoring your own story and your own truth. Sharing our journaling, sharing our story in a healthy way also can be incredibly healing. It can also be very vulnerable to journal. We can be tapping into sensory data that's tied into our traumatic experiences.

Journaling is proven scientifically to be an incredible way to help integrate our story. Putting something on paper is a way of honoring your own story and your own truth. Sharing our journaling, sharing our story in a healthy way also can be incredibly healing. It can also be very vulnerable to journal. We can be tapping into sensory data that's tied into our traumatic experiences.

Sharing our story can be incredibly vulnerable. And our amygdala may have fears around being rejected or feeling even more isolated after sharing.

Sharing our story can be incredibly vulnerable. And our amygdala may have fears around being rejected or feeling even more isolated after sharing.

The main focus that I always recommend to my clients, friends, colleagues, anybody when we're doing this type of work independently is to also have a toolkit of self-regulation tools next to us in case we tap into something that carries a lot of emotional weight as we're journaling.

The main focus that I always recommend to my clients, friends, colleagues, anybody when we're doing this type of work independently is to also have a toolkit of self-regulation tools next to us in case we tap into something that carries a lot of emotional weight as we're journaling.

And so if we have our self-regulation tools on hand as we're journaling or writing or sharing our story, we can actually proactively heal any of those reactive responses that are coming up. And one of my favorite tools for this is an exercise I created a long time ago called Creating Personal Resilience for the Amygdala, CPR for the Amygdala.

And so if we have our self-regulation tools on hand as we're journaling or writing or sharing our story, we can actually proactively heal any of those reactive responses that are coming up. And one of my favorite tools for this is an exercise I created a long time ago called Creating Personal Resilience for the Amygdala, CPR for the Amygdala.

As we're doing our narrative work, as we're journaling, if we're noticing our amygdala starting to get reactive, it's just time to push pause and take a breath and utilize something known as mindful touch in order to downregulate the brain.

As we're doing our narrative work, as we're journaling, if we're noticing our amygdala starting to get reactive, it's just time to push pause and take a breath and utilize something known as mindful touch in order to downregulate the brain.

It's a way of saying this happened rather than holding it inside, of acknowledging the pains of the past and starting to create a new way forward, imagining different outcomes, creating a way that you would like to respond or react to something. We can help the system find ways to re-narrate and free our brain of being stuck, locked into what happened and know that, hey, we're not there anymore.

It's a way of saying this happened rather than holding it inside, of acknowledging the pains of the past and starting to create a new way forward, imagining different outcomes, creating a way that you would like to respond or react to something. We can help the system find ways to re-narrate and free our brain of being stuck, locked into what happened and know that, hey, we're not there anymore.

A tool or exercise I do with my clients quite a bit is to have them notice the difference between the statement, I am an anxious person versus I am experiencing anxiety. As humans, we tend to label ourselves. And when we give ourselves big emotional labels, it's hard for our mind and our body system to dig ourselves out of that label. I am bad. I am depressed. I am unlovable. I am unworthy.

A tool or exercise I do with my clients quite a bit is to have them notice the difference between the statement, I am an anxious person versus I am experiencing anxiety. As humans, we tend to label ourselves. And when we give ourselves big emotional labels, it's hard for our mind and our body system to dig ourselves out of that label. I am bad. I am depressed. I am unlovable. I am unworthy.

I am powerless. Our brain buys into that as a self-identifying component of self. As opposed to saying, I'm feeling powerless in this moment, which then creates space for the brain and the body to go, oh, I can do something to feel more powerful right now. What might that be? Oh, I can control my breath. Oh, I have control over that.

I am powerless. Our brain buys into that as a self-identifying component of self. As opposed to saying, I'm feeling powerless in this moment, which then creates space for the brain and the body to go, oh, I can do something to feel more powerful right now. What might that be? Oh, I can control my breath. Oh, I have control over that.

Or I am experiencing anxiety, which creates the opportunity to zoom out a little bit. And say, why am I feeling anxious, which immediately starts a positive neuroplastic experience of being curious, which gives us dopamine and opens up our visual sphere, both internally and externally, to seeing a larger picture around us.

Or I am experiencing anxiety, which creates the opportunity to zoom out a little bit. And say, why am I feeling anxious, which immediately starts a positive neuroplastic experience of being curious, which gives us dopamine and opens up our visual sphere, both internally and externally, to seeing a larger picture around us.

And the value in that is there's space for curiosity and even possibly beginning to move into a state of self-compassion and deeper self-awareness and self-acceptance, which fundamentally is a critical part of healing through trauma.

And the value in that is there's space for curiosity and even possibly beginning to move into a state of self-compassion and deeper self-awareness and self-acceptance, which fundamentally is a critical part of healing through trauma.

A common label that I hear is the idea of, I am a victim, or the polarizing opposite, I'm not a victim. And I can see a lot of damage potentially being done on either side of the aisle. If we are a victim, and that is the label that we're putting on our mind-body system, it can feel, what we call in psychological terms, very much having an external locus of control.

A common label that I hear is the idea of, I am a victim, or the polarizing opposite, I'm not a victim. And I can see a lot of damage potentially being done on either side of the aisle. If we are a victim, and that is the label that we're putting on our mind-body system, it can feel, what we call in psychological terms, very much having an external locus of control.

