Adult Child

How "The Body Keeps the Score": Making Sense of Stored Trauma, Survival Mode & Functional Freeze

✨ Join Breathe to Heal: A 7-week Somatic Journey to Release & Receive [https://adultchildpodcast.com/breathetoheal] Your childhood isn’t just a memory — it’s still quietly running the show inside your body. This episode unpacks how “The Body Keeps the Score” shows up in ways you might never have connected. Andrea joins us for a solo episode today, pulling back the curtain on how much of her childhood was still alive in her body long after she thought she’d “done the work.” She shares how a trauma-bonded relationship, nine months of functional freeze, and chronic neck and shoulder pain finally forced her to understand The Body Keeps the Score on a visceral level—not just as an idea. Through her story, she invites you to see your own stuckness, shame, and survival mode as evidence of unfinished trauma, not personal failure. ✨ What this episode explores: ▪️ Fragmented Memories & Emotional Flashbacks — How unprocessed childhood experiences get stored in your nervous system and why they show up as emotional flashbacks that feel way out of proportion to the present moment. ▪️ Survival Energy That Never Shut Off — What it means to carry stored fight-or-flight energy in your fascia, muscles, and nervous system, and how that shows up as chronic hypervigilance, numbness, and living in low-grade survival states. ▪️ The Hidden Faces of Functional Freeze — What it looks like when you’re stuck in functional freeze, whether you’re procrastinating endlessly, over-functioning for everyone else, or feeling emotionally numb and disconnected from your own life. ▪️ The Long-Term Impact of Survival Mode — How staying in chronic survival states can lead to physical issues like muscular tension, autoimmune conditions, and chronic pain that are actually linked to stored trauma. ▪️ Limbic System Healing — What it means to actually reprocess and integrate those fragmented memories at the limbic system level, and how this helps reduce emotional flashbacks and bring your nervous system out of survival mode. Trauma-Bonded No More: My Journey Through Shame, Regression & Finding My Way Back [https://redcircle.com/shows/6cbac788-c2a3-4eaa-bce9-06845e610d8a/episodes/0e6675cb-8d09-4997-84f5-1b10732c01a7] The Many Faces of Functional Freeze: The Stuck & Shame-Filled Overthinker [https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=353s&v=1xjtYlB48KQ] The Many Faces of Functional Freeze: The Over-Functioning Fixer [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsCXscFO0m8] The Many Faces of Functional Freeze: The Detached & Disconnected floater [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cDhOCCLThU] — — — ⚓JOIN THE SHITSHOW — The Adult Child Healing Community 6 weekly Zoom support groups · Discussion boards · Peer connection 👉 theshitshow.mn.co [http://theshitshow.mn.co/] 🗞️ SIGN UP FOR SHITSHOW NATION Get the newsletter for community updates, healing insights & early access to workshops. ➡️ Join here [https://adultchildpodcast.substack.com/] 💁‍♀️ SUPPORT THE POD ☕ Buy Me a Coffee [http://www.buymeacoffee.com/adultchild] – help Andrea (and her cats) eat 🛍️ Shop Shitshow Merch [http://www.adultchildpodcast.com/shop] 💬 CONNECT WITH ANDREA Instagram → @adultchildpod [https://www.instagram.com/adultchildpod] TikTok → @adultchildpod [http://www.tiktok.com/@adultchildpod] YouTube → @adultchildpod [https://www.youtube.com/@adultchildpod] SPONSORS Check out Uncommon Goods: https://uncommongoods.com/adultchild [https://uncommongoods.com/adultchild] Check out Calm: https://calm.com/ADULTCHILD [https://calm.com/ADULTCHILD] Check out Happy Mammoth, Use Code ADULTCHILD for 15% off happymammoth.com. [http://happymammoth.com./] Check out SiderAL, Use Code ADULTCHILD for 10% off https://pharmanutra-us.com/ [https://pharmanutra-us.com/] Check out Bioma for 15% of your order gobioma.com/adultchild [http://gobioma.com/adultchild] Our Sponsors: * Check out Happy Mammoth and use my code ADULTCHILD for a great deal: https://happymammoth.com * Check out PharmaNutra and use my code ADULTCHILD for a great deal: https://pharmanutra-us.com * Check out Uncommon Goods: https://uncommongoods.com/adultchild Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands [https://redcircle.com/brands] Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy [https://redcircle.com/privacy]

SHITSHOW SATURDAY #181 - Tabitha W.

