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Surviving the Unspeakable with Christi Scarpino · The Trauma Therapist

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Speaker 1: Welcome to the Trauma Therapist podcast. My name is Gaming Person.
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Speaker 1: I interview incredible people who've dedicated their lives to helping
0:07
Speaker 1: those who've been impacted by trauma. A big thank you
0:11
Speaker 1: to our sponsors and our guests who are supporting this show.
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Speaker 1: So five, four, three, two and one are folks. Welcome
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Speaker 1: back to the podcast. Very excited to have as my
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Speaker 1: guest today. Christy Scarpino. Christy welcome, Thank you, good to
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Speaker 1: be here. Christy is retired speech language pathologist and massage
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Speaker 1: therapist who survived the nineteen seventy seven terrorist bombing of
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Speaker 1: the Mobile Oil Building in New York City. In her
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Speaker 1: memoir Missing Pieces, a Terrorist Attack Survivor's Memoir of Trauma,
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Speaker 1: Resilience and Healing, she shares her journey of living with
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Speaker 1: undiagnosed PTSD at a time when the condition wasn't yet recognized.
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Speaker 1: Now dedicated to raising awareness about trauma and recovery, Christie
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Speaker 1: lives in New Jersey with her husband and their three
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Speaker 1: Nova Scotia Duck Tolling retrievers, which he trains and competes
1:02
Speaker 1: with in performance events. Christy, before you going shure the
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Speaker 1: listeners where you're from? Originally where you are currently and
1:16
Speaker 1: what are Nova Scotia duck totaling Retrievers.
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Speaker 2: Well, I was born in Mount Verna, New York. Lived
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Speaker 2: there until high school. Then we moved to Bermuda, then
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Speaker 2: we moved back to New York. Then I kind of
1:33
Speaker 2: moved around a lot. I was in I went to
1:35
Speaker 2: Rutgers in New Jersey and then went to Purdue in Indiana,
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Speaker 2: and then lived in Massachusetts for about thirty years. So
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Speaker 2: I've been in New Jersey for four years now.
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Speaker 1: Wow.
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Speaker 2: Nova Scotia duck tolling retrievers. They are the smallest retriever breed.
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Speaker 2: They average between around forty five pounds, although the females
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Speaker 2: can be thirty five pounds or so. I described them
2:03
Speaker 2: as border collies in a red suit. They are really high,
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Speaker 2: very high drive. Love to work. That's all they want
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Speaker 2: to do is work. You can throw bumpers or toys
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Speaker 2: for them for all day. They never get tired.
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Speaker 1: I was I was looking online and they kind of
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Speaker 1: look like a cross between a Golden Retriever and a
2:25
Speaker 1: border Collie.
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Speaker 2: Kind of yeah. You know, lots of people they're not
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Speaker 2: familiar with them. They'll ask me if it's a badly
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Speaker 2: bred golden but they're not. Their temperament is totally different
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Speaker 2: from a golden interesting.
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Speaker 1: Okay, all right, So.
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Speaker 2: What happened well in nineteen seventy seven or the summer
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Speaker 2: of nineteen seventy seven, I was working as a summer
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Speaker 2: intern at Mobile Oil Corporation in New York City, and
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Speaker 2: my job was to welcome applicants, interview them, have them
3:04
Speaker 2: built out applications, and then record their visit and refer them.
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Speaker 2: On this particular day, August third, a woman came in
3:18
Speaker 2: a little bit before the office formerly opened, but I
3:20
Speaker 2: had already unlocked the door. She was odd, but we
3:26
Speaker 2: had a lot of odd people come in because around
3:27
Speaker 2: forty second Street. But she was dressed in a wig
3:33
Speaker 2: and wearing sunglasses. But she was also holding an umbrella.
3:36
Speaker 2: She had straw hat on was pouring out. She came
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Speaker 2: in fuilled out an application and wanted to leave with it,
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Speaker 2: and we didn't allow people to leave with the applications.
3:48
Speaker 2: We had to have records of them, so she refused.
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Speaker 2: She and I had a little altercation loudly. My boss
3:57
Speaker 2: had to come out to see what was going on.
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Speaker 2: I grabbed the application from her and she ran out.
