About this episode

The episode explores the complexities of trauma, its psychological impacts, and the myths surrounding it with guest George Bonnano.

Read the full transcript here. What should count as trauma, and what gets lost when the word expands to cover ordinary distress? Why do some frightening events leave lasting psychological injury while others fade into ordinary memory? Is trauma best understood as the event itself, or as the enduring failure of the mind to recover from it? What is the difference between being influenced by the past and being imprisoned by it? Can a society acknowledge real harm without teaching people that damage is inevitable? Does the body keep the score, or is the body better understood as a scorecard for what the brain is tracking? Why are metaphors about hidden trauma so compelling even when they may obscure how memory actually works? If severe trauma is usually remembered rather than repressed, why do myths of buried memories remain so powerful? What is the difference between avoiding a painful memory and being unable to recall it? How do fragmented memories help the brain preserve threat relevant details while losing the clean story of what happened? What would change if we saw resilience not as denial of harm, but as flexible, imperfect, learnable adaptation? Links: George's Latest Book: […

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