✨ Join Breathe to Heal: A 7-week Somatic Journey to Release & Receive [https://adultchildpodcast.com/breathetoheal] ⚓JOIN THE SHITSHOW — The Adult Child Healing Community 6 weekly Zoom support groups · Discussion boards · Peer connection 👉 theshitshow.mn.co [http://theshitshow.mn.co/] 🗞️ SIGN UP FOR SHITSHOW NATION Get the newsletter for community updates, healing insights & early access to workshops. ➡️ Join here [https://adultchildpodcast.substack.com/] 💁‍♀️ SUPPORT THE POD ☕ Buy Me a Coffee [http://www.buymeacoffee.com/adultchild] – help Andrea (and her cats) eat 🛍️ Shop Shitshow Merch [http://www.adultchildpodcast.com/shop] 💬 CONNECT WITH ANDREA Instagram → @adultchildpod [https://www.instagram.com/adultchildpod] TikTok → @adultchildpod [http://www.tiktok.com/@adultchildpod] YouTube → @adultchildpod [https://www.youtube.com/@adultchildpod] SPONSORS Check out Uncommon Goods: https://uncommongoods.com/adultchild [https://uncommongoods.com/adultchild] Check out Calm: https://calm.com/ADULTCHILD [https://calm.com/ADULTCHILD] Check out Happy Mammoth, Use Code ADULTCHILD for 15% off happymammoth.com. [http://happymammoth.com./] Check out SiderAL, Use Code ADULTCHILD for 10% off https://pharmanutra-us.com/ [https://pharmanutra-us.com/] Check out Bioma for 15% of your order gobioma.com/adultchild [http://gobioma.com/adultchild] Our Sponsors: * Check out Calm: https://calm.com/ADULTCHILD * Check out Happy Mammoth and use my code ADULTCHILD for a great deal: https://happymammoth.com * Check out PharmaNutra and use my code ADULTCHILD for a great deal: https://pharmanutra-us.com * Check out Uncommon Goods: https://uncommongoods.com/adultchild Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands [https://redcircle.com/brands] Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy [https://redcircle.com/privacy]

When Each Parent Leaves a Different Scar: From Attachment Wounds to Parenting Triggers, Rage & Repair w/ Amber Trejo

✨ Join Breathe to Heal: A 7-week Somatic Journey to Release & Receive [https://adultchildpodcast.com/breathetoheal] What happens when one parent shatters you by leaving and the other wounds you by staying? This episode unpacks how two very different kinds of unsafe love can live in your body at the same time. Amber Trejo [https://www.theintegrativetraumatherapist.com/] is an integrative trauma therapist who helps parents with C-PTSD untangle how their own attachment wounds and nervous system triggers show up in the way they love and raise their kids. She grew up with two alcoholic parents — a father who disappeared overnight and a mother who stayed but pulled her into parentification, emotional abuse, and way too much adult reality. It wasn’t until she fell in love and later became a mother herself that those early wounds surged back as paranoia, dread, and explosive reactions she barely recognized as her own. ✨ What this episode explores: ▪️Growing Up With Two Kinds of Unsafe — Why having parents who hurt you in different ways makes it harder to see your trauma clearly, easier to minimize it, and more confusing to sort out which wounds came from where. ▪️Attachment Wounds in “Good” Relationships — Why safe, stable partners can still trigger paranoia, phone checking, and urges to run when your body learned that love and danger always showed up together. ▪️The “I Can’t Get What I Need” Core Wound — How this belief quietly drives functional freeze, overdoing, resentment in relationships, and the feeling that everyone else’s needs matter more than yours, including your kids’. ▪️When Parenting Feels Like a Trauma Relapse — When your child’s tantrums, needs, or clinginess send you into screaming, shutdown, or terror because they mirror the ages when no one comforted you. ▪️Raising Kids While Healing Yourself — What real repair looks like when you’ve yelled, grabbed, or minimized, and how to own the harm without dumping your story on your child or drowning in shame. ▪️Vicarious Sexual Abuse — What it actually is and what it can look like later in life ----------------------- ⚓JOIN THE SHITSHOW — The Adult Child Healing Community 6 weekly Zoom support groups · Discussion boards · Peer connection 👉 theshitshow.mn.co [http://theshitshow.mn.co/] 🗞️ SIGN UP FOR SHITSHOW NATION Get the newsletter for community updates, healing insights & early access to workshops. ➡️ Join here [https://adultchildpodcast.substack.com/] 💁‍♀️ SUPPORT THE POD ☕ Buy Me a Coffee [http://www.buymeacoffee.com/adultchild] – help Andrea (and her cats) eat 🛍️ Shop Shitshow Merch [http://www.adultchildpodcast.com/shop] 💬 CONNECT WITH ANDREA Instagram → @adultchildpod [https://www.instagram.com/adultchildpod] TikTok → @adultchildpod [http://www.tiktok.com/@adultchildpod] YouTube → @adultchildpod [https://www.youtube.com/@adultchildpod] SPONSORS Check out Uncommon Goods: https://uncommongoods.com/adultchild [https://uncommongoods.com/adultchild] Check out Calm: https://calm.com/ADULTCHILD [https://calm.com/ADULTCHILD] Check out Happy Mammoth, Use Code ADULTCHILD for 15% off happymammoth.com. [http://happymammoth.com./] Check out SiderAL, Use Code ADULTCHILD for 10% off https://pharmanutra-us.com/ [https://pharmanutra-us.com/] Check out Bioma for 15% of your order gobioma.com/adultchild [http://gobioma.com/adultchild] Our Sponsors: * Check out Calm: https://calm.com/ADULTCHILD * Check out Happy Mammoth and use my code ADULTCHILD for a great deal: https://happymammoth.com * Check out PharmaNutra and use my code ADULTCHILD for a great deal: https://pharmanutra-us.com * Check out Uncommon Goods: https://uncommongoods.com/adultchild Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands [https://redcircle.com/brands] Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy [https://redcircle.com/privacy]

