Episode 424: How We Heal Ourselves: Complex PTSD and Familial Roles with Elizabeth Kupferman

This show marks the kick-off of themed episodes, where we’re looking at the question, “How do we heal ourselves?” In the episodes coming up over the next couple of months I'm going to be talking to therapists, psychiatrists, psychologists, and others who have a different perspective or expertise around the topic of healing. To begin, I’ll be talking to experts who are sharing their wisdom about family roles, trauma responses, epigenetics, attachment styles, and even healing ancestral wounds. 

You know how much I love talking about the deeper stuff and the things that we talk about in counseling, therapy or even in the company of trusted friends. I'm kicking off this theme with  Elizabeth Kupferman. She is a woman that I met on TikTok. (Yes, the app is not just for kids!) Elizabeth is a Licensed Professional Counselor and is the author of The Irreverent Grief Guide and the Irreverent Trust Guide: How to Trust Again After Trauma F*cked You Up. 

In this episode, Elizabeth and I discuss Complex PTSD, the impact of familial roles on our lives, and explore the trauma responses and the importance of replacing the responses with personal development tools to help heal. 

In this episode you’ll hear:

• How trauma work helped Elizabeth heal her eating disorder and how it led her to the work she is doing today. (9:14)
• The different “roles” children are put into in a family system, The Hero, Golden Child, Scapegoat, The Lost Child and Mascot; and how these roles impact us later in life. (11:49)
• The four trauma responses: flight, fight, freeze, and fawn and the importance of learning to replace the trauma responses with tools. (22:43)
• What Elizabeth means when she says, “Complex PTSD is the autoimmune disease of the psyche.” (40:37)

http://andreaowen.com/424