The Biology of Trauma® With Dr. Aimie

Dr. Aimie Apigian
  • 4.7 (229)
  • MENTAL HEALTH
  • UPDATED WEEKLY

People are done dancing around the topic of trauma. They're ready to face this square-on. None of the current systems are getting to the root of the issue in the current model. Their biology has been affected on a cellular level, and that is now what's preventing the important work that they're trying to do. The Biology of Trauma® podcast is the missing piece to that puzzle. It's a practical living manual for the human body in a modern, traumatizing world. Join your host, Dr. Aimie Apigian—a medical physician and expert in attachment, trauma, and addiction—as she challenges outdated trauma paradigms and introduces a new model for healing.

  1. 1D AGO

    Could Your Trauma Be Disrupting Your Metabolism? The Weight Health Conversation

    ➡️ Get the full episode breakdown at Biology of Trauma® Podcast – Episode 164: Could Your Trauma Be Disrupting Your Metabolism? The Weight Health Conversation What if the reason your body is holding onto weight has nothing to do with what you're eating — and everything to do with hormones you may not have heard about?  In this episode, Dr. Aimie talks with registered dietitian and author Ashley Koff to unpack the hidden world of weight health hormones: GLP-1, leptin, ghrelin, and more — and why optimizing them matters for everybody, not just people trying to lose weight. What you'll hear will change how you see your body — not as something failing you, but as a sophisticated ecosystem sending you signals worth decoding. Ashley reveals why 93% of Americans are metabolically dysregulated, how trauma and chronic stress directly suppress the hormones that regulate metabolism and body composition, and why "weight loss" as a goal is actually working against your biology. Whether you're curious about GLP-1 medications, perimenopause weight changes, or just why the scale never seems to match your effort — this conversation will shift everything. In This Episode You'll Learn:  (00:00): Introducing the connection - weight, metabolism and GLP-1 (03:06): The weight-trauma connection: Why the body holds on despite every effort (04:04):  What “weight health” means biologically — and why weight loss as a goal misses the point (07:17) The incretin discovery: How GLP-1, leptin, ghrelin, and seven other weight health hormones regulate your biology (10:53).Why 93% of Americans show signs of suboptimal metabolic health — and what that actually means for you (11:36) Ashley’s pizza framework: The right sequence for assessing your metabolic ecosystem (16:00) How to assess your weight health hormones — and why a blood test alone won’t tell you what you need to know (24:03) Perimenopause and menopause: Why digestion fails first — and how that drives belly fat and brain fog (31:25) Learned behaviors vs. hormone imbalance: How to tell what is biology and what is a survival strategy from childhood (38:33) Where to start: Ashley’s first step for anyone wanting to optimize weight health (41:52) The deliciousness signal: Why a “seven or above” is a physiologic mechanism, not a preference (45:08) Ashley’s final message — where to find (her book) Your Best Shot and her clinical resources Resources/Guides: Your Best Shot by Ashley Koff, RD: The Personalized System for Optimal   Weight Health — GLP-1 Shot or Not Ashley Koff’s website — For more on digestive, metabolic, and hormone health optimization The Biology of Trauma®  Book by Dr. Aimie Apigian — Where you can find the framework for finding your block in Chapter 12 Free Guide: Steps to Identify and Heal Trauma by Dr. Aimie Apigian Related Podcast Episodes: Episode 56 — Hormones: A Portal Into Our Stored Trauma with Dr. Aimie Apigian Episode 75 — Fear Stored in the Gut: Attachment, Relational Trauma & Solutions for the Hyper-Sensitive Gut Episode 82 — Using Biological Rhythms to Recover From Trauma with Dr. Leslie Korn Episode 138 — Why Your Body Holds On When Your Mind Has Healed Episode 151 — Why Healed Trauma Returns in Perimenopause: Chinese Medicine Lens with Dr. Lorne Brown

    48 min

  2. MAR 3

    Growing Up With Addiction Left a Trauma Your Body Still Carries

    ➡️ Get the full episode breakdown at Biology of Trauma® Podcast - Episode 163: Growing Up With Addiction Left a Trauma Your Body Still Carries What happens when a child has to become the adult in the family? Dr. Tian Dayton, clinical psychologist and author of Growing Up with Addiction, joins Dr. Aimie for one of the most personal conversations on the podcast. Both share their own childhood stories of reading the room, managing a parent’s emotions, and the unspoken rules that shaped their nervous systems for decades. This episode reveals how children in unpredictable families redirect their brain’s resources from play to survival, how addiction’s rhythms become the child’s operating manual, and why chronic survival physiology leads to digestive dysfunction in midlife. Whether addiction was part of your family or not, these dynamics may be running your body today. In This Episode You'll Learn: (00:00) What happens when a child has to become the emotional manager of the family (02:58) What chaos actually looks like in a family that appears organized on the surface (05:00) How a child’s brain shifts from play and curiosity to strategizing and operating (07:23) The different physiological states of a parent in addiction: sober, craving, and under the influence (10:22) Why addiction spills beyond substances into food, process addictions, and mood cycles (14:55) The connection between protein deficiency, neurotransmitter production, and craving cycles (22:16) How the insula processes conflicting emotions and body sensations during overwhelming moments (27:51) Why chronic survival physiology leads to digestive issues, bloating, and gut inflammation (29:33) The perimenopause tipping point: when the body stops adapting to decades of unresolved stress (52:17) The Al-Anon principle that changed everything: love the person, separate the disease Resources/Guides: Growing Up with Addiction by Dr. Tian Dayton — How Adult Children of Addicts Can Heal Family Trauma, C-PTSD, and Codependency Dr. Tian Dayton’s website — Relational Trauma Repair resources and training The Biology of Trauma by Dr. Aimie Apigian Songs of the Inner World — Dr. Aimie’s YouTube music channel Related Podcast Episodes: Episode 92: How Chaos of Early Childhood Trauma Affects Our Adult Nervous System with Dr. Tian Dayton Episode 146: How Attachment Affects Us For Life: 6 Childhood Pains and How to Repair

    1h 9m

  3. FEB 24

    Why Fixing Someone You Love Is Destroying Your Nervous System

    ➡️ Get the full episode breakdown at Biology of Trauma® Podcast — Episode 162: Why Fixing Someone You Love Is Destroying Your Nervous System When someone you love is struggling with addiction, your nervous system absorbs what theirs numbs out. Relational trauma repair therapist Karen Moser joins Dr. Aimie Apigian to explain why the families of substance users often carry deeper nervous system dysregulation than the users themselves. This episode reveals the biological cost of trying to control another person's healing and what it takes to reclaim the parts of yourself that got lost along the way. In This Episode You'll Learn: (00:00) Why helping someone you love may be destroying your nervous system (02:00) What Relational Trauma Repair (RTR) is and how it works with the body (06:30) How Karen Moser brought Relational Trauma Repair (RTR) into addiction treatment and family work (08:00) Why the family's nervous system is often more dysregulated than the user's (11:00) Why sobriety alone does not resolve the family's nervous system patterns (15:00) Where relational trauma repair starts with families and self-relationship (19:00) How floor checks help name and locate emotions in the body (22:30) Why anger, shame, and even joy are emotions people learn to avoid (28:00) How childhood survival roles create adult role fatigue and burnout (38:00) A practical exercise to reconnect with the alive, strong parts of yourself Resources/Guides: The Biology of Trauma book — Get your copy here Songs of the Inner World — Dr. Aimie’s YouTube channel for real, raw, honest words for your inner world. Nervous System Journal — Download at biologyoftrauma.com/book. Track how often you are in a survival state. Related Podcast Episodes: Episode 136: How Chaos of Early Childhood Trauma Affects Our Adult Nervous System with Dr. Tian Dayton Episode 158: Marijuana, Addiction, and the Body: What We’ve Been Getting Wrong with Kevin Sabet

    42 min

  4. FEB 20

    The Biology of Grief: Why Your Gut Holds What You Can’t Feel

    Grief, regret, loneliness, inflammation, pain. There are deeper layers than we are even aware of. Dana was a family physician who had managed gut issues for years. Constipation. Bloating. Acid reflux. She had every tool available to her. She rotated medications, over-the-counter laxatives, and antacids. She pushed through. Then one brave question changed everything. I asked her: what happened that should not have happened? Her posture collapsed. The tears came. And she made the connection — that was when my gut issues started. This is the biology behind what so many of us carry without knowing it. In the main episode this week, we explored how grief and gut health are connected. Now I’m taking you deeper into what’s actually happening in your body when grief goes unrecognized — and the three types of grief that are hardest to name. In this episode you’ll hear more about: 00:00 Grief, Regret & Going Gently: Setting the Tone 00:33 Check-In: Where Are You With Grief Right Now? 01:07 Prepare Your Support Tools (So You Don’t Go Into Overwhelm) 01:51 Dana’s Story: When “Managing Symptoms” Isn’t Healing 04:21 The Brave Question: “What Happened That Shouldn’t Have Happened?” 05:03 When the Body Connects the Dots: Stored Grief & the Gut 07:33 The 3 Hardest Types of Grief: Absent, Attachment & Heart Shock 09:01 Grief Isn’t Stress: A Whole-Body Trauma Response 10:00 Guided Body Awareness: Hand on Heart, Hand on Gut 12:44 Stomach Support Practice + Closing Message to Your Belly 13:21 Wrap-Up: Completing the Session Grief is more than an emotion. It is a whole-body response. It creates overwhelm in a way that stress does not. When grief is stored, the gut holds it. The posture holds it. The throat holds it. Dana didn’t just need to grieve what happened. She needed to grieve the silence, the years of self-blame, and the cost to her health she hadn’t seen. Most of us carry grief we haven’t named yet. Resources/Guides: Download the 3 Most Common Biochemical Imbalances Guide — The biochemical patterns that disrupt normal nervous system function and keep the body stuck in overwhelm. Biology of Trauma book — Dana’s story begins in Chapter 7 and continues in Chapter 9. Available everywhere books are sold. Get your copy → Watch the video version on YouTube → Check out the main episode — EP 161: Dopamine and Depression: The Metabolic Link You Need to Know Try this practice this week: Notice when your gut clenches, your posture collapses, or a lump forms in your throat. Before you push through, pause. Put one hand over your belly. Give it a message: “I see what you’ve been holding. We don’t have to go there today.” Presence interrupts the pattern of pushing through. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. It helps others find trauma-informed care.

    14 min

  5. FEB 17

    Dopamine and Depression: The Metabolic Link You Need to Know

    ➡️ Get the full episode breakdown at Biology of Trauma® Podcast -  Episode 161: Dopamine and Depression: The Metabolic Link You Need to Know Dopamine doesn't just create pleasure. It signals unexpected experiences and primes the brain to learn. New research reveals that depression, anxiety, and ADHD have different metabolic phenotypes. Understanding your unique metabolic footprint explains why standard treatments work for some and not others. Mental health and metabolic health are inseparable. In This Episode You'll Learn: [01:00] How does peripheral nerve stimulation affect dopamine in the brain? [06:30] Does dopamine actually make you feel good? [13:00] What is the real function of dopamine in learning and memory? [15:30] How does trauma change the way we perceive reality? [22:00] What are metabolic phenotypes in mental health conditions? [27:00] Why does the same diagnosis look different in different people? [33:00] How are metabolism, hormones, and mental health connected? [37:00] What role does the hypothalamus play in emotional and metabolic regulation? [44:00] Why do negative experiences affect us more than positive ones? [47:00] What does anchoring to something unchangeable mean for recovery? Resources/Guides: Learn more about Dr. Kyle Bills' ResearchThe NeuroNova Seat: Dopamine-releasing neuromodulation device.Year-long Biology of Trauma® immersion program with coursework on stress, grief, attachment, letting go, freeze, and neuroplasticity. Available for self-help individuals and practitioners seeking certification.Foundational Journey — Six weeks to clean up your internal environment so repair becomes possible. This is where we create the conditions for cellular healing. Prerequisite for the Year of Transformation program.The Biology of Trauma book — Get your copy hereRelated Podcast Episodes: Episode 5: How Genetics & Epigenetics Affect In-Utero Development (Part 1) with Dr. William Walsh Episode 6: The Role of Methylation & Epigenetics in Mental Health Outcomes (Part 2) with William Walsh

    56 min

  6. FEB 10

    How Creativity Rewires Your Nervous System with Adam Roa

    ➡️ Get the full episode breakdown at Biology of Trauma® Podcast - Episode 160: How Creativity Rewires Your Nervous System with Adam Roa What if the key to healing isn't more therapy—but creativity? Adam Roa's poem "You Are Who You've Been Looking For" reached over 250 million people. But before that poem existed, Adam spent 25 years emotionally shut down. He didn't remember his childhood sexual abuse until age 30. His journey reveals why creativity creates neurological safety for emotions that were once too overwhelming to feel. Creativity isn't about talent—it's about pattern disruption. When you turn pain into a poem or painting, you force your brain to view that experience differently. This episode explains why safety must come before expression and how the creative process rewires neural pathways when talk alone can't reach what's stored in the body. In This Episode You'll Learn: (01:00) What poetry has to do with your nervous system's capacity to heal  (03:45) Why Adam's viral poem reached 250 million people  (05:30) How childhood trauma stayed hidden for 25 years  (08:00) Why acting became Adam's first safe space to feel emotions  (12:00) The moment poetry became a survival mechanism after heartbreak  (17:00) How creativity rewires neural pathways associated with traumatic events  (22:00) Why one poem can play multiple roles in your healing journey  (27:00) What happens when you write for yourself but release for others  (32:00) Dr. Aimie shares her song "Letter to the Me" publicly for the first time  (47:00) Adam performs "You Are Who You've Been Looking For"  (54:00) The journey from viral success to learning what self-love actually means Resources/Guides:  The Biology of Trauma book — Get your copy hereAdam Roa's New Book — Crazy Love explores the journey of learning to truly love yourself. Available May 2025.Adam's Websites — adamroa.comDr. Aimie's Music Channel — Songs of the Inner World on YouTubeFree Guide: The Chronic Freeze Response — Understanding why your body stays stuck even when you want to moveRelated Podcast Episodes:  Episode 82: Using Biological Rhythms to Recover From Trauma with Dr. Leslie KornEpisode 119: Transforming Trauma Into Joy & Purpose with Gregg Ward

    56 min

  7. FEB 3

    Can Stem Cells Accelerate Trauma Healing?

    ➡️ Get the full episode breakdown at Biology of Trauma® Podcast - Episode 159: Why Trauma Blocks Your Stem Cell Repair System What if we knew how to repair cellular damage from stress and trauma? Stem cells are your body's repair system—replacing 50-70 billion cells every day. But chronic inflammation from trauma creates what Dr. Dan Pardi calls a "noisy neighborhood" where repair signals can't get through. Dr. Pardi is the Chief Health Officer at Qualia Life Sciences, where he researches what actually allows cellular healing to happen. In this episode, we explore why trauma accelerates biological aging and what creates the conditions for repair. In This Episode You'll Learn: (01:00) Why understanding the Biology of Trauma® matters for cellular health (03:00) What "capacity" actually means—and how resilience changes across the lifespan (08:00) How Dan's own injury led him to study health optimization (15:30) Why Dean Ornish's lifestyle intervention worked when single interventions fail (19:30) What's missing from healthcare for trauma recovery (24:00) How stem cells function as the body's repair mechanism (28:00) Why inflammation from trauma blocks stem cell activity (32:00) How sleep and biological rhythms affect stem cell repair (36:00) Why college athletes needed 5.5 months to recover from extreme fatigue (43:00) What makes trauma recovery take longer than we expect (47:00) How to support stem cell health naturally Resources/Guides: The Biology of Trauma book — Get your copy here Foundational Journey — Six weeks to clean up your internal environment so repair becomes possible. This is where we create the conditions for cellular healing. Qualia Life Sciences — Learn more about stem cell wellness at www.qualialife.com/draimie Coupon Code: DRAIMIE (listeners get an additional 15% off any Qualia order) Related Podcast Episodes: Episode 84: Cellular Resilience And Post-Traumatic Growth with Ari Whitten Episode 82: Using Biological Rhythms to Recover From Trauma with Dr. Leslie Korn

    51 min

  8. JAN 30

    The Biology of Dopamine: Why We Can't Stop What Isn't Good for Us

    You know it's not good for you. You do it anyway. Then you ask yourself why. Late-night scrolling when you promised you'd sleep. Sugar after dinner when you said you'd stop. The fight you picked that you didn't need to pick. We call it lack of willpower. But willpower isn't the problem. This is the biology behind the main episode this week with addiction policy expert Dr. Kevin Sabet. He shared what we've been getting wrong about marijuana and addiction. Now I'm taking you deeper into what's actually happening in your brain when you can't stop doing what you know is harming you. In this episode you'll hear more about: (01:00) Why "why am I doing this to myself" is a dopamine question. (02:30) The truth about dopamine — it's not just high or low. It's both. (03:00) How drama and interpersonal chaos become dopamine sources. (04:30) Why the more you push the lever, the less dopamine you get. (05:00) Dopamine isn't about pleasure. It's about remembering what's important. (07:00) How early attachment wires dopamine to connection — or to danger. (09:00) The definition of addiction: going somewhere other than safe human connection to feel okay. (10:30) The three biochemical imbalances common in addictive patterns. (11:00) How brain inflammation lowers dopamine and raises glutamate — the double whammy. (12:30) Why bribes actually work for dopamine-driven behaviors. The craving isn't a character flaw. It's a signal. When dopamine is low at baseline, your nervous system will find ways to get it. The question is whether we repair the biology or white-knuckle through life. Resources/Guides: Download the 3 Most Common Biochemical Imbalances Guide — The biochemical imbalances Dr. Aimie mentions that disrupt normal dopamine activity. Biology of Trauma book — Available everywhere books are sold. Get your copy → Watch the video version on YouTube → Check out the main episode - Episode 158: Marijuana, Addiction, and the Body: What We've Been Getting Wrong with Dr. Kevin Sabet Try this practice this week: Notice when you're reaching for something to take the edge off. Before you act, pause. Ask: "Is my baseline dopamine low right now? What is my body actually looking for?" Awareness interrupts the automatic loop. Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. It helps others find trauma-informed care.

    14 min
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About

People are done dancing around the topic of trauma. They're ready to face this square-on. None of the current systems are getting to the root of the issue in the current model. Their biology has been affected on a cellular level, and that is now what's preventing the important work that they're trying to do. The Biology of Trauma® podcast is the missing piece to that puzzle. It's a practical living manual for the human body in a modern, traumatizing world. Join your host, Dr. Aimie Apigian—a medical physician and expert in attachment, trauma, and addiction—as she challenges outdated trauma paradigms and introduces a new model for healing.

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