Things happen to me, I am powerless, and I cannot create change in my world. And for the amygdala's core values, you can possibly tune in there that Amy's going to hate that. And when she really feels powerless or weak, she's going to create a way of interacting with that statement for the good, the bad, or the ugly, however it shows up for her to keep us safe.

Things happen to me, I am powerless, and I cannot create change in my world. And for the amygdala's core values, you can possibly tune in there that Amy's going to hate that. And when she really feels powerless or weak, she's going to create a way of interacting with that statement for the good, the bad, or the ugly, however it shows up for her to keep us safe.

Oftentimes that can mean isolating or creating ways of being in interpersonal relationships that are not preferable or are unhealthy for us. The flip side of I am not a victim, again, great if you're not a victim, that's fine. But if that's a trauma reaction, it can bypass the reality of things happen out of control. Scary and difficult, painful things did happen. And the

Oftentimes that can mean isolating or creating ways of being in interpersonal relationships that are not preferable or are unhealthy for us. The flip side of I am not a victim, again, great if you're not a victim, that's fine. But if that's a trauma reaction, it can bypass the reality of things happen out of control. Scary and difficult, painful things did happen. And the

mind-body system wasn't in control in those moments. And so the label of victim and of itself becomes self-identifying. And either side of the aisle, I don't believe it's supportive or helpful for my clients or anybody in the world to have an I am statement in one direction or the other. When we look at the term of victim, it means something has happened that was really bad. And it's a concept.

mind-body system wasn't in control in those moments. And so the label of victim and of itself becomes self-identifying. And either side of the aisle, I don't believe it's supportive or helpful for my clients or anybody in the world to have an I am statement in one direction or the other. When we look at the term of victim, it means something has happened that was really bad. And it's a concept.

It's not a label. It's not a self-identification.

It's not a label. It's not a self-identification.

In the field of survivalship, when working with trauma survivors, we've taken victim off the table. Because when we're a survivor, it's giving an acknowledgement to that something did happen. So yes, there was a moment where I was a victim of something really bad happening. And I'm standing here right now. I made it through. I have survived.

In the field of survivalship, when working with trauma survivors, we've taken victim off the table. Because when we're a survivor, it's giving an acknowledgement to that something did happen. So yes, there was a moment where I was a victim of something really bad happening. And I'm standing here right now. I made it through. I have survived.

And therefore, there's space to look at what happened and to build through survivalship into resilience and empowerment.

And therefore, there's space to look at what happened and to build through survivalship into resilience and empowerment.

Ah, shame. Shame, shame, shame. Our brain can be a shame junkie. And shame is fundamentally a feeling of being flooded with a lack of self-worth, feeling completely and utterly like somebody is bad. They are broken at their core and they are bad. And the interesting thing about shame is our little friend Amy the amygdala loves it.

Ah, shame. Shame, shame, shame. Our brain can be a shame junkie. And shame is fundamentally a feeling of being flooded with a lack of self-worth, feeling completely and utterly like somebody is bad. They are broken at their core and they are bad. And the interesting thing about shame is our little friend Amy the amygdala loves it.

Because when she's feeling shame, she's like, there is something clearly not okay here. And she gets to make up even more stories about how we are bad, believing that she's keeping us safe. She really does have her best interests at heart. But feeling shame or feeling bad or broken for Amy the amygdala actually gives her power. It helps her feel like she has agency and choice.

Because when she's feeling shame, she's like, there is something clearly not okay here. And she gets to make up even more stories about how we are bad, believing that she's keeping us safe. She really does have her best interests at heart. But feeling shame or feeling bad or broken for Amy the amygdala actually gives her power. It helps her feel like she has agency and choice.

I know it's weird, and it's real.

I know it's weird, and it's real.

The problem is hindsight's 20-20. And so we can look back and see every flag that was missed And hold ourselves accountable for it. And when I say hold ourselves accountable for it, of course, it's not us. It's our little friend, Amy, the amygdala spinning up a narrative of saying, see, you missed that. That's your fault. That's your fault. That's your fault. That's your fault.

The problem is hindsight's 20-20. And so we can look back and see every flag that was missed And hold ourselves accountable for it. And when I say hold ourselves accountable for it, of course, it's not us. It's our little friend, Amy, the amygdala spinning up a narrative of saying, see, you missed that. That's your fault. That's your fault. That's your fault. That's your fault.

You missed that, too. Aren't you so bad? How did you fail on that account? What's wrong with you? So on and so forth. Again, all as a way to create internally a sense of safety. Because when we're so flagellating, when we're beating ourselves up and holding ourselves responsible for things that we could not control, did not know about, did not see, our amygdala is saying, remember it.

You missed that, too. Aren't you so bad? How did you fail on that account? What's wrong with you? So on and so forth. Again, all as a way to create internally a sense of safety. Because when we're so flagellating, when we're beating ourselves up and holding ourselves responsible for things that we could not control, did not know about, did not see, our amygdala is saying, remember it.

Remember it because you don't want this to happen again. And so this is her way of being a looky-loo when there's a car accident on the freeway. People slow down, yes, perhaps for the safety of the passengers in the car accident, but also people look because the brain's going, I need to learn something over there.

Remember it because you don't want this to happen again. And so this is her way of being a looky-loo when there's a car accident on the freeway. People slow down, yes, perhaps for the safety of the passengers in the car accident, but also people look because the brain's going, I need to learn something over there.

Our amygdala's version of doing that with shame and trauma is to do a hindsight review and have 20-20 vision about every single thing we missed and hold us accountable for it so we don't get into danger in the future.

