Wednesdays With Watson: Faith & Trauma Amy Watson- PTSD Patient-Trauma Survivor

PTSD 101: Understanding Trauma and PTSD

• Amy Watson: Trauma Survivor, Hope Carrier, Precious Daughter Of The Most High God

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Five years after launching this podcast as a "pandemic pivot" from my hammock, I'm marking this milestone by returning to the fundamentals of trauma and PTSD. This episode kicks off a comprehensive series that will guide you through understanding trauma's profound impact on mind, body, and behavior as we build toward PTSD Awareness Month in June.

Trauma isn't simply about what happens to us—it's about what happens inside us when events overwhelm our natural capacity or "window of tolerance." I explain why comparing trauma experiences misses the point entirely and how traumatic responses actually represent your body functioning exactly as designed when pushed beyond its limits. You'll discover why physical symptoms like headaches, fatigue, and sleep disturbances often accompany emotional and behavioral changes, and why "the body keeps the score" is more than just a catchphrase.

The episode demystifies Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, exploring why many experts (myself included) now prefer dropping the "disorder" label. I share insights from my journey from trauma survivor to trauma specialist, drawing connections between unhealed trauma and autoimmune conditions that developed through decades of avoidance.

I answer poignant listener questions about preventing intergenerational trauma transmission and navigating complex trauma healing when traditional therapies feel overwhelming. The episode culminates with an exciting announcement about Victory Trauma Consulting, my new venture offering personalized trauma support services with sliding-scale pricing.

Whether you're struggling with your own trauma history, supporting someone who is, or simply seeking education, this episode provides the foundational understanding necessary for healing. The only way through trauma is through it—and this series aims to light that path forward with clarity, compassion, and hope.

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Speaker 1:

Hey everybody and welcome back to the Wednesdays with Watson podcast. It is March of 2025. And we are coming up on the year or, excuse me, five year. Lord have mercy. Five year anniversary of the Wednesdays with Watson podcast, otherwise known as my pandemic pivot. If you have been tuning in the last six weeks, the last three episodes, we re aired those original episodes that tell a little bit about why I am so passionate about this topic and helping others, and so, if you've not caught those episodes, this one may still be so if you've not caught those episodes, this one may still be good for you, but it may be advantageous for you to know why I care so much, as I shared my story, my own journey, with my post traumatic stress disorder diagnosis.

Speaker 1:

Since then, wow, have things ever changed. I remember in March of 2020, as many of you probably do when we had the quote two weeks to flatten the curve, and I remember being in my hammock outside on that beautiful April, beautiful Florida day, wondering what to do with that time. I did know that we would never get hopefully never get another opportunity where this workaholic could not work and just was forced to kind of rest. But during those two weeks to flatten the curve. We started the Wednesdays with Watson podcast and, like I said, so many things have changed. At that time, I was operating as the president and CEO which I still am of a restaurant management recruiting group watermark management group, but the pandemic did what it did to so many business owners for us, and so then I started on this journey that I'm on right now, which is not only working on the front lines of behavioral health but also all but dissertation for my doctorate degree in trauma and community care, and so I hope that you guys will find these next several episodes advantageous to you. We will cover some listener questions, and so I have that. You guys will find these next several episodes advantageous to you. We will cover some listener questions, and so I have two of those today. Ways that you can get those listener questions to us is either right there in your app, while you're listening to this podcast, click on, send us a text message that is confidential it only comes to me and over the next several weeks, as we really dive into PTSD and trauma 101, trying to help you guys understand it, we also have a very, very special announcement at the end of this podcast, and so today we are going to start with the basics what is trauma, what is PTSD? And other things that would be advantageous to causes of PTSD, symptoms of PTSD and how we diagnose it and the prevalence of it. And so let's drop into this episode where I am answering listener questions and also beginning this series that will probably take us all the way up to PTSD Awareness Month, and so it will be the next several episodes, the next couple of months. We will be having some of these PTSD one-on-one episodes, with maybe a few guests interspersed there. Because of my life right now and the need to get my dissertation written. The podcast is just one of many things that I am doing. So here we go, let's drop into this episode and make sure you stay all the way to the end when we give you an important announcement about this ministry, that is, the Wednesdays with Watson podcast. Okay, so here we are.