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Speaker 2: About an hour later, one of my colleagues went out
4:08
Speaker 2: to get some coffee and two recruiting people came in
4:13
Speaker 2: and I was talking to them. Johnna came back with
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Speaker 2: the coffee. I went back to her cubicle to get
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Speaker 2: the coffee, walked away and I never got there. But
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Speaker 2: my next memory was laying on the floor under a
4:30
Speaker 2: large potted plant and I didn't know where I was.
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Speaker 2: I didn't know if I was dead or alive. I
4:38
Speaker 2: describe it as being between conscious and unconscious, because I
4:43
Speaker 2: was thinking but also thinking like if you're dead, how
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Speaker 2: can you think you know? It was? It was very surreal,
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Speaker 2: but long story short. That applicant left was a terrorist left, and.
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Speaker 1: The initial one with the one that you said looked odd.
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Speaker 2: Okay, she had a bomb in her umbrella and she
5:04
Speaker 2: left it on an umbrella stand that was ten feet
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Speaker 2: away from my desk.
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Speaker 1: WHOA.
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Speaker 2: It killed one of the recruiters who was Ausler friend,
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Speaker 2: and totally demolished the office. The whole front of the
5:20
Speaker 2: building was blown off onto forty second Street. My next
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Speaker 2: memory was being out on the street with the MYPD
5:29
Speaker 2: and my work colleagues. So the place was recognizable, you know,
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Speaker 2: with smoky and a lot of pressure. If that whole
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Speaker 2: front of the building hadn't blown out, we probably all
5:44
Speaker 2: would not have survived.
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Speaker 1: Wow, did you how did you survive so close? I?
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Speaker 2: Well, I have two things. One is I landed under
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Speaker 2: this plant that was huge, and I think the leaves
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Speaker 2: protected me from the fallen from the ceiling and stopped
6:04
Speaker 2: stopped me from going further. And the other thing was
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Speaker 2: the man that was killed, his body shielded me from
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Speaker 2: the blast. So I have a lot of survivor guilding
6:16
Speaker 2: because of that. But that that's pretty much what happened.
6:23
Speaker 2: We were we got set up to the medical department
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Speaker 2: and they we were bleeding. None of us, the five
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Speaker 2: of five employees, none of us are bleeding. We were
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Speaker 2: walking and they said, you're fine, you can go back
6:36
Speaker 2: to work. Yeah, yeah, that day through work, well we did,
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Speaker 2: is did the police. We ended up getting evacuated from
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Speaker 2: that building and then we were with the NYPD for
6:48
Speaker 2: the rest of the day. But back then, nobody talked
6:53
Speaker 2: about concussions, nobody talked about any kind of trauma. You know,
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Speaker 2: you're walking, you're talking, You're fine. But I was not
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Speaker 2: fine after that day, And I'll skip a lot of details,
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Speaker 2: but I was interrogated by the FBI and NYPD for
7:13
Speaker 2: three years afterwards because my fingerprints were on the application
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Speaker 2: as well as the terrorists. So I was a person
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Speaker 2: question for a while, and my dad sent me away
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Speaker 2: for two weeks to get away from the media, and
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Speaker 2: in so doing, because that interrupted the interrogations, I was
7:37
Speaker 2: considered a fugitive. So I was arrested at the airport
7:41
Speaker 2: when I came back, and I was not treated very well.
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Speaker 1: Well, okay, hang on, I just interrupt you here. Pardon
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Speaker 1: me for doing so well. I just want to go back.
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Speaker 1: You said you're going to skip a lot of details,
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Speaker 1: but I want to ask. Obviously, you were not okay.
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Speaker 1: You said you were not okay in the immediate aftermath
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Speaker 1: of that. For you, what happens? How do things unfold
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Speaker 1: for you?
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Speaker 2: I had Initially I didn't realize that I was having difficulty,
8:20
Speaker 2: but then the nightmare started, the panic attacks, flashbacks.
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Speaker 1: Were you married at this time.
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Speaker 2: Twenty one? I was in between undergrad and going to
8:32
Speaker 2: grad school. Okay, So about a month after the bombing,
8:36
Speaker 2: I went to grad school at Purdue when as I
8:45
Speaker 2: expressed difficulty and I was crying a lot. You know,
8:49
Speaker 2: the support that I got from others family friends was
8:54
Speaker 2: you're fine, get over it, it's over. Your surviv I
9:00
Speaker 2: be grateful, time will heal. That was kind of some
9:07
Speaker 2: of the prevailing points of view in the seventies, just
9:11
Speaker 2: kind of get over it and if you ask for help,
9:15
Speaker 2: your week. So I truly believe that until I was
9:23
Speaker 2: really suffering.