Our amygdala's version of doing that with shame and trauma is to do a hindsight review and have 20-20 vision about every single thing we missed and hold us accountable for it so we don't get into danger in the future.

One of the interesting things that happens with my clients when we, not everybody, but a lot of them when we begin the work is ask them, what is their goal? And they say, I just want to be happy. The problem is, is our brain is not designed to be happy all the time. In fact, our brain would burn out neurochemically if we were

One of the interesting things that happens with my clients when we, not everybody, but a lot of them when we begin the work is ask them, what is their goal? And they say, I just want to be happy. The problem is, is our brain is not designed to be happy all the time. In fact, our brain would burn out neurochemically if we were

Our brain and our body are designed to flow and ebb and navigate through all types of feelings and emotions on a daily basis. The good, the bad, the beautiful, the ugly, the calm and the neutral. And all of those feelings become flags for helping us better understand what's happening in the world around us.

Our brain and our body are designed to flow and ebb and navigate through all types of feelings and emotions on a daily basis. The good, the bad, the beautiful, the ugly, the calm and the neutral. And all of those feelings become flags for helping us better understand what's happening in the world around us.

The beautiful part of being in the work and doing the work is that those red flag moments no longer spiral us into shame. If shame comes up and go, oh, that's also an interesting data point. Why is a part of me now feeling bad again? What's happening? And we can get curious.

The beautiful part of being in the work and doing the work is that those red flag moments no longer spiral us into shame. If shame comes up and go, oh, that's also an interesting data point. Why is a part of me now feeling bad again? What's happening? And we can get curious.

Or in the aftermath of a red flag moment, if we've really leaned into neuroplasticity and helped our system come home to self with loving care, we can give ourselves an internal hug or even an external hug, you know, wrap our arms around ourselves and go, there, there, girl. It's okay. What's going on?

Or in the aftermath of a red flag moment, if we've really leaned into neuroplasticity and helped our system come home to self with loving care, we can give ourselves an internal hug or even an external hug, you know, wrap our arms around ourselves and go, there, there, girl. It's okay. What's going on?

And have that compassionate loving response that for so many of us, we may never have ever had to begin with.

And have that compassionate loving response that for so many of us, we may never have ever had to begin with.

Self-compassion is a skill. We're not born to be compassionate towards ourselves. We are born to be compassionate towards other beings, animals, living things, even inanimate objects, because we need other entities for survival. But frankly, to survive, we don't have to be nice to ourselves. So that's a skill that we get to learn.

Self-compassion is a skill. We're not born to be compassionate towards ourselves. We are born to be compassionate towards other beings, animals, living things, even inanimate objects, because we need other entities for survival. But frankly, to survive, we don't have to be nice to ourselves. So that's a skill that we get to learn.

And that's a really critical part of the trauma healing journey is learning how to hold the space for ourselves that we neurobiologically freely give to everybody else.

And that's a really critical part of the trauma healing journey is learning how to hold the space for ourselves that we neurobiologically freely give to everybody else.

So therapy is a privilege. And I'm very aware that not everybody has access to it. I also know that mental health and wellness is a human right. So dedicated an extensive amount of time to providing resources and tools that are neurobiologically based to help people heal the experiences of their past.

So therapy is a privilege. And I'm very aware that not everybody has access to it. I also know that mental health and wellness is a human right. So dedicated an extensive amount of time to providing resources and tools that are neurobiologically based to help people heal the experiences of their past.

finding ways to show up in the present moment and do proactive healing in the here and now while building the neural pathways they want for their future. As we honestly can partner with our own brains to create incredible change. And on our YouTube channel, it's Dr. Kate Truitt, which is a Google Health channel.

finding ways to show up in the present moment and do proactive healing in the here and now while building the neural pathways they want for their future. As we honestly can partner with our own brains to create incredible change. And on our YouTube channel, it's Dr. Kate Truitt, which is a Google Health channel.

It's approved by NIH, NIMH, as well as the World Health Organization as an educational resource. We provide therapeutic tools, guides, information, as well as guided meditations and all sorts of ways to support people in safely moving into their own healing journey. Along those same lines, I have two books that I've written.

It's approved by NIH, NIMH, as well as the World Health Organization as an educational resource. We provide therapeutic tools, guides, information, as well as guided meditations and all sorts of ways to support people in safely moving into their own healing journey. Along those same lines, I have two books that I've written.

The first one is called Healing in Your Hands, which the title leans into exactly everything we're talking about. It's a full healing experience for going on a guided relationship with oneself. and navigating how our life experiences have shifted and changed the way we experience the world around us, while providing actionable tools and resources for curating and creating change.

The first one is called Healing in Your Hands, which the title leans into exactly everything we're talking about. It's a full healing experience for going on a guided relationship with oneself. and navigating how our life experiences have shifted and changed the way we experience the world around us, while providing actionable tools and resources for curating and creating change.

My memoir, which is called Keep Breathing, really goes into a deep dive. And I used myself as a case study, which was quite terrifying, to be honest, to unpack the complexities of having PTSD.

My memoir, which is called Keep Breathing, really goes into a deep dive. And I used myself as a case study, which was quite terrifying, to be honest, to unpack the complexities of having PTSD.

It was really one of the hardest choices I've made in my life to put that book into the world. Partially because as psychologists, there's an old idea that we're supposed to be blank slates. But fundamentally what I realize is there's a lot of people who are just like me, who are struggling, who could possibly benefit from the information. And it was so healing to even write my own story.

