Episode 7, Season 2: When the Past Keeps Bleeding In: The Science & Stories of Retraumatization

The Dr. Sarah Hensley Show · Jul 8, 2025 · 1h 7m · transcript

In this raw and revealing episode of The Dr. Sarah Hensley Show, Dr. Hensley and Raina dive deep into the rarely understood—but widely experienced—phenomenon of retraumatization. What actually happens to the brain and body when we’re retraumatized? Why does it sometimes feel even more painful than the original event? Dr. Hensley walks us through the neurobiological process of retrauma, explaining how trauma is stored in the brain differently than typical memories—lodged in the amygdala and body rather than neatly filed in the hippocampus. So, when a familiar cue triggers that trauma, we often…