SHITSHOW SATURDAY #180 - Andrea A. (...but not me)

✨ Join Breathe to Heal: A 7-week Somatic Journey to Release & Receive [https://adultchildpodcast.com/breathetoheal] ⚓JOIN THE SHITSHOW — The Adult Child Healing Community 6 weekly Zoom support groups · Discussion boards · Peer connection 👉 theshitshow.mn.co [http://theshitshow.mn.co/] 🗞️ SIGN UP FOR SHITSHOW NATION Get the newsletter for community updates, healing insights & early access to workshops. ➡️ Join here [https://adultchildpodcast.substack.com/] 💁‍♀️ SUPPORT THE POD ☕ Buy Me a Coffee [http://www.buymeacoffee.com/adultchild] – help Andrea (and her cats) eat 🛍️ Shop Shitshow Merch [http://www.adultchildpodcast.com/shop] 💬 CONNECT WITH ANDREA Instagram → @adultchildpod [https://www.instagram.com/adultchildpod] TikTok → @adultchildpod [http://www.tiktok.com/@adultchildpod] YouTube → @adultchildpod [https://www.youtube.com/@adultchildpod] SPONSORS Check out Uncommon Goods: https://uncommongoods.com/adultchild [https://uncommongoods.com/adultchild] Check out Calm: https://calm.com/ADULTCHILD [https://calm.com/ADULTCHILD] Check out Happy Mammoth, Use Code ADULTCHILD for 15% off happymammoth.com. [http://happymammoth.com./] Check out SiderAL, Use Code ADULTCHILD for 10% off https://pharmanutra-us.com/ [https://pharmanutra-us.com/] Check out Bioma for 15% of your order gobioma.com/adultchild [http://gobioma.com/adultchild] Our Sponsors: * Check out Calm: https://calm.com/ADULTCHILD * Check out Happy Mammoth and use my code ADULTCHILD for a great deal: https://happymammoth.com * Check out PharmaNutra and use my code ADULTCHILD for a great deal: https://pharmanutra-us.com * Check out Uncommon Goods: https://uncommongoods.com/adultchild Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands [https://redcircle.com/brands] Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy [https://redcircle.com/privacy]

The Messy Road of Long-Term Recovery: Codependency, Shame & Nervous System Triggers w/ Dr. Sarah Michaud