It was really one of the hardest choices I've made in my life to put that book into the world. Partially because as psychologists, there's an old idea that we're supposed to be blank slates. But fundamentally what I realize is there's a lot of people who are just like me, who are struggling, who could possibly benefit from the information. And it was so healing to even write my own story.

It took five years. And to have the space to share my story and to have my story be held by others and reflected. So it's an incredible, incredible powerful testimony to the power of narrative work. And how when our story is held by others, that in of itself is really, really healing.

It took five years. And to have the space to share my story and to have my story be held by others and reflected. So it's an incredible, incredible powerful testimony to the power of narrative work. And how when our story is held by others, that in of itself is really, really healing.

An applied neuroscientist straddles the line between what's going on in the labs, what I call the ivory tower of the educational space, and the clinical realm. I view myself as a translator of the brain to best help people connect with what's happening in their mind-body system. I specifically focus on the brain areas tied into both trauma and empowerment.

An applied neuroscientist straddles the line between what's going on in the labs, what I call the ivory tower of the educational space, and the clinical realm. I view myself as a translator of the brain to best help people connect with what's happening in their mind-body system. I specifically focus on the brain areas tied into both trauma and empowerment.

The through line, though, and what really, really lights me up is helping people disseminate the impact of trauma and better understand the weird, painful experiences that happen in our mind-body system when we've been deeply harmed.

The through line, though, and what really, really lights me up is helping people disseminate the impact of trauma and better understand the weird, painful experiences that happen in our mind-body system when we've been deeply harmed.

I'm also a survivor. I am a survivor of traumatic grief. I was widowed a week before my wedding. And I'm harnessing my own vulnerability and knowledge of neuroscience to shine the light on how change and healing is possible.

I'm also a survivor. I am a survivor of traumatic grief. I was widowed a week before my wedding. And I'm harnessing my own vulnerability and knowledge of neuroscience to shine the light on how change and healing is possible.

When I look at trauma through the lens of neurobiology, I like to distill it down to the concept of threat, safety, or lack of safety. Because we can experience something that feels threatening, such as getting on a roller coaster and plummeting at the earth at a very, very high rate of speed. but also knowing that supposedly if the engineers did their job, we're okay, so therefore we're safe.

When I look at trauma through the lens of neurobiology, I like to distill it down to the concept of threat, safety, or lack of safety. Because we can experience something that feels threatening, such as getting on a roller coaster and plummeting at the earth at a very, very high rate of speed. but also knowing that supposedly if the engineers did their job, we're okay, so therefore we're safe.

If that's the case and we like roller coasters, then it's not traumatic. On the other hand, somebody who gets into the same roller coaster, maybe totally safe, hates roller coasters, but is forced to get on that roller coaster and ride the roller coaster, that could be very traumatic because there's no choice. So threat in of itself is a critical through line of what makes something traumatic.

If that's the case and we like roller coasters, then it's not traumatic. On the other hand, somebody who gets into the same roller coaster, maybe totally safe, hates roller coasters, but is forced to get on that roller coaster and ride the roller coaster, that could be very traumatic because there's no choice. So threat in of itself is a critical through line of what makes something traumatic.

It could be threat to life or perceived threat to belonging, lovability, threat to one's ability to make choice in their life, to have agency, or threat to the baseline safety.

It could be threat to life or perceived threat to belonging, lovability, threat to one's ability to make choice in their life, to have agency, or threat to the baseline safety.

Our little friend Amy the amygdala, who, that's what I do call her, Amy the amygdala. The amygdala is a part of our brain whose primary job is to keep us alive. And when we feel threatened, she's assessing in our brain these core values of, am I safe? Am I lovable or do I belong? And can I create change or what I call be successful in my life?

Our little friend Amy the amygdala, who, that's what I do call her, Amy the amygdala. The amygdala is a part of our brain whose primary job is to keep us alive. And when we feel threatened, she's assessing in our brain these core values of, am I safe? Am I lovable or do I belong? And can I create change or what I call be successful in my life?

And if there's a direct threat to any of those values, then there's the possibility of something being encoded in our brain as traumatic.

And if there's a direct threat to any of those values, then there's the possibility of something being encoded in our brain as traumatic.

Now, there's this concept in society on social media in the clinical realm of big T versus small T trauma. Big T trauma being something that we just lived through here in Los Angeles, these fires, or any natural disaster, or a direct assault, or something that is very clear that if you told another human this happened, societally that other person would say, yeah, that's definitely traumatic.

Now, there's this concept in society on social media in the clinical realm of big T versus small T trauma. Big T trauma being something that we just lived through here in Los Angeles, these fires, or any natural disaster, or a direct assault, or something that is very clear that if you told another human this happened, societally that other person would say, yeah, that's definitely traumatic.

Small T trauma are often just as impactful, but they're missed in the trauma dialogue, and they create ongoing traumatic stress as well in the system. But there are things that directly threaten those core values in more subtle ways, such as coercive control. feeling assaulted or humiliated or intimidated all of the time in ways that don't leave an actual mark perhaps on the body.

Small T trauma are often just as impactful, but they're missed in the trauma dialogue, and they create ongoing traumatic stress as well in the system. But there are things that directly threaten those core values in more subtle ways, such as coercive control. feeling assaulted or humiliated or intimidated all of the time in ways that don't leave an actual mark perhaps on the body.