Speaker 1:

Let's start with our PTSD and trauma 101 from the beginning. A question that people ask me a lot and they don't really know that they're asking because they are so not knowledgeable about what's going on in their own bodies and about their lives, and we hear this word trauma used a lot. We hear trauma used a lot. We hear the word triggered a lot and I am a little bit worried about that in the sense that we throw everything, we throw that, those titles on everything, we throw trauma on. You know, things that just aren't trauma and that's just kind of people say that tongue in cheek, but it is bothersome to me because trauma is destructive and most people don't know what we in the field, as experts call trauma.

Speaker 1:

So trauma is an intense emotional and psychological response to an event that is experienced deeply. When you experience it is distressing and also disturbing. Trauma can be a single event and most people are able to really recover from single event traumas like a car accident, for example, hurricane, an assault. But then we also have repeated exposure to distressing situations. Now we always talk about this and we've talked about this many, many times on this podcast about trauma and why we don't compare it and what makes an event like a car accident or repeated exposure to distressing events, what makes that trauma, what makes those of us in the field call that trauma? And we have big T traumas and little t traumas, but either way, trauma is destructive if it's not handled.

Speaker 1:

And so think of first of all we know that everyone on this planet. Genesis 1.16 tells us that we are made in the image of God. Each of us are made differently and therefore each of us are going to respond to events differently. And therefore each of us are going to respond to events differently. I many times have people ask me questions like I grew up in the same house with my sibling who basically we went through the same thing. Why am I struggling with this? What's wrong with me? And the question is nothing is wrong with you.

Speaker 1:

We use this term a lot in the field called the window of tolerance. This is how you're made. This is your ability to deal with distressing and disturbing situations. This does not make you weak. It does not make you anything except for who you are. And so when something bursts through your window of tolerance or your capacity to deal with things, then that is when this can become a traumatic event. So that sometimes will come in physical symptoms. We know this headaches, fatigue, muscle tension, fast heart rate, inability to sleep, a stomach, gi issues, many, many physical symptoms can happen when somebody has experienced a traumatic event, especially a child who doesn't have the ability to articulate what's going on when they experience a traumatic event and remember that children, especially up to around age eight, nine, 10,.

Speaker 1:

They believe that the world revolves around them because they have not created. Basically, they are operating in their ego sense. This is the way God made us because they need to depend on caregivers, and so when a child experiences a traumatic event, it is particularly destructive if we don't notice what's going on. And because they don't have the words to attach to it, and because they think that everything is about them, they make everything their fault, and so lots of children will walk around from an early, early age and some of you probably walked around from an early age with something unresolved, because you experienced a traumatic event and it bursted through your capacity or your window of tolerance, and and so children often will have physical symptoms, headaches, they don't want to go to school, they can't sleep, those kinds of things. But the body keeps the score, and this is something that we're going to talk about a lot on this series that we're calling PTSD 101, trauma 101, is the body keeps the score, and so this is why we must address trauma, and so trauma is again anything that a person experiences that will burst through that window of tolerance and they don't have the coping skills or you don't have the coping skills to deal with it, and so it could be anything. And just because it's traumatic for you doesn't mean it's traumatic for somebody else, and vice versa. And remember, we do not compare trauma. Obviously trauma has with it and we're going to take much deeper dives in this.

Speaker 1:

Today is kind of a macro coverage of the word trauma and basically how we can understand it. But it also clearly has emotional symptoms. This comes through with fear and anxiety, depression, anger, difficulty in relationships, hypervigilance, all of these emotional issues. Because, again, when an event has happened, either a single event or a repeated event has happened that burst through your window of tolerance, then your body is going to say yo stop. And oftentimes we go into survival mode and back to the physical symptoms for a second, when your nervous system is out of range. In other words, it is everything going on in your life is too much for you to handle. That energy, that emotion, that anxiety has to go somewhere.

