ADHD for Smart Ass Women with Tracy Otsuka

Ep. 190: PTSD, Trauma, and EMDR: When Your Career Makes You Sick with Former Lawyer, Lara Connolly

Aug 24, 2022

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ANECDOTE

Medication Opened New Experiences

After starting ADHD medication Lara's anxiety dropped and she did adventurous things she previously avoided.
She and her son led a swim with giant manta rays that she never would have attempted before medication.

ADVICE

Use EMDR For Cumulative Trauma

Try EMDR to process accumulated painful memories and reduce triggers tied to emotional dysregulation.
EMDR can desensitize repeated small hurts that add up for highly empathetic people.

INSIGHT

Small Hurts Can Become PTSD

Lara reframed PTSD as the sum of many small rejections and workplace traumas amplified by high empathy.
She realized trauma doesn't need a single catastrophic event to become disabling for empathic people.

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Talk therapy can be a valuable resource, but what happens when you’re all talked out and still feel your body is holding onto trauma? This is where teacher’s assistant Lara Connolly found herself after years of trying talk therapy and never feeling like it was quite enough to help alleviate her physical exhaustion and stress. It wasn’t until she tried EMDR (eye movement desensitization and reprocessing), a form of psychotherapy designed to alleviate the distress caused by traumatic memories, that she finally started to feel her body come back to life.

Looking back, Lara can see how much shame and rejection was stored in her body after a lifetime of having untreated ADHD and how significantly it had been impacting her emotional regulation and physical health. Lara not only took the steps to heal her trauma, but she also made real changes to her lifestyle that provide more balance and prioritize joy; her dedication to living an authentic ADHD life is truly inspiring, and I’m delighted to bring you this conversation.
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Instagram: @theaddventuresoflaraandfrida

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