The Body Holds The Trauma: Adam O’Brien on Dissociation, Addiction & Why Ketamine Treatment is Backwards

2025-06-25

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Is your therapist accidentally making your dissociation worse? Why does ketamine - a dissociative drug - keep getting prescribed for dissociative disorders? And what if everything we think we know about treating trauma is backwards? https://gettherapybirmingham.com/understanding-dissociation-trauma-and-addiction-insights-from-adam-obrien-and-the-wounded-healer-institute/ https://youtu.be/6SxxhB10G8U In this eye-opening episode, trauma specialist Adam O'Brien (founder of the Wounded Healer Institute) reveals why the body IS the ...

https://gettherapybirmingham.com/understanding-dissociation-trauma-and-addiction-insights-from-adam-obrien-and-the-wounded-healer-institute/

https://youtu.be/6SxxhB10G8U

In this eye-opening episode, trauma specialist Adam O'Brien (founder of the Wounded Healer Institute) reveals why the body IS the psychological unconscious and how dissociation connects directly to our natural opioid and cannabinoid systems.

You'll discover: ✓ Why it takes YEARS to diagnose dissociative disorders (and why that's insane) ✓ The hidden link between dissociation and addiction that most therapists miss ✓ How "skilled dissociation" can actually be protective (and when it becomes problematic) ✓ Why Brainspotting accesses preverbal trauma that talk therapy can't touch ✓ The 3 "missing addictions" society rewards: perfectionism, altruism, and ambition ✓ How to work with non-verbal parts of yourself that hold trauma ✓ Why "checking out" actually means you're "checking in" somewhere else ✓ The real reason some therapies (CBT, ABA) might induce dissociation

Adam drops truth bombs about:

The medical system's resistance to qualitative research
Why calling alternative therapies "pseudoscience" is often gaslighting
How insurance companies dictate mental health treatment
The historical use of psychedelics in healing (and what we lost)

Plus: Learn about the Wounded Healer Institute's revolutionary peer-support model that values lived experience alongside professional training.

Perfect for: therapists, anyone with complex PTSD/DID, trauma survivors, addiction counselors, and people failed by traditional therapy.

⚠️ Content note: Frank discussion of trauma, dissociation, and mental health system failures.

TIMESTAMPS: [00:00] Cold open - "The body is the psychological unconscious" [01:05] The dissociation-addiction connection no one talks about [02:38] What is the Wounded Healer Institute? [06:08] "Your lived experience matters more than their data" [15:27] Preverbal trauma: Why talk therapy isn't enough [19:14] Your body IS your unconscious mind [29:39] Brainspotting: The therapy that changes everything [41:25] Plot twist: Dissociation is checking IN, not out [42:24] The ketamine scandal no one's discussing [44:16] How to talk to parts that don't use words [53:49] Time doesn't exist in trauma (literally) [1:03:24] The addictions we celebrate (that are killing us) [1:06:37] Building the healing community we actually need

Guest Bio: Adam O'Brien is a researcher, Brainspotting expert, and founder of the Wounded Healer Institute. Specializing in the transdiagnostic nature of dissociation and addiction, Adam challenges the biomedical model with integrated approaches combining neurofeedback, somatic therapy, and lived experience. Their groundbreaking work reframes dissociation as a navigable healing journey rather than a life sentence.

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