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Speaker 1: Just as you had said earlier on like, PTSD wasn't
9:31
Speaker 1: even recognized until nineteen eighty that's correct, right, nineteen eighty.
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Speaker 1: I didn't even get it into the DSM and it.
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Speaker 2: Wasn't recognized as a trauma diagnosis until twenty twelve, you know,
9:45
Speaker 2: trauma for regular people that have had any kind of
9:48
Speaker 2: violence crime. Yeah, it was recognized.
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Speaker 1: So you're having these symptoms, these panic attacks, anxiety. Your
10:04
Speaker 1: family friends are like, chill out for see, you're fine,
10:09
Speaker 1: you're done, it's over. You know, i'd be thankful. Did you?
10:16
Speaker 2: So?
10:17
Speaker 1: How did you respond? What did you do? How did
10:20
Speaker 1: you cope?
10:22
Speaker 2: Well? I talked a lot to my graduate professors because
10:27
Speaker 2: I was also having learning problems. I was someone who
10:31
Speaker 2: could I had a photographic memory. Learning was always easy
10:34
Speaker 2: for me, and I got to grad school and I
10:38
Speaker 2: couldn't learn. I couldn't. My attention was gone, my focus,
10:44
Speaker 2: my ability to concentrate, so I had to do I
10:47
Speaker 2: all I did was study because I had to learn.
10:52
Speaker 2: You know, I had taped, just tape recorders. We had
10:54
Speaker 2: tape recorders back then. So I would bring my cassette
10:57
Speaker 2: player and I would take note and I would have
11:00
Speaker 2: other people's notes and i'd study with other people. But
11:05
Speaker 2: that was very hard for me to cope. I did
11:07
Speaker 2: go to so I also had a lot of my
11:12
Speaker 2: triggers were everyday things like sunglasses, straw hats, rain because
11:18
Speaker 2: it was pouring the day we were evacuated, and we
11:21
Speaker 2: were evacuated three times. Every time it rained, I would
11:26
Speaker 2: have a panic attack or not even be able to
11:29
Speaker 2: get out of bed.
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Speaker 1: And did you recognize them at that time as triggers?
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Speaker 2: I did. I did, Okay. I did get one semester
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Speaker 2: of therapy at at the grad school level, and the
11:46
Speaker 2: graduate student that I had was outstanding, and she helped
11:50
Speaker 2: me with systematic desensitization and progressive relaxation for those triggers
11:57
Speaker 2: because I just I couldn't function. And then the second
12:02
Speaker 2: semester I couldn't have her anymore because she was onto
12:06
Speaker 2: the next clinical round. The therapist that I got was
12:09
Speaker 2: we did not connect and so I was referred to
12:12
Speaker 2: outpatient in the community. Then I guess it was kind
12:17
Speaker 2: of a It was difficult to find funding because I
12:20
Speaker 2: didn't have insurance and my family wasn't willing to pay.
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Speaker 2: So eventually I don't remember where the funding came from,
12:29
Speaker 2: but it paid for a few sessions. But all that
12:32
Speaker 2: happened was that I was medicated, and when the medication
12:36
Speaker 2: ran out there I was. It really was about five
12:42
Speaker 2: years before I got therapy that helps me address the trauma.
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Speaker 2: Who after grad school, I found some therapists cause I
12:52
Speaker 2: was working, so I had insurance and I went to
12:55
Speaker 2: therapy different couple of different therapists, and they they didn't
12:59
Speaker 2: know how to address my issues. They would ask me
13:02
Speaker 2: about my childhood and enough saying I didn't have issues
13:06
Speaker 2: with my childhood or my family, but I needed to
13:09
Speaker 2: know how to get through the days and how to
13:11
Speaker 2: get through all the interrogations. And there was nothing and
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Speaker 2: no support groups either at that point in time.
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Speaker 1: So concurrently, you're as person of interest, yes, wow, So
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Speaker 1: how does that come about? How do you learn your
13:32
Speaker 1: person of interest?
