From Chaos to Healing: Stephanie Foo’s Experience with Complex PTSD

About this sermon

Sometimes, bad things happen (obvi, right?). Many times, we know what’s happening to us in the moment is awful and wrong. We know that it’s painful. But sometimes, we don’t know how bad those things were until that pain shows up again in our lives, maybe years later, in a completely different way. And when these seemingly bad things come up, our lives are thrown into a tailspin—creating chaos and unhappiness and we’re not even even sure why. So how do we begin to identify the source of the darkness? How do we walk toward healing when the muck of our trauma is so deep we feel like we can’t move forward? Our guest this week has navigated through this very thing (and is still navigating it). The chaotic parts, the hard parts, the painful parts. Author and This American Life producer Stephanie Foo had found success in her thirties–working at her dream job and in a loving relationship. But behind her office door she was having panic attacks daily and sobbing at her desk. After years of questioning what was wrong (and blaming herself), she was diagnosed with complex PTSD–a condition that happens when trauma occurs again and again over many years. She was determined to understand this diagnosis, and the result of her findings is a beautiful and powerful memoir called What My Bones Know. Jen and Stephanie have an illuminating discussion around these topics: • The difference between PTSD and complex PTSD and why that’s an important distinction when it comes to healing • How an unresolved mental health issue can impact our physical health, which can manifest (as it did for Stephanie) in panic attacks, joint issues, migraines, and endometriosis. • How our traumas can be handed down through previous generations through our genes, but also through how we were (or weren’t) nurtured. • What it feels like to pull back the curtain on our coping mechanisms to reveal why we react to things the way we do, or why we put up walls in safe places with safe people Join us for this very real, raw, but gentle conversation as Stephanie’s story sheds light on how to walk away from chaos into healing. * * * Thank you to our sponsors! ➤ Chime | Visit https://www.chime.com/apply-debit/?ad=podcast_forthelove to learn how you can benefit by using Chime ➤ BetterHelp | Visit betterhelp.com/forthelove to save 10% on your first month! ➤ Make Me Care About…Podcast | Jen is hosting a special podcast series produced by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Check out "Make Me Care About..." wherever you get your podcasts. #ForTheLove #ForTheLovePodcast #JenHatmaker _________ CHECK OUT Resources Mentioned in This Episode: ➤ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complex_post-traumatic_stress_disorder ➤ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malayan_Emergency ➤https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-long-arm-of-childhood-trauma/id1399730603?i=1000436262013 ➤ https://www.elissabassist.com/ ➤https://www.amazon.com/What-My-Bones-Know-Healing/dp/B0977R5NZ4/ref=sr_1_1?hvadid=593788771871&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9031339&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=13726612223742512025&hvtargid=kwd-1650356677180&hydadcr=22191_9764376&keywords=what+my+bone+know&qid=1683242472&sr=8-1 ➤https://www.audible.com/pd/What-My-Bones-Know-Audiobook/059350724X?qid=1683242591&sr=1-1&ref=a_search_c3_lProduct_1_1&pf_rd_p=83218cca-c308-412f-bfcf-90198b687a2f&pf_rd_r=FFXT5NXK44PFYCEVBZ82&pageLoadId=wPkWTWyidTjzghLA&creativeId=0d6f6720-f41c-457e-a42b-8c8dceb62f2c CONNECT with Our Guest! ➤ Website: https://www.stephaniefoo.me/ ➤ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/foofoofoo/ ___ ➤ JEN HATMAKER BOOK CLUB - Join the sisterhood! https://jenhatmakerbookclub.com ___ WATCH more videos from Jen: ➤ For the Love of Small Wins series: https://bit.ly/FTLsmallwins ➤ For the Love of The Enneagram series: https://bit.ly/FTLenneagram ➤ Happy Hour: http://bit.ly/JensHappyHour ➤ Monday Mornings with Jen: http://bit.ly/MondayMorningsJen ___ CONNECT with Jen! ➤ FOLLOW Jen on Instagram: https://instagram.com/jenhatmaker ➤ FOLLOW Jen on Twitter: https://twitter.com/jenHatmaker/ ➤ LIKE Jen on Facebook: https://facebook.com/jenhatmaker ➤ SUBSCRIBE NOW on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/JenHatmaker?sub_confirmation=1 ➤ VISIT: http://jenhatmaker.com/ ___ For more “For the Love” . . . ➤ SUBSCRIBE on Apple Podcasts: http://bit.ly/FTLPodcastApple ➤ LISTEN on Spotify: http://bit.ly/FTLPodcastSpotify ➤ HEAR IT on Stitcher: http://bit.ly/FTLPodcastStitcher ➤ LISTEN on iHeartRadio: http://bit.ly/FTLPodcastiHeart

Topics

• Healing