What Greek Myths Reveal About Complex Trauma with Dr. Gillian O’Shea Brown

About this episode

Why do we keep reliving the same painful patterns, even when we can see them coming? In this episode, psychotherapist and complex trauma expert Dr. Gillian O’Shea Brown joins me to explore how Greek myths can help us make sense of complex trauma, CPTSD, and the relational wounds we carry from childhood. Gillian is SUCH a good storyteller, and she walks us through four myths that might feel a little too familiar. In this episode, we talk about • Why stories can reach us in ways facts and diagnoses sometimes can’t • Sisyphus and “the bite that fits the wound,” or why we keep reenacting old pain in our relationships • The erotic emotional map, a tool for spotting the patterns in who you’re drawn to • Medea and the parent wound, and what happens when the person you need for safety is also the person who scares you • How defense mechanisms that helped you survive childhood can work against you as an adult • Medusa’s story retold as a story of survival, and why survivors who speak up so often get cast as the problem • Chiron, the wounded healer, and how people make meaning out of pain Content note: Around the 16 minute mark, Gillian tells Medusa’s story, which includes sexual assault.