This week licensed therapist Kati Morton discusses trauma, PTSD and our dreams. She also explains how we can best support our children when we know they are struggling, how to know how much something we experienced affects us today, and why we can overshare with our therapist right away. She then offers some basic anger management tips, and how having a TBI can affect our mental health.

Ask Kati Anything, your mental health podcast, episode 232 audience questions:

1. I would be grateful if you would discuss trauma/ptsd dreams... particularly how to decrease them and how to recover after having them. 02:32

2. Hi Kati! I have a teenage daughter who is the light of my life and a great kid - she's incredibly empathetic, kind, creative, and doesn't get up to any real trouble (other than a little attitude with me here and there), but I worry about her mental health. Her dad and I had a difficult separation some years ago, and he drops in and out of her life - also she has struggled with anxiety since childhood, and is very hard on herself. When she was smaller I had her in play, art, and animal therapy to help manage her anxiety, but she'd always be positive for the first month or so then grow to hate going. Now she is... 09:25

3. How do we know if something that we experienced actually affected us and if so, the severity of which it impacted us to make us who we are today? My therapist will be going on maternity leave again for the second time within the last few years and it is expected that she will be away for an extended period of time (potentially up to two years). I'm going through an interesting period... 14:19

4. I was just wondering if this is something that is common or whether I'm weird. When I first met my therapist I had complete verbal diarrhea about a few things that happened as a teen. I apologized and she said it was ok and was very reassuring that I didn’t need to apologize. This was a few months back and we have talked about them in more detail since, I haven’t brought it up with her yet but I think I may have had a light bulb moment as to... 25:24

5. Can you talk about some basic anger management/frustration tolerance tips? I feel like I lose my temper wayyyy too easily, and it's NOT the type of person I want to be. I know you've talked about anger not being a "bad" thing, and that it can teach us something, etc. But I'm talking about the times when I am losing my cool for trivial things, or when I know I'm overreacting (cursing because I caught a red light, being snippy and defensive with people when they don't deserve it). I am getting better at calming myself down after being triggered, which is... 30:55

6. How does a brain injury impact someone who also has CPTSD? I was in 4th grade when I had an accident and received some brain damage on the front of my brain. I also grew up with emotional neglect/abuse, physical abuse, witnessing domestic abuse, bullying, and sexual abuse…I know that is a lot and I know CPTSD takes some rewiring of your brain to overcome. I just wonder if I struggle more than most because I also have that TBI to work with? Are there any tools/tricks to make it easier? I am in talk therapy and EMDR. 38:43

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8849136/

PUBLISHED BOOKS

Traumatized https://geni.us/Bfak0j Are u ok? https://geni.us/sva4iUY ONLINE THERAPY While I do not currently offer online therapy, BetterHelp can connect you with a licensed, online therapist: https://betterhelp.com/kati (enjoy 10% off your first month) SOCIALX https://twitter.com/KatiMorton TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@katimorton Facebook https://www.facebook.com/katimorton1/ Instagram https://www.instagram.com/katimorton Pinterest https://www.pinterest.com/katimorton1/ Patreon https://www.katimorton.com/kati-morton-patreon/

YouTube https://www.youtube.com/katimorton PARTNERSHIPSLinnea Toney linnea@underscoretalent.com

This week licensed therapist Kati Morton talks about emotional pain in therapy sessions, how we can stop our hypersexuality, and how far back our body remembers traumatic experiences. She also explains other mental illnesses that could be helped through DBT, and what we can do to stop our doctors from blaming our physical ailments on our mental health. Finally, she discusses memory and trauma processing, and why we can sometimes struggle to recall simple things.

Ask Kati Anything, your mental health podcast, episode 231 audience questions:

1. How would you react if a client tried to leave session due to being in emotional pain. And you suspected they would try to harm themselves or even commit suicide? Would you stop them, or is that not your responsibility? Would you ever get in the way of the door and not let them leave? How would you react differently if It was a friend and outside the therapy space? 00:58

2. How can I put an end to my hyper sexuality? I’ve been struggling with it since like, forever. I was SA’d as a kid (COCSA) at the age of 5-6 and I’ve been hypersexual since, I’ve been physically abused by a parent because I was caught touching myself in public, now I more so use it as a coping mechanism, it’s what I’d turn to when I was even ever so slightly irritated... 05:14

3. Do you know how far in the past can the body "remember" potentially traumatic experiences? I was born a preemie at 32w (not too bad for a triplet, but still required weeks of care in NICU). From what I learned and saw in photos, I was the tiniest of the 3 and spent the longest time in hospital. I've been tube fed and covered with IV's. I also went into respiratory arrest at a few months old. Besides that, I haven't grown a sick child at all. We were lucky. I have been struggling with MH since my early teenage years (I am 22 ) Having an ED (among other co-related issues), gaining weight is really hard to cope with. In my case, it is not so much that I... 14:28