Those small T traumas can be just as impactful on how the mind-body system is experiencing and processing data. Whether it be a big T or a small T trauma, when those experiences happen, it fundamentally changes the way our brain and our body are making sense of the world around us.

Those small T traumas can be just as impactful on how the mind-body system is experiencing and processing data. Whether it be a big T or a small T trauma, when those experiences happen, it fundamentally changes the way our brain and our body are making sense of the world around us.

One of my favorite examples of this is if we go back to February of 2020. If somebody sneezed, then it may have been a simple, Gesundheit, bless you. Not an entire fearful mind-body reaction to, oh my gosh, is that person sick with a virus that could kill us? Fast forward to August 2020, a sneeze for many people had a very different connotation.

One of my favorite examples of this is if we go back to February of 2020. If somebody sneezed, then it may have been a simple, Gesundheit, bless you. Not an entire fearful mind-body reaction to, oh my gosh, is that person sick with a virus that could kill us? Fast forward to August 2020, a sneeze for many people had a very different connotation.

That's a type of neuroplasticity known as stress-induced structural plasticity. Now, sitting here in 2025, a sneeze for many people, once again, is just a sneeze. That's how our brain is supposed to respond to threats and then also unlearn threats when it's no longer actually threatening to us.

That's a type of neuroplasticity known as stress-induced structural plasticity. Now, sitting here in 2025, a sneeze for many people, once again, is just a sneeze. That's how our brain is supposed to respond to threats and then also unlearn threats when it's no longer actually threatening to us.

When we're living in a state where there is constant internalization of fear, of trauma, where our brain has learned and started to design itself around traumatic experiences, even if the trauma is no longer happening, the traumatic event might have been, you know, for two years during one's childhood, but if those two years were impactful enough, the brain is still going to be harnessing and utilizing the neural pathways set down during those childhood years.

When we're living in a state where there is constant internalization of fear, of trauma, where our brain has learned and started to design itself around traumatic experiences, even if the trauma is no longer happening, the traumatic event might have been, you know, for two years during one's childhood, but if those two years were impactful enough, the brain is still going to be harnessing and utilizing the neural pathways set down during those childhood years.

It's a rewiring of our mind-body system into feeling chronically unsafe. Oftentimes, too, though, it becomes an internalization. It changes how we experience ourselves in the world. We start having negative viewpoints on our capacity, our lovability. We start feeling as though there's something wrong with us. We're shameful or that we're a chronic failure. We can't make change in our world.

It's a rewiring of our mind-body system into feeling chronically unsafe. Oftentimes, too, though, it becomes an internalization. It changes how we experience ourselves in the world. We start having negative viewpoints on our capacity, our lovability. We start feeling as though there's something wrong with us. We're shameful or that we're a chronic failure. We can't make change in our world.

Our body may be rewired into a state of chronic stress or vigilance, meaning that all of a sudden our gastrointestinal system simply stops functioning the way it used to, which is a part of a trauma response, or we can't sleep very well or feel rested when we're sleeping.

Our body may be rewired into a state of chronic stress or vigilance, meaning that all of a sudden our gastrointestinal system simply stops functioning the way it used to, which is a part of a trauma response, or we can't sleep very well or feel rested when we're sleeping.

So the impact of whether it be big T or small T trauma happens in many, many layers across the course of our mind-body functioning.

So the impact of whether it be big T or small T trauma happens in many, many layers across the course of our mind-body functioning.

The really good news about our brain is it's changeable. It's plastic. That's where the buzzy word neuroplasticity comes from.

The really good news about our brain is it's changeable. It's plastic. That's where the buzzy word neuroplasticity comes from.

Because of neuroplasticity, we can help the brain carve new neural pathways and strengthen the ones that we want while either desensitizing the ones that we don't want or even helping the brain shift through and release the ones that are anchored in by trauma and creating space for new learnings going forward, a new way of being in the world.

Because of neuroplasticity, we can help the brain carve new neural pathways and strengthen the ones that we want while either desensitizing the ones that we don't want or even helping the brain shift through and release the ones that are anchored in by trauma and creating space for new learnings going forward, a new way of being in the world.

And we can play a very active role in that when we know how.

And we can play a very active role in that when we know how.

What that looks like at a neurobiological level is when our little friend Amy the amygdala, when she starts looking at the world through a lens of threat, she disrupts the story-making parts of our brain, such as our hippocampus, where she focuses on memory reconsolidation, our thinking brain.

What that looks like at a neurobiological level is when our little friend Amy the amygdala, when she starts looking at the world through a lens of threat, she disrupts the story-making parts of our brain, such as our hippocampus, where she focuses on memory reconsolidation, our thinking brain.

which is our prefrontal cortex, which helps us pay attention to things and make decisions, the amygdala changes the capacity of those other parts of our brain to function in a balanced, resilient manner, and instead starts pulling all of our other brain parts into a direction of survival mode, threat-based, looking at the world through those trauma glasses.

which is our prefrontal cortex, which helps us pay attention to things and make decisions, the amygdala changes the capacity of those other parts of our brain to function in a balanced, resilient manner, and instead starts pulling all of our other brain parts into a direction of survival mode, threat-based, looking at the world through those trauma glasses.

The world is scary. Or it could be, I'm a bad person. I make bad things happen. It could be, I am not deserving of love. Whatever the brain has learned is the thing tied into what is painful, scary, or hard. And the amygdala reinforces those types of stories over and over and over again.