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Speaker 2: I really didn't learn that I was a personal person
13:39
Speaker 2: of interest until I started writing the book. A lot
13:43
Speaker 2: of things became apparent to me as I put things
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Speaker 2: in a timeline and started looking at the chain of
13:51
Speaker 2: events and looking at all newspapers and just doing some research,
13:57
Speaker 2: and I realized that I was as a person of
14:00
Speaker 2: the interest. And then at some point I just became
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Speaker 2: someone that they wanted to testify against the terrorist because
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Speaker 2: I had interviewed her and been face to face with her.
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Speaker 1: So so how does the book come about?
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Speaker 2: Well, in twenty and fifteen, I a friend of mine
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Speaker 2: had recommended EMDR because I with nine to eleven, and
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Speaker 2: then the bust and marathon bombing, I started having flashbacks again.
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Speaker 1: All right, so let me hold up. So twenty fifteen,
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Speaker 1: we're talking about something that happened nineteen seventy seven, that's correct,
14:44
Speaker 1: So that's what thirty five years? Yeah, and during that time,
14:49
Speaker 1: that span of time, you're still symptomatic.
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Speaker 2: Yep. I learned how to cope with a lot of it,
14:59
Speaker 2: and I could hold together during the day for work,
15:04
Speaker 2: but at home in the evening was a little bit
15:07
Speaker 2: different story. And I would continue to have flashbacks, although
15:16
Speaker 2: they they were diminishing in frequency until nine eleven, and
15:20
Speaker 2: then they came back with a vengeance. And every time
15:24
Speaker 2: I heard anything about a terrorist attack or violence, I
15:29
Speaker 2: would have a flashback, and I was I was tired
15:33
Speaker 2: of it. I'm really tired of it. I wanted it
15:36
Speaker 2: to go away. So I found a psychologist in Worcester,
15:44
Speaker 2: mass who did EMDR with me, and at one of
15:48
Speaker 2: our last sessions, he said to me, you know, you
15:50
Speaker 2: have an interesting story. You want to write a book.
15:54
Speaker 2: And I was like, who would ever even want to
15:56
Speaker 2: read it? But write? So I thought about it, and
16:02
Speaker 2: at first I thought it would just be good for
16:04
Speaker 2: me to do, to write, to pull out like all
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Speaker 2: my journals from forty years together and try to piece
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Speaker 2: my because I also had post traumatic amnesia, so I
16:15
Speaker 2: had like these gaping big holes in my life. I
16:19
Speaker 2: didn't yeah, so I thought this would help. And as
16:22
Speaker 2: I started writing, you know, I would hear there was
16:25
Speaker 2: more school shooting started, there was more violence that I
16:30
Speaker 2: was aware of, possibly because of the Internet and the news,
16:34
Speaker 2: and I started thinking, you know, this book, my story
16:38
Speaker 2: may have value for other people. You know, both in
16:42
Speaker 2: terms of if you have had trauma, the symptoms you're
16:47
Speaker 2: experiencing are normal for response to trauma because I thought
16:53
Speaker 2: it was crazy for a long time, and you're not crazy.
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Speaker 2: What's happening is normal and you need to work on
17:01
Speaker 2: it to get better. But I did not know that.
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Speaker 2: I didn't even know I had PTSD until twenty and fifteen,
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Speaker 2: So I thought the book had value. My story had
17:14
Speaker 2: value in that it also had value in helping people
17:19
Speaker 2: understand what PTSD is and how it affects your living,
17:24
Speaker 2: your daily life, and that it doesn't go away, and
17:28
Speaker 2: that early intervention and continuous intervention is necessary. I had
17:36
Speaker 2: a couple of workplace episodes, one in which I applied
17:40
Speaker 2: for ADA accommodations because they were doing in services on
17:46
Speaker 2: how to handle a school shooter, which of course is
17:49
Speaker 2: very important, but they were having the staff watch films
17:55
Speaker 2: of Columbine and other shootings, which I could not watch.
18:00
Speaker 2: I knew I couldn't watch them, so I asked if
18:02
Speaker 2: I could get trained in a different way, and they
18:05
Speaker 2: denied my request because it happened so long ago I
18:09
Speaker 2: should be over it. So there just needs to be
18:14
Speaker 2: increased education about what people's needs are and that continued
18:19
Speaker 2: supports needed, and you need to listen to people when
18:24
Speaker 2: they say they need something, So Christie.
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Speaker 1: Let me ask you something here. During the span of
18:33
Speaker 1: thirty some odd years, you know, between the event and
18:38
Speaker 1: you're writing a book, what kind of help, if any,
18:43
Speaker 1: were you getting.