✨ Join Breathe to Heal: A 7-week Somatic Journey to Release & Receive [https://adultchildpodcast.com/breathetoheal] Long-term recovery doesn’t mean you stop getting triggered — it means you finally see how deep the wiring goes. This episode explores how to navigate those ongoing invitations for growth without turning every setback into proof that you’re failing. Dr. Sarah Michaud [https://drsarahmichaud.com/] is a clinical psychologist, author of Co-Crazy: One Psychologist’s Recovery from Codependency and Addiction [https://www.amazon.com/Co-Crazy-Psychologists-Recovery-Codependency-Addiction/dp/1736720430/ref=sr_1_1?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.RFZwyPABUSyrP5IVVU9ndQ.aXGGDfCC4YVgmLoyqFCg28Qpr9cyEJK3WaN-Skh7cUM&dib_tag=se&hvadid=776707721910&hvdev=c&hvexpln=0&hvlocphy=9011568&hvnetw=g&hvocijid=15718258366748233558--&hvqmt=e&hvrand=15718258366748233558&hvtargid=kwd-2428069244113&hydadcr=22562_13821251&keywords=co+crazy+sarah+michaud&mcid=7bcf6b5b77ff352796d754ae5d63aeb3&qid=1764118375&sr=8-1], with decades of personal and professional experience in addiction and codependency recovery. She shares what it was like to be decades sober and still have her life upended by her husband’s relapse — and how that season forced her to confront layers of shame she thought she’d already outgrown. She also opens up about body-based triggers in a new relationship, the impact of covert childhood trauma, and the journey of self-forgiveness. ✨ What this episode explores: ▪️Long-Term Recovery Is Not the Finish Line — Why deeper layers of childhood trauma, CPTSD and codependent patterns can surface decades into sobriety and suddenly make you feel back at square one. ▪️When Insight Doesn’t Equal Healing — How you can understand your trauma, teach this stuff to others, and still repeat old behaviors until your nervous system and body are actually part of the work. ▪️Codependency as “I Can’t Be Myself” — What it really means to chronically over-help, manage or shrink around others and how that pattern keeps adult children of dysfunctional families from feeling safe. ▪️When the Body Remembers Before the Brain — How sleep issues, anxiety spikes and body tension with safe people can be clues that covert emotional or sexual trauma is still stored in the nervous system. ▪️Navigating Triggers With Self-Compassion — How naming activations, regulating before you react and reframing setbacks as invitations for deeper healing can shift you out of “I’m failing at recovery.” ▪️Parenting After Addiction and Neglect — How guilt can turn sober parents into over-givers and why reclaiming boundaries with your kids becomes part of breaking generational trauma and codependency. ----------------------- ⚓JOIN THE SHITSHOW — The Adult Child Healing Community 6 weekly Zoom support groups · Discussion boards · Peer connection 👉 theshitshow.mn.co [http://theshitshow.mn.co/] 🗞️ SIGN UP FOR SHITSHOW NATION Get the newsletter for community updates, healing insights & early access to workshops. ➡️ Join here [https://adultchildpodcast.substack.com/] 💁‍♀️ SUPPORT THE POD ☕ Buy Me a Coffee [http://www.buymeacoffee.com/adultchild] – help Andrea (and her cats) eat 🛍️ Shop Shitshow Merch [http://www.adultchildpodcast.com/shop] 💬 CONNECT WITH ANDREA Instagram → @adultchildpod [https://www.instagram.com/adultchildpod] TikTok → @adultchildpod [http://www.tiktok.com/@adultchildpod] YouTube → @adultchildpod [https://www.youtube.com/@adultchildpod] SPONSORS Check out Uncommon Goods: https://uncommongoods.com/adultchild [https://uncommongoods.com/adultchild] Check out Calm: https://calm.com/ADULTCHILD [https://calm.com/ADULTCHILD] Check out Happy Mammoth, Use Code ADULTCHILD for 15% off happymammoth.com. [http://happymammoth.com./] Check out SiderAL, Use Code ADULTCHILD for 10% off https://pharmanutra-us.com/ [https://pharmanutra-us.com/] Check out Bioma for 15% of your order gobioma.com/adultchild [http://gobioma.com/adultchild] Our Sponsors: * Check out Calm: https://calm.com/ADULTCHILD * Check out Happy Mammoth and use my code ADULTCHILD for a great deal: https://happymammoth.com * Check out PharmaNutra and use my code ADULTCHILD for a great deal: https://pharmanutra-us.com * Check out Uncommon Goods: https://uncommongoods.com/adultchild Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands [https://redcircle.com/brands] Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy [https://redcircle.com/privacy]