Why Trauma is Your Biology Not Your Psychology with Dr. Aimie Apigian

Dr. Aimie Apigian is here. She’s an expert in understanding how life's experiences leave imprints on our body. Dr. Aimie has distinguished herself in the medical field with her innovative approach to health restoration through her pioneering model known as The Biology of Trauma. She is a dual board-certified physician in both Preventive Medicine and Addiction Medicine, with Masters degrees in Biochemistry and Public Health. She’s also a Certified Functional Medicine Physician, with specialized knowledge in neuro-autoimmunity, nutrition, and genetics pertaining to addictions, mental health, and various mood and behavioral disorders.

She also holds numerous certifications in diverse trauma therapies such as the Instinctual Trauma Response Model (an art-based trauma therapy), Somatic Experiencing (a creation of Dr. Peter Levine), and NeuroAffective Touch (developed by Dr. Aline LaPierre). Her work synthesizes trauma work with medicine to unravel the chronic impacts of trauma on our nervous system and body at a cellular level. We talk about how there are scientifically backed solutions on how to restructure the nervous system. She champions the path of healing, speeding up the journey from recovery to resilience, presence, and vitality. We talk about trauma and the relationship to addiction. This is an enlightening episode for anyone struggling with addiction, physical symptoms, and trauma issues. 

• [05:09] Aimie talks about her degrees. She went to medical school and got an MD. She also has a Masters in Biochemistry. She also has a Masters in Public Health.

• [06:24] She became a foster parent while she was in medical school. She thought she knew what a foster child needed, but she discovered that love was actually triggering him.

• [08:11] She knew the clock was ticking, so she threw herself into trying to figure out what was going on in his head. She wasn't aware of biology and trauma stuck in the body, so she was just focusing on psychology. It took her 6 years to find the pieces that he needed.

• [08:39] What he needed was different from what she needed. She had a severe Health crash and her body just shut down.

• [09:06] The symptoms she was experiencing were related to adverse childhood events or what we call ACE. 

• [10:15] She didn't understand why she had trauma. She thought it was supposed to be a big event. She went into a whole world of studying trauma and finding out that our bodies are constantly adapting to experience.

• [11:01] Did your body have a response of overwhelm?

• [12:09] She was trying to find answers to get her health back the fastest. 

• [13:40] There's so much we can do that supports our biology to help our trauma healing journey.

• [15:15] We don't have to be aware of our trauma before we start working through it.

• [17:15] She has a 21-day program that teaches basic somatic skills to help us feel safe.

• [18:45] Tim did a trauma intensive with a woman named Tara Holbrook.

• [21:42] Aimie talks about the autonomic nervous system and where our subconscious memories are stored. The vagus nerve controls our autonomic functions subconsciously. It's a neural pathway inside of us that operates on an unconscious level.

• [22:51] Our bodies have three operating systems: parasympathetic, stress mode, and the trauma operating system. 

• [25:13] Most of us are walking around with a chronic trauma response.

• [30:10] Recovery is more than just stopping drinking or drugs. It's mental, emotional, spiritual, and all of these things.

• [31:07] Trauma work is a stress just like physical performance.

• [33:31] Stored trauma in the body holds energy. People experience fatigue the more that trauma is held in the body.

• [34:35] Trauma work frees the body up and opens us up to more energy.

• [35:13] Emotional trauma seems to cause a lot of brain inflammation. Stress will retrigger the inflammation that a physical injury caused to our brain.

• [38:33] There's a driving force for all addiction. It doesn't appear out of nowhere. Dysregulation is an unsettled feeling inside of us. Addiction is an attempt to make that feeling go away.

• [40:10] We need to address what's driving the addiction or it won't go away.

• [41:02] Dysregulation is the trauma response.

• [51:03] Aimie tells us about The Trauma-Disease Connection Summit. It's August 1-7, 2023

 

Links mentioned in this episode:

• Camelback Recovery

• I Love Being Sober YouTube

• The Trauma-Disease Connection Summit August 1-7, 2023 

• Trauma Healing Accelerated

• Dr. Aimie Apigian Instagram

• Dr. Aimie Apigian LinkedIn