Speaker 1:

And so a lot of times in trauma work, we will start with body work, helping people understand how they feel in their bodies and how trauma gets stuck in their bodies, because if we can't calm the nervous system, we can't treat the trauma, and so these physical and emotional symptoms that come with when we have trauma has to be addressed in the body first, and that's something that we're going to talk about a lot on this series leading all through June with PTSD Awareness Month. And so we have the definition of trauma being something that bursts through your capacity, it bursts through your window of tolerance, it bursts through your natural ability to deal and your body will continue to keep that score. It'll continue to rack up the days until you effectively deal with the trauma. And in this series we're going to talk about modalities to treat trauma. So we have the physical symptoms, we have the emotional symptoms, we also have behavioral symptoms, and this is something that, again, we want to watch for in children, but we want to also watch for in ourselves. Things like isolating, withdrawal from social activities, lack of trust of other people, sometimes anger. Sometimes we come across people at the hospital where I work, now that I'm on the front lines of working with trauma patients and people with severe mental illness who are hospitalized. A lot of times these people come in angry and they come in completely traumatized and their behavior sometimes requires us to give them an emergency treatment order, because that stuff has to go somewhere. If you ignore it, it will come for you. And I want to say that again if you ignore trauma, it will come for you, and so that's why it is so important to make sure that we are addressing these things that burst through our capacity or a window of tolerance. We understand that physical symptoms originally hospitals and courtrooms how that affected me physically. I have four autoimmune diseases and live with just health struggles every single day because I went 35 years without addressing the traumatic events of my life, and so we're going to talk a lot about body work in this series that we're doing on PTSD.

Speaker 1:

The second question I want to cover today in this series, before we get to the two listener questions, is what is post traumatic stress disorder Such a that's a million dollar question right? Many of us in the field have dropped the disorder off of the PTSD part of post traumatic stress disorder. Because, in fact, when the body responds with PTSD symptoms, that is exactly what it's supposed to do. Because, in fact, when the body responds with PTSD symptoms, that is exactly what it's supposed to do because it's been pushed outside of the window of tolerance. It's been pushed outside of that individual's ability to deal and therefore it is not a disorder. It is the way God made us and it is the way that we should respond. But, and as a matter of fact, we've been looking for language for post-traumatic stress disorder since literally the Civil War and we've used words from all through war, like war neuroses, a soldier's heart, shell shock, and it wasn't until like 1980 that we gave language to post-traumatic stress disorder, and now, hopefully, in the next DSM we will have just post-traumatic stress and not post-traumatic stress disorder, and now, hopefully in the next DSM we will have just post traumatic stress and not post traumatic stress disorder. This is something that we. That is pretty simple actually for those of us in the field.

Speaker 1:

To assess whether or not somebody has post traumatic stress disorder is one of the very few times that I am in lockstep agreement with the DSM or the diagnostic statistical manual for mental disorders, and so one of the things that I love to do is assess for PTSD and help people understand whether or not they have a diagnosis of PTSD. I know for me, putting language on it, putting a diagnosis on it, was so incredibly helpful for me, and so there are certain things that we go through when we assess for PTSD, but some of the things that we look for very much on the macro scale before we assess is people reliving the trauma. This was something that was particularly hard for me and that came in the way of nightmares and flashbacks and other intrusive thoughts. When we look for avoidance behaviors. For me, that was put my head down and keep working and not addressing the trauma that happened to us. So we look for avoidance behaviors. For me, that was put my head down and keep working and not addressing the trauma that happened to us. So we look for avoidance behaviors. We look for negative thoughts and mood changes like guilt and shame and depression, detachment from loved ones. We look for hyperarousal, easily startled things of that nature. Ptsd can happen in anyone, but people that are more vulnerable to it do have some genetic components, have some psychological components and have environmental factors, and so post traumatic stress can be assessed. It could be assessed quite easily, and it is something that I love to do Because I again, when we put a diagnosis, something that everybody can wrap their head around on what we are feeling inside, that is actually helpful, and so these episodes are going to be shorter, and so these, as we, as we lead up to post-traumatic stress disorder month, and hopefully we'll get more and more questions, but today I wanted to cover what is trauma.

Speaker 1:

And really, guys, if you're asking whether something was a traumatic event in your life, it probably is. And so, what is trauma and what is PTSD? Now there's also something called acute stress disorder, and that is the precursor to post traumatic stress disorder, and so one of my passions is getting to people before acute stress disorder, which happens immediately after the event, from turning into post traumatic stress disorder, because, you see, post traumatic stress disorder, the symptoms have to stay around for a while before we can diagnose it. But acute stress disorder, we is what we expect to happen when somebody is in a, in a fight or flight, or fawn or freeze because they have had a traumatic event, burst through their window of tolerance or burst through their capacity. And so I hope that these two questions, or these two points are helpful for you on this PTSD 101 or trauma 101 series that we're doing.

