New Books in LGBTQ+ Studies Stacee L. Reicherzer, "The Healing Otherness Handbook: Overcome the Trauma of Identity-Based Bullying and Find Power in Your Difference" (New Harbinger, 2021)
May 14, 2021
Stacee L. Reicherzer, transgender psychotherapist and author of The Healing Otherness Handbook, shares work on trauma, othering, and self-sabotage. She discusses how identity-based bullying shapes safety rules and hypervigilance. Listen for practical frameworks like SAS (Sass, Audacity, Clarity, Compassion), reclaiming audacity, and a guided visualization to reframe othering memories.
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Childhood Othering That Sparked Resilience
- Stacee Reicherzer recounts being called “fag” on a playground after second grade and later having dirt thrown at her, a memory that planted fear but also a seed of resilience.
- She links that single childhood event to later bullying, locker graffiti in the AIDS era, and the decision to transition and become a counselor.
Othering Causes Social Pain Like Physical Injury
- Social pain from humiliation and exclusion registers in the same brain area as physical pain, so othering produces trauma similar to bodily injury.
- Reicherzer explains that remembering this pain fuels avoidance rules and hypervigilance designed to protect the self.
Rules Of Fear Shape Lifelong Behavior
- People internalize external messages and create 'rules of fear'—inner constructs that govern behavior to avoid future humiliation.
- Examples include policing queer expression and hiding vulnerability to stay safe in hostile environments.