The world is scary. Or it could be, I'm a bad person. I make bad things happen. It could be, I am not deserving of love. Whatever the brain has learned is the thing tied into what is painful, scary, or hard. And the amygdala reinforces those types of stories over and over and over again.

The more those stories get to exist within our neurobiology, the stronger they become, which means they can start to feel like truth. So the impact is pretty profound, and the stories are still going to be happening. It's just that the stories are being written by a very unkind narrator.

The more those stories get to exist within our neurobiology, the stronger they become, which means they can start to feel like truth. So the impact is pretty profound, and the stories are still going to be happening. It's just that the stories are being written by a very unkind narrator.

That's the irony about Amy the amygdala. She can be very disruptive in how she guides our brain in order to keep us alive. But fundamentally, she does really have our back. And that's the opportunity in the neurobiological healing work and integrating that with meaning making and simply storytelling.

That's the irony about Amy the amygdala. She can be very disruptive in how she guides our brain in order to keep us alive. But fundamentally, she does really have our back. And that's the opportunity in the neurobiological healing work and integrating that with meaning making and simply storytelling.

There's a lot of very effective different types of intervention for trauma because as humans, we're narrative creatures. And until we can support the system in changing the narrative, the meaning-making of what has happened, the system can continue to be paralyzed or run by the pain of the past.

There's a lot of very effective different types of intervention for trauma because as humans, we're narrative creatures. And until we can support the system in changing the narrative, the meaning-making of what has happened, the system can continue to be paralyzed or run by the pain of the past.

And we're always going to be leaning into the meaning making, which is fundamentally the story that our brain has around what happened and identifying new opportunities for finding escape from what feels inescapable.

And we're always going to be leaning into the meaning making, which is fundamentally the story that our brain has around what happened and identifying new opportunities for finding escape from what feels inescapable.

Journaling is proven scientifically to be an incredible way to help integrate our story. Putting something on paper is a way of honoring your own story and your own truth. Sharing our journaling, sharing our story in a healthy way also can be incredibly healing. It can also be very vulnerable to journal. We can be tapping into sensory data that's tied into our traumatic experiences.

Sharing our story can be incredibly vulnerable. And our amygdala may have fears around being rejected or feeling even more isolated after sharing.

The main focus that I always recommend to my clients, friends, colleagues, anybody when we're doing this type of work independently is to also have a toolkit of self-regulation tools next to us in case we tap into something that carries a lot of emotional weight as we're journaling.

And so if we have our self-regulation tools on hand as we're journaling or writing or sharing our story, we can actually proactively heal any of those reactive responses that are coming up. And one of my favorite tools for this is an exercise I created a long time ago called Creating Personal Resilience for the Amygdala, CPR for the Amygdala.

As we're doing our narrative work, as we're journaling, if we're noticing our amygdala starting to get reactive, it's just time to push pause and take a breath and utilize something known as mindful touch in order to downregulate the brain.

It's a way of saying this happened rather than holding it inside, of acknowledging the pains of the past and starting to create a new way forward, imagining different outcomes, creating a way that you would like to respond or react to something. We can help the system find ways to re-narrate and free our brain of being stuck, locked into what happened and know that, hey, we're not there anymore.

A tool or exercise I do with my clients quite a bit is to have them notice the difference between the statement, I am an anxious person versus I am experiencing anxiety. As humans, we tend to label ourselves. And when we give ourselves big emotional labels, it's hard for our mind and our body system to dig ourselves out of that label. I am bad. I am depressed. I am unlovable. I am unworthy.

I am powerless. Our brain buys into that as a self-identifying component of self. As opposed to saying, I'm feeling powerless in this moment, which then creates space for the brain and the body to go, oh, I can do something to feel more powerful right now. What might that be? Oh, I can control my breath. Oh, I have control over that.

Or I am experiencing anxiety, which creates the opportunity to zoom out a little bit. And say, why am I feeling anxious, which immediately starts a positive neuroplastic experience of being curious, which gives us dopamine and opens up our visual sphere, both internally and externally, to seeing a larger picture around us.

And the value in that is there's space for curiosity and even possibly beginning to move into a state of self-compassion and deeper self-awareness and self-acceptance, which fundamentally is a critical part of healing through trauma.

A common label that I hear is the idea of, I am a victim, or the polarizing opposite, I'm not a victim. And I can see a lot of damage potentially being done on either side of the aisle. If we are a victim, and that is the label that we're putting on our mind-body system, it can feel, what we call in psychological terms, very much having an external locus of control.

Things happen to me, I am powerless, and I cannot create change in my world. And for the amygdala's core values, you can possibly tune in there that Amy's going to hate that. And when she really feels powerless or weak, she's going to create a way of interacting with that statement for the good, the bad, or the ugly, however it shows up for her to keep us safe.

Oftentimes that can mean isolating or creating ways of being in interpersonal relationships that are not preferable or are unhealthy for us. The flip side of I am not a victim, again, great if you're not a victim, that's fine. But if that's a trauma reaction, it can bypass the reality of things happen out of control. Scary and difficult, painful things did happen. And the

mind-body system wasn't in control in those moments. And so the label of victim and of itself becomes self-identifying. And either side of the aisle, I don't believe it's supportive or helpful for my clients or anybody in the world to have an I am statement in one direction or the other. When we look at the term of victim, it means something has happened that was really bad. And it's a concept.

It's not a label. It's not a self-identification.

