Can You Trust Your Memories? What Neuroscience Reveals About Trauma, Story, and Healing with Stacey Simmons

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Listeners, do you ever wonder if your memories are real? Are you writing a memoir and struggling to remember something—or worrying that what you’re sharing might not be “the truth”? Today on Writing Your Resilience, I’m joined by psychotherapist and neuroscience nerd Stacy Simmons for a powerful conversation about memory, trauma, and storytelling. We explore why memory isn’t a recording device, how traumatic memories get fragmented in the brain, what “reconstituted memories” really are, and how writers can work with their memories in ways that heal rather than re-traumatize. Get ready to dive into a conversation that reveals why memory is fragile, not like a flower but like a bomb. 

Episode Highlights: 

• 4:34: The Types of Memories Memoirists Need to Know
• 12:16: Can Your Bodies Be In Your Memories? The Limitations of Science
• 19:48: What to Do with Trauma Memories and How to Keep from Retraumatizing Yourself  
• 27:33: Navigating Your Conscious Memories
• 35:41: Trusting Early Memories

 Resources from This Episode: 

• What If You’re Not Meant to Be the Hero with Stacey Simmons
• The Adverse Childhood Experience Survey Test
• Mushroom Pharmacy: A Practical Guide to Psychedelic Mushrooms by Stacey Simmons
• What Happened to You by Oprah Winfrey and Dr. Bruce Perry
• Hysterical Podcast
• McMartin Preschool Case
• The Debate on Repressed Memories 
• Identify Your Memoir’s Essential Question
• Ditch Your Inner Critic Now

Stacey’s Bio: Stacey Simmons is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and Certified Psychedelic Therapist. She is a clinical supervisor at Hope Therapy Center in Burbank, California. Her practice focuses on creative professionals, where she works primarily with writers, directors, actors, and musicians. Her research focuses on creativity, archetypes, psychedelic psychotherapy, neuroscience, and consciousness research. She is a volunteer researcher with the Semel Institute of Neuroscience at UCLA, as well as a researcher with the Trance Science Research Institute in Paris, France. She holds a PhD from the University of New Orleans, and a Masters degree from Pacifica Graduate Institute in Santa Barbara, California.

Connect with Stacey:

Website: https://staceysimmonsphd.com

Facebook: @staceysimmonsphd

Instagram: @staceysimmonsphd

TikTok: @staceysimmonsphd

Sign up for Find and Refine Your Memoir’s Narrative Arc: https://bit.ly/4aK5wQI

Connect with your host, Lisa:
Get Your Free Copy of Ditch Your Inner Critic: https://lisacooperellison.com/subscribe/
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Produced by Espresso Podcast Production