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Speaker 2: I For about thirty years, on and off, I had
18:51
Speaker 2: behavior therapy. I'man behavior therapy and that psychologist was wonderful
18:58
Speaker 2: and I have since corresponded her since I wrote the book,
19:02
Speaker 2: and I said to her, you know, you're the only
19:06
Speaker 2: person who could address my trauma. And that was because
19:12
Speaker 2: and now I know that she had been treating a
19:14
Speaker 2: lot of women who were abused relations.
19:19
Speaker 1: What specifically can you can you isolate something that that
19:26
Speaker 1: she was doing, that you both were doing that helped you.
19:30
Speaker 2: She would listen to what my concerns were.
19:35
Speaker 1: Huge, huge, and.
19:38
Speaker 2: Address I felt was needed, and she would work on
19:43
Speaker 2: other things too. You know, it wasn't always everything, wasn't
19:46
Speaker 2: always my idea. But one thing and specific that that
19:51
Speaker 2: she helped me with enormously was that I had a
19:54
Speaker 2: picture of the terrorists in my wallet that I carried
19:58
Speaker 2: around for years, and I would take it out and
20:02
Speaker 2: look at it and feel sick, and then I put
20:04
Speaker 2: it away and then I feel better. I would do
20:06
Speaker 2: this hundreds of times.
20:08
Speaker 1: Why if I may ask, did you keep it in
20:11
Speaker 1: your water?
20:12
Speaker 2: I never know why. I still don't know why I did,
20:15
Speaker 2: but I knew that it needed to go.
20:20
Speaker 3: I knew it was intrusive, and I was aggravated with
20:24
Speaker 3: myself because I am typically a person with good self
20:29
Speaker 3: control and I could not control this.
20:32
Speaker 2: I could not stop it, and it was just that
20:37
Speaker 2: was eating at me, even more probably than pulling out
20:41
Speaker 2: the picture all the time. But she and I talked
20:44
Speaker 2: about that a lot, and then one day I just
20:48
Speaker 2: I just separated from it. I took it out, ripped
20:50
Speaker 2: it up, and threw it out. But you know, other
20:53
Speaker 2: people didn't work on that with me. So and even
20:59
Speaker 2: now involved in some support groups, and I hear other
21:03
Speaker 2: people say that their therapist doesn't always listen to what
21:08
Speaker 2: they feel their needs are, and I think that's huge.
21:11
Speaker 2: You get more buy in from your client as well,
21:13
Speaker 2: and if they feel like they're listening to you.
21:16
Speaker 1: So so talk about sitting down to start this book.
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Speaker 2: When I first started writing, I just sat and wrote
21:29
Speaker 2: whatever came into my head. I just kept writing. I
21:32
Speaker 2: wrote the story. Then I wrote a chapter, many chapters
21:35
Speaker 2: on therapy, and many chapters on PTSD and what terrorism was.
21:41
Speaker 2: I would write and then I would cry. Then I
21:46
Speaker 2: would stop for six months because it was very emotionally
21:51
Speaker 2: charged for me. But I finally felt like I was finished.
21:59
Speaker 2: I had a few friends who have also been involved
22:03
Speaker 2: in terrorism to read it, and they felt like it
22:07
Speaker 2: was a story worth telling. But I also wasn't happy
22:12
Speaker 2: with the way it was. I felt it was disjointed,
22:15
Speaker 2: it was kind of I'm used to being a clinical writer,
22:18
Speaker 2: so part of it was clinical, part of it was
22:22
Speaker 2: a story. I wrote it more as a documentary. It
22:25
Speaker 2: was too many different styles, and I it was actually
22:31
Speaker 2: some of it could have been kind of boring. So
22:35
Speaker 2: I contacted a woman who is a book coach, an author,
22:41
Speaker 2: a ghostwriter, and she helped me craft this into a memoir,
22:46
Speaker 2: which I am very proud of because she helped me
22:51
Speaker 2: tell my story and bring the reader with me as
22:54
Speaker 2: if they are in the story with me, and at
22:57
Speaker 2: the same time experience the PTSD responses and understand what
23:03
Speaker 2: my thoughts were and what happened along the way. So
23:06
Speaker 2: I had all those themes of therapy and emotions and
23:11
Speaker 2: flat affects and everything in there, but it was part
23:14
Speaker 2: of the story rather than separate chunks and We finished
23:19
Speaker 2: it last year and was published September thirtieth year.