Speaker 1:

We are going to take our time, and so I again wanted you guys to understand the very foundations of what we're dealing with, but understand that, if many of you out there are walking around with dysregulated nervous systems and one of the best things that ever happened to me was when I got connected with Lauren Starnes. Happened to me was when I got connected with Lauren Starnes who went I went through a program when the body talks and I will link that episode in this one. But when I began to do the body work was just a nice one to punch for when I actually ended up really kind of working through the trauma to where it wasn't causing me maladaptive issues. And again, if you want to know why I care and what I've been through, just the episodes before these, the three episodes what is the Wednesday with Watson podcast? What is the Wednesdays with Watson podcast, part two and part three? Listen to those. Start with the first one and you'll understand why I care and how I went from that hammock that April day when the pandemic first started and completely changed my life, to where I now am all but dissertation, with a doctorate degree in trauma and community care and I work on the front lines with patients. And so, with that said, let's answer these two listener questions. And then the announcement that you've all been waiting for. And I say that with tongue in cheek because I know that's probably not actually true, but it is an exciting and exciting announcement. So here are the two listener questions and then after that the announcement.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so this comes to us via direct message on Facebook. The Wednesdays with Watson podcast does have a Facebook page it's called the Wednesdays with Watson podcast and so you can certainly go there to leave questions. You can message us through there. You can also catch us on Instagram author Amy Watson, and or on Twitter. Also, I believe that one is Amy Watson. Author. I'll put my link tree in the show notes. So I believe that one is Amy Watson. Author. I'll put my link tree in the show notes as well, as you can also send a message through the podcast by just hitting send a text message and again, I'm the only one that gets that.

Speaker 1:

And so if you want me to address a question while we are really putting our heads down and focusing on helping you understand trauma and PTSD leading up to June, which is PTSD Awareness Month, then please reach out in any way that you can. As NEF Downs says, I'm embarrassingly easy to find, and so this one comes to us via Facebook Messenger. She said what I want to know about trauma is how can I protect my children from my own trauma and prevent myself from causing trauma to other people? What a great question, and one that comes from somebody who really just wants to get this right. And so what I want to know about trauma is how can I protect children from my own trauma? And the answer to this question is simple but not easy. And how we can protect our children from trauma is by dealing with that trauma. And what I mean by dealing with that trauma is you have to walk through it, you have to deal with it, you have to address it, and that's the hard part. And so my suggestion to this listener is to reach out to someone who can help walk through trauma, somebody that can assess whether or not you have PTSD and whether or not you need some help. That would be advantageous to first you and I love this question because this question is deeply rooted in the desire to take care of children and other people. But I know this listener and love this listener and hope that you will make the decision to deal with your trauma because it's good for you and then that being the first thing that you do, and then obviously, it's good for other people when you have walked through your own trauma.

Speaker 1:

There's a saying out there that says hurting people hurt people and healed people heal people.

Speaker 1:

And what I would say to this listener is hurting people, hurt people and heal people heal people.

Speaker 1:

I love that saying, I believe that it is true and I think that, as a parent, when you have your own trauma and when your children get older and you're able to share, if you're so inclined with those children and they look back on their lives and look at how that never affected them or if it did affect them, you guys walked through it in a way that was healthy and good.

Speaker 1:

I think that that is the highest form of love, when you take care of yourself so that you can take care of your children. And I get emotional when I answered this question simply because my mom didn't do that and because of that, her trauma was passed down to me. And I don't say that to activate anything and any listener out there, but the bottom line is, if you've got unresolved trauma, it will affect you and your children at some point. I have a very actually my best friend in the whole wide world who I grew up with in the children's home has been really my whole life, since I've known her for almost gosh, I think we figured out that it would be 40 years in a couple years. She is just now remembering things that happened to her in her childhood because she just kind of went through life and, like I did, and just kept doing, kept being, kept doing all the things and then finally trauma came knocking at her door it will do that, guys.

