Being Well with Forrest Hanson and Dr. Rick Hanson Trauma in Relationships: What Actually Helps with Elizabeth Ferreira
20 snips
Mar 16, 2026 
Elizabeth Ferreira, an associate therapist who lives with complex PTSD, shares personal and clinical perspectives. They explore how trauma shapes relationships and how safety and reciprocity emerge. Conversations cover supporting without enabling, avoiding power imbalances, managing resentment, communicating without shame, and why diagnostic labels can be limiting.
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How Trauma Changes Relational Sensitivity
- People with complex PTSD are more sensitive and carry implicit relational triggers that make ordinary interactions feel unsafe.
- Elizabeth explains developmental trauma reshapes temperament and increases implicit triggers, making relationships uniquely challenging and isolating.
Treat The Relationship As A Shared Project
- Expect the relationship to be a project that requires ongoing effort, but also value the heightened empathy and introspection trauma survivors bring.
- Forrest says survivors often have remarkable self-evaluation and sensitivity that enrich relationships.
Feeling Wanting Opened Safety In Relationship
- Elizabeth felt safety with Forrest because she could feel her own wanting and experience play, which she had long masked.
- She describes high masking before him and that his care made her reveal a softer underbelly over time.