23:24
Speaker 1: We just remind everyone. Speaking with Christy Scarpino, the book
23:28
Speaker 1: is titled Missing Pieces, Terrorist Attack Survivors Memoir of Trauma,
23:34
Speaker 1: Resilience and Healing. Who was the woman who did this?
23:42
Speaker 1: What terrorist organization was she affiliated with?
23:44
Speaker 2: She as is Maria Hadi Torres. She is part of
23:49
Speaker 2: the f ALN. I can never say it's Spanish, but
23:56
Speaker 2: as a Puerto Rican nationalist group, okay. And the hard
24:01
Speaker 2: part for me always has been that she is a
24:05
Speaker 2: month older than I and two inches taller than me.
24:10
Speaker 2: So when you think of a terrorist, you don't think
24:14
Speaker 2: of a petite young woman, right, you know? And that
24:21
Speaker 2: I still grapple with that.
24:23
Speaker 1: But how are you doing now?
24:28
Speaker 2: I'm doing extremely well. I'm so proud of myself that
24:33
Speaker 2: I can talk openly about it, because for years I couldn't.
24:39
Speaker 2: It was my deep, dark secret. So I'm happy I
24:44
Speaker 2: can talk about it. I still have a few triggers.
24:49
Speaker 2: I can't well, I shouldn't say I can't. I don't
24:52
Speaker 2: like to go into very crowded places. And I did
24:56
Speaker 2: have a panic attack and a bruce springs in concert.
25:00
Speaker 2: A couple of years ago after they did the evacuation
25:06
Speaker 2: procedure on screen, and it was a really crowded and
25:10
Speaker 2: loud crowd and it was too much. But for the
25:15
Speaker 2: most part, I am very very functional. When I have
25:20
Speaker 2: the problem, I usually go on to or concern, I
25:23
Speaker 2: go onto an online depport group, talk about it, and
25:26
Speaker 2: I feel better. But I think I lived pretty much
25:31
Speaker 2: a normal life now. I have not had a flashback
25:37
Speaker 2: since the EMDR. That was a miracle.
25:42
Speaker 1: So that helped you the m dry would you say, yes, Wow, awesome?
25:46
Speaker 2: And it only took one session, and the therapist told
25:50
Speaker 2: me because I had had so much therapy and done
25:53
Speaker 2: so much on my own, you know, I did a meditation,
25:56
Speaker 2: I did so much that I was so ready. Yeah,
26:00
Speaker 2: its already.
26:01
Speaker 1: Well, that's awesome. So in terms of the book. With
26:05
Speaker 1: regards to the book, who would you say it's for?
26:11
Speaker 2: It is for anyone who has experienced trauma, because they
26:19
Speaker 2: can learn the They will identify with me in some way.
26:25
Speaker 2: You know, our traumas don't have to be the same,
26:27
Speaker 2: but our responses can be. It is for anybody interested
26:34
Speaker 2: in PTSD and mental health, anyone who knows someone with PTSD.
26:41
Speaker 2: I think my husband and we've been married for four years.
26:45
Speaker 2: Knew I had PTSD when we got married. We talked
26:49
Speaker 2: about it, but he says, now talking about a lot
26:52
Speaker 2: different than living with it, and I'm good now. But
26:57
Speaker 2: he's found reading the book that he had a deep
27:00
Speaker 2: or understanding of exactly what was going on.
27:06
Speaker 1: So when he said that, what was he referring to.
27:12
Speaker 2: Specifically, Well, I think he understood what PTSD or thought
27:24
Speaker 2: he understood it. But then like actually living with me
27:27
Speaker 2: when I have being with me when I have a
27:29
Speaker 2: panic attack, or understanding why I don't want to go
27:33
Speaker 2: somewhere and accepting that that was hard for him because
27:40
Speaker 2: on a day to day I am pretty good and
27:42
Speaker 2: then something happens and I'm not and I'm like, I'm
27:46
Speaker 2: not feeling it. I can't I can't go, I can't
27:49
Speaker 2: do this.
27:53
Speaker 1: Are you You talked about your triggers, you said, save
27:57
Speaker 1: maybe a couple, You're they're they're all gone. You're doing
28:00
Speaker 1: pretty well right now? What helps you now on a
28:05
Speaker 1: day to day basis? What are some of the things
28