Speaker 1:

It will either do that like we talked about early and emotions and physical senses and behavioral issues, or it will shut down your body. And so I appreciate this listener question because she does not want to pass her children, her trauma, onto her children, and the answer for that listener is quite simple the way through it is through it, and so working with your own trauma will ensure that you don't pass it on to them in the way that would be negative, and so I hope that helps this listener. We've got one more question. This one is a little bit deeper in the way, and so I'm just going to read it exactly as it came to me and attempt to answer it as much as I can. But this came to us through text messaging. A listener in Connecticut sent this message and this is what it says hey, I have PTSD and bipolar disorder the worst combination in the history of mental illness.

Speaker 1:

That, along with severe anger issues, mostly because I can't understand why God chose me to have disorder. My therapist wants to do EMDR with me. I keep avoiding it because of the last time I went there my feelings were terribly hurt. I told the EMDR therapist that and they laughed at me for being beat by my foster mother and some of her family. On top of that, I have been abused twice and there's a word there that I won't use on the podcast, but it is not physically abused twice in my life, on top of being bullied at school when I was a child. Do you think I should be treated with EMDR Because I wish there was another treatment, better than I'm getting right now in therapy?

Speaker 1:

I have been untreated my whole child until I turned 18. I'm terrified to revisit those days of my life and my foster mother tried to kill me. How do I face the fear of my trauma? Looking away from my life, anytime I revisit it, I have the ache of revenge and fury. I get flashbacks to back up the hospital more times than I can count. I've been hospitalized 13 times. I hate myself for that. It just makes me feel insane and crazy. I just want to be happy and at peace and I hate when my past revisited me. And nowhere. Please, there has to be a better way.

Speaker 1:

First of all, this message broke my heart and, because it is filled, it is laced with multiple, multiple concerns and multiple questions for this listener. First of all, the double punch of PTSD and bipolar disorder the worst combination in history, as this listener said and, yes, a bad combination. Bipolar disorder is not my specialty, but it is one that we see a lot in patients that have trauma extreme highs, extreme lows and very difficult to treat. You add to that trauma, and you add in this particular listener talks about angry being anger. Anger is definitely a something that we see a lot in patients with post-traumatic stress and bipolar disorder, for that matter. We often say that anger is fear's bodyguard, and so when people are angry, they are actually afraid, and so what I would say to this listener who had a negative experience with EMDR? I'm, first of all, that I am so sorry.

Speaker 1:

Emdr is my favorite treatment modality that I like, but what I would suggest for you is to get with someone that you do trust that can properly assess you for all of the things and then walk you through different treatment modalities If it's not EMDR. We have a lot of success with cognitive processing therapy, cognitive behavior therapy, internal family systems, narrative therapies. There's many, many more things that you can do, but the bottom line is that you've got multiple layers of trauma that need someone to that. You need someone to work with you for a good amount of time that you can trust, and so that we can get, first of all, get that anger and the compartment where it belongs, and that you can use that anger to fuel you to help you. You did mention in here that you're angry at God for all of the things I get you. I hear you, and I know that there are other listeners out there who feel the same. What I would tell you is get in the ring and have that wrestling match with God, but my answer to you is to find somebody that you do trust, that can help you, that can assess you, that can help understand your trauma and that can find a treatment modality that does work for you. That perhaps isn't EMDR, but that is something else. There are many empirically supported treatments for trauma that we can use, and so I hope that helps you to the listener in Connecticut, and please know that I am praying for you and definitely hope that you can get through this. I know that you can, but I also know that the only way through it is through it, and so I do wish you the best and hope that you can find somebody that can help you and that you trust and that can help you have a life and that you can have a life that is abundant and free.

Speaker 1:

Okay, guys, that does it for this first episode of Trauma 101, ptsd 101. We are going to be diving deeply in all the things over the next several episodes. This episode, hopefully, was here to help you understand trauma and help you understand a little bit about PTSD. We'll talk about assessing PTSD and some more specific things about how we do that and the upcoming episodes, more specific things about how we do that in the upcoming episodes. And so now for the announcement that you've all been waiting for and I say that in tongue-in-cheek, but it is an announcement that I'm excited to give you.