In the field of survivalship, when working with trauma survivors, we've taken victim off the table. Because when we're a survivor, it's giving an acknowledgement to that something did happen. So yes, there was a moment where I was a victim of something really bad happening. And I'm standing here right now. I made it through. I have survived.

And therefore, there's space to look at what happened and to build through survivalship into resilience and empowerment.

Ah, shame. Shame, shame, shame. Our brain can be a shame junkie. And shame is fundamentally a feeling of being flooded with a lack of self-worth, feeling completely and utterly like somebody is bad. They are broken at their core and they are bad. And the interesting thing about shame is our little friend Amy the amygdala loves it.

Because when she's feeling shame, she's like, there is something clearly not okay here. And she gets to make up even more stories about how we are bad, believing that she's keeping us safe. She really does have her best interests at heart. But feeling shame or feeling bad or broken for Amy the amygdala actually gives her power. It helps her feel like she has agency and choice.

I know it's weird, and it's real.

The problem is hindsight's 20-20. And so we can look back and see every flag that was missed And hold ourselves accountable for it. And when I say hold ourselves accountable for it, of course, it's not us. It's our little friend, Amy, the amygdala spinning up a narrative of saying, see, you missed that. That's your fault. That's your fault. That's your fault. That's your fault.

You missed that, too. Aren't you so bad? How did you fail on that account? What's wrong with you? So on and so forth. Again, all as a way to create internally a sense of safety. Because when we're so flagellating, when we're beating ourselves up and holding ourselves responsible for things that we could not control, did not know about, did not see, our amygdala is saying, remember it.

Remember it because you don't want this to happen again. And so this is her way of being a looky-loo when there's a car accident on the freeway. People slow down, yes, perhaps for the safety of the passengers in the car accident, but also people look because the brain's going, I need to learn something over there.

Our amygdala's version of doing that with shame and trauma is to do a hindsight review and have 20-20 vision about every single thing we missed and hold us accountable for it so we don't get into danger in the future.

One of the interesting things that happens with my clients when we, not everybody, but a lot of them when we begin the work is ask them, what is their goal? And they say, I just want to be happy. The problem is, is our brain is not designed to be happy all the time. In fact, our brain would burn out neurochemically if we were

Our brain and our body are designed to flow and ebb and navigate through all types of feelings and emotions on a daily basis. The good, the bad, the beautiful, the ugly, the calm and the neutral. And all of those feelings become flags for helping us better understand what's happening in the world around us.

The beautiful part of being in the work and doing the work is that those red flag moments no longer spiral us into shame. If shame comes up and go, oh, that's also an interesting data point. Why is a part of me now feeling bad again? What's happening? And we can get curious.

Or in the aftermath of a red flag moment, if we've really leaned into neuroplasticity and helped our system come home to self with loving care, we can give ourselves an internal hug or even an external hug, you know, wrap our arms around ourselves and go, there, there, girl. It's okay. What's going on?

And have that compassionate loving response that for so many of us, we may never have ever had to begin with.

Self-compassion is a skill. We're not born to be compassionate towards ourselves. We are born to be compassionate towards other beings, animals, living things, even inanimate objects, because we need other entities for survival. But frankly, to survive, we don't have to be nice to ourselves. So that's a skill that we get to learn.

And that's a really critical part of the trauma healing journey is learning how to hold the space for ourselves that we neurobiologically freely give to everybody else.

So therapy is a privilege. And I'm very aware that not everybody has access to it. I also know that mental health and wellness is a human right. So dedicated an extensive amount of time to providing resources and tools that are neurobiologically based to help people heal the experiences of their past.

finding ways to show up in the present moment and do proactive healing in the here and now while building the neural pathways they want for their future. As we honestly can partner with our own brains to create incredible change. And on our YouTube channel, it's Dr. Kate Truitt, which is a Google Health channel.

It's approved by NIH, NIMH, as well as the World Health Organization as an educational resource. We provide therapeutic tools, guides, information, as well as guided meditations and all sorts of ways to support people in safely moving into their own healing journey. Along those same lines, I have two books that I've written.

The first one is called Healing in Your Hands, which the title leans into exactly everything we're talking about. It's a full healing experience for going on a guided relationship with oneself. and navigating how our life experiences have shifted and changed the way we experience the world around us, while providing actionable tools and resources for curating and creating change.

My memoir, which is called Keep Breathing, really goes into a deep dive. And I used myself as a case study, which was quite terrifying, to be honest, to unpack the complexities of having PTSD.

It was really one of the hardest choices I've made in my life to put that book into the world. Partially because as psychologists, there's an old idea that we're supposed to be blank slates. But fundamentally what I realize is there's a lot of people who are just like me, who are struggling, who could possibly benefit from the information. And it was so healing to even write my own story.

It took five years. And to have the space to share my story and to have my story be held by others and reflected. So it's an incredible, incredible powerful testimony to the power of narrative work. And how when our story is held by others, that in of itself is really, really healing.

An applied neuroscientist straddles the line between what's going on in the labs, what I call the ivory tower of the educational space, and the clinical realm. I view myself as a translator of the brain to best help people connect with what's happening in their mind-body system. I specifically focus on the brain areas tied into both trauma and empowerment.

The through line, though, and what really, really lights me up is helping people disseminate the impact of trauma and better understand the weird, painful experiences that happen in our mind-body system when we've been deeply harmed.

I'm also a survivor. I am a survivor of traumatic grief. I was widowed a week before my wedding. And I'm harnessing my own vulnerability and knowledge of neuroscience to shine the light on how change and healing is possible.

When I look at trauma through the lens of neurobiology, I like to distill it down to the concept of threat, safety, or lack of safety. Because we can experience something that feels threatening, such as getting on a roller coaster and plummeting at the earth at a very, very high rate of speed. but also knowing that supposedly if the engineers did their job, we're okay, so therefore we're safe.

If that's the case and we like roller coasters, then it's not traumatic. On the other hand, somebody who gets into the same roller coaster, maybe totally safe, hates roller coasters, but is forced to get on that roller coaster and ride the roller coaster, that could be very traumatic because there's no choice. So threat in of itself is a critical through line of what makes something traumatic.

It could be threat to life or perceived threat to belonging, lovability, threat to one's ability to make choice in their life, to have agency, or threat to the baseline safety.

Our little friend Amy the amygdala, who, that's what I do call her, Amy the amygdala. The amygdala is a part of our brain whose primary job is to keep us alive. And when we feel threatened, she's assessing in our brain these core values of, am I safe? Am I lovable or do I belong? And can I create change or what I call be successful in my life?

And if there's a direct threat to any of those values, then there's the possibility of something being encoded in our brain as traumatic.

Now, there's this concept in society on social media in the clinical realm of big T versus small T trauma. Big T trauma being something that we just lived through here in Los Angeles, these fires, or any natural disaster, or a direct assault, or something that is very clear that if you told another human this happened, societally that other person would say, yeah, that's definitely traumatic.

Small T trauma are often just as impactful, but they're missed in the trauma dialogue, and they create ongoing traumatic stress as well in the system. But there are things that directly threaten those core values in more subtle ways, such as coercive control. feeling assaulted or humiliated or intimidated all of the time in ways that don't leave an actual mark perhaps on the body.

Those small T traumas can be just as impactful on how the mind-body system is experiencing and processing data. Whether it be a big T or a small T trauma, when those experiences happen, it fundamentally changes the way our brain and our body are making sense of the world around us.

One of my favorite examples of this is if we go back to February of 2020. If somebody sneezed, then it may have been a simple, Gesundheit, bless you. Not an entire fearful mind-body reaction to, oh my gosh, is that person sick with a virus that could kill us? Fast forward to August 2020, a sneeze for many people had a very different connotation.

That's a type of neuroplasticity known as stress-induced structural plasticity. Now, sitting here in 2025, a sneeze for many people, once again, is just a sneeze. That's how our brain is supposed to respond to threats and then also unlearn threats when it's no longer actually threatening to us.

When we're living in a state where there is constant internalization of fear, of trauma, where our brain has learned and started to design itself around traumatic experiences, even if the trauma is no longer happening, the traumatic event might have been, you know, for two years during one's childhood, but if those two years were impactful enough, the brain is still going to be harnessing and utilizing the neural pathways set down during those childhood years.

It's a rewiring of our mind-body system into feeling chronically unsafe. Oftentimes, too, though, it becomes an internalization. It changes how we experience ourselves in the world. We start having negative viewpoints on our capacity, our lovability. We start feeling as though there's something wrong with us. We're shameful or that we're a chronic failure. We can't make change in our world.

Our body may be rewired into a state of chronic stress or vigilance, meaning that all of a sudden our gastrointestinal system simply stops functioning the way it used to, which is a part of a trauma response, or we can't sleep very well or feel rested when we're sleeping.

So the impact of whether it be big T or small T trauma happens in many, many layers across the course of our mind-body functioning.

The really good news about our brain is it's changeable. It's plastic. That's where the buzzy word neuroplasticity comes from.

Because of neuroplasticity, we can help the brain carve new neural pathways and strengthen the ones that we want while either desensitizing the ones that we don't want or even helping the brain shift through and release the ones that are anchored in by trauma and creating space for new learnings going forward, a new way of being in the world.

And we can play a very active role in that when we know how.

What that looks like at a neurobiological level is when our little friend Amy the amygdala, when she starts looking at the world through a lens of threat, she disrupts the story-making parts of our brain, such as our hippocampus, where she focuses on memory reconsolidation, our thinking brain.

which is our prefrontal cortex, which helps us pay attention to things and make decisions, the amygdala changes the capacity of those other parts of our brain to function in a balanced, resilient manner, and instead starts pulling all of our other brain parts into a direction of survival mode, threat-based, looking at the world through those trauma glasses.

The world is scary. Or it could be, I'm a bad person. I make bad things happen. It could be, I am not deserving of love. Whatever the brain has learned is the thing tied into what is painful, scary, or hard. And the amygdala reinforces those types of stories over and over and over again.

The more those stories get to exist within our neurobiology, the stronger they become, which means they can start to feel like truth. So the impact is pretty profound, and the stories are still going to be happening. It's just that the stories are being written by a very unkind narrator.

That's the irony about Amy the amygdala. She can be very disruptive in how she guides our brain in order to keep us alive. But fundamentally, she does really have our back. And that's the opportunity in the neurobiological healing work and integrating that with meaning making and simply storytelling.

There's a lot of very effective different types of intervention for trauma because as humans, we're narrative creatures. And until we can support the system in changing the narrative, the meaning-making of what has happened, the system can continue to be paralyzed or run by the pain of the past.

And we're always going to be leaning into the meaning making, which is fundamentally the story that our brain has around what happened and identifying new opportunities for finding escape from what feels inescapable.