4. Hi Kati, is DBT a good fit for illnesses other than BPD? I have anxiety and bipolar II depression and, in the past, have had CBT/ACT therapy. They were pretty successful for anxiety but never touched the depression. Over time, I have developed chronic suicidal thoughts. When I'm well, they scare me. When I'm depressed they are almost like a warm blanket. I can’t stop thinking about it. It's always in the back of my mind. I know I have a way out. Could DBT help with this? 22:01

5. How did you get doctors to stop dismissing physical health issues and blaming it on mental health? I understand they can go hand in hand, but it's not always the case. It feels discriminatory. What's the best way to address this with a doctor? 30:45

6. What is going on with my memory???? I’ve been doing trauma work with my therapist for awhile now and all of the sudden I cannot remember what I have shared with her and what I haven’t. Why is it so hard for me to share new memories of the trauma with my therapist?? I fully trust her and know she is safe. Why do I go into a shame spiral and then push her away after I share something new? Will this go away with time? 35:27

PUBLISHED BOOKSTraumatized https://geni.us/Bfak0j Are u ok? https://geni.us/sva4iUY ONLINE THERAPY While I do not currently offer online therapy, BetterHelp can connect you with a licensed, online therapist: https://betterhelp.com/kati (enjoy 10% off your first month) SOCIALX https://twitter.com/KatiMorton TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@katimorton Facebook https://www.facebook.com/katimorton1/ Instagram https://www.instagram.com/katimorton Pinterest https://www.pinterest.com/katimorton1/ Patreon https://www.katimorton.com/kati-morton-patreon/ YouTube https://www.youtube.com/katimorton

PARTNERSHIPSLinnea Toney linnea@underscoretalent.com

This week licensed therapist Kati Morton talks about why it can be hard to tell our therapist about a sexual assault, and why the R-word can be so difficult to talk about. She then discusses why it seems to be harder to maintain our mental health post-COVID, how to work through perpetual grief, and how to overcome intense bullying. Finally, she explains how EMDR works, and why we can hold onto our suicidal thoughts and plans. Audience questions from Ask Kati Anything, your mental health podcast episode 230:1. I was wondering why I can’t seem to talk to my therapist about being raped?? Backstory: I was raped twice by a family friend and both times were more than 10+ years ago so I should just be over it by now. I’ve been seeing a therapist for over a year now. I really do like her and I feel comfortable and really connected to her. I can count on one hand the few people who know about both assaults, but I’ve never been able to share with anyone intimate details of it besides the few details that my therapist knows about. However, every time the conversation...2. Is it just me, or is it so much harder to maintain good mental health as compared to pre-COVID times. So much changed during that time and so many of us lost important social connections. I hope this doesn’t sound lame, but… what is your advice for starting over?3. How do we work through perpetual grief? I feel a lot of grief over things that I didn't get to do or experience due to mental health issues over the years. Recognizing that I can't turn back time, and some of the things I missed I will never be able to do or that it will not be the same experience had it happened at the appropriate time. This caused me to have even more grief as I'm going through life knowing I'm not...4. I don’t have any hopes in life because I keep getting bullied and bullied and bullied ever since I was 10 and now I’m 13 I’m in seventh grade now and I’m scared to actually go to school because I keep getting bullied. I don’t tell my parents...5. Can you possibly explain the science behind EMDR in human terms? ;). It is completely fascinating to me how it works, because it does! My mind has started one place and ended up where I never would have expected to. I have had flashes of odd images come into my mind as well that I haven’t mentioned because they are just weird or embarrassing. 6. Even when I was doing a little bit better and wasn’t having too many suicidal thoughts, I’ve always had a plan in place in my head. This seems really messed up to me and now this method isn’t possible to me it feels stressful; like I need an answer again. I don’t understand why it feels necessary to have a definite answer to this again. Or why it was a constant presence in the first place. I’ve had rather complicated mental health issues for years and had lots of treatments and felt pretty hopeless for a long time. I’m guessing this has something to do with it but it just doesn’t sit right with me that it always feels needed in the background.

PUBLISHED BOOKS Traumatized https://geni.us/Bfak0j Are u ok? https://geni.us/sva4iUY ONLINE THERAPY While I do not currently offer online therapy, BetterHelp can connect you with a licensed, online therapist: https://betterhelp.com/kati (enjoy 10% off your first month) SOCIAL

YouTube: https://youtube.com/katimorton X: https://twitter.com/KatiMorton TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@katimorton Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/katimorton1/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/katimorton Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/katimorton1/ Patreon: https://www.katimorton.com/kati-morton-patreon/ PARTNERSHIPS Linnea Toney linnea@underscoretalent.com