Speaker 1:

And so in this five-year journey that has been the Wednesdays with Watson podcast and myself becoming an advocate, a voice, if you will, for trauma and for PTSD and for nervous system regulation, I have continued just to ask the Lord what he would require of me and what he wants of me. One of the episodes I told you guys a story about when I was a teenager and I went to a summer camp and I remember learning the verse in Isaiah 6, verse 8 and 9, where the Lord says who shall I send and who will go for us? And Isaiah said, then, said I here am, I send me. And so I've been fighting something for a very long time, and that is getting on the front lines and actually helping people one-on-one not through a microphone walk through trauma, understand PTSD and, more importantly, get some really good coping mechanisms and coping strategies so that they could have victory over their trauma with some professional help. As many of you know, this podcast always has had a heart to raise money for those people who can't afford counseling, who can't afford somebody to help them, whether that's from assessing trauma or helping them walk through it, or helping address these behavioral issues that we talked about today, or these physical issues that we talked about today, or these emotional issues that we talked about today. And so when I started this journey of getting my doctorate degree in trauma and community care, I said to everybody but I won't be, I won't be working one-on-one with with people, because that's I'm not built for that. Well, the Lord said really you are, because that's exactly what I want you to do. And so this is the announcement we are launching, soft launching victory trauma consulting, and this is a new business that I'm opening that will open services to anyone who wants some one-on-one work with understanding trauma, how to walk through it, how to address these emotional, behavioral and physical issues that come with trauma, and much, much more. It will include speaking to churches and to workplaces and the trauma-informed workplace, the trauma-informed church. It will include just about anything that the Lord opens up or brings to me. Pricing will be based on what the individual has the ability to pay and, as this is something that the Lord has called me to and so I am not super concerned about any of that, that will be on a one-on-one basis and so, if you are interested in that, be watching all the socials again, mainly Instagram, author Amy Watson and we will provide ways for you to book a quick little 15 minute session with me to see whether or not this is a fit, whether I can help you. But Victory Trauma Consulting is.

Speaker 1:

I got the name from when I was in college, my senior year of college, I took a class from biblical counseling and training and I had to do a capstone project, and in that capstone project I said that I wanted to open a counseling center one day and I called it Victory Counseling Center. And so here we are almost 40 years later actually 30, 35 years later and I am doing just that. And so be looking on all the socials years later, and I am doing just that. And so be looking on all the socials. Again, it is for Instagram. It is author Amy Watson, and for Twitter, or x, amy Watson, author. And again, I will put that in my link tree. But if you would like to do a consultation with me, go ahead and check out socials or check out my link tree and you can schedule a little 15 minute session with me and we will see if I can help you and if the Lord has called me to stand in that place for you. And so I am so excited to finally make this announcement. And this is the passion of my heart, is the passion of my work, and now is what I'm educated to do while I am writing my dissertation. I have had all of the coursework and certainly have been through it all myself, and so I am here to help.

Speaker 1:

Victory Trauma Consulting is launched this day, on March the 12th 2025. Oh, what a journey this last five years has been. The Lord is faithful and I have answered the call. Then said I send me. You guys have a great two weeks. Remember you are seen, you are known, you are heard, you are loved and you are so, so loved here.

Speaker 2:

I am. You can see that I'm nowhere near where I want to be, but you, you remain so good. You remain so good. You never change. You love me still in the perfect way. You stay always so good. You have pulled me out from the depths. You have saved me from certain death. You have shown yourself faithful to me Over and over Jesus. So let my life glorify you. Teach me to walk beside you. I want to be more like you, so let my life be one marked by you.

Speaker 2:

Here I am, on my knees, right here with you is where I want to be, cause you, you remain so good. Yes, you never change. You love me still in the perfect way. You stay always so good. You have pulled me out from the depths. You have saved me from certain death. You have shown your from certain death. You have shown yourself faithful to me Over and over Jesus. So let my life glorify you and teach me to walk beside you. And I want to be more like you. So let my life be one marked by you. And when my hope is fading and when worries do assail me, I will remember how you, you never failed me. You have pulled me out from the depths. You have saved me from certain death. You have shown yourself faithful to me over and over Jesus. So let my life glorify you and teach me to walk beside you. I want to be more like you, so let my life be one marked by you, marked by you, mind by you, mind by you.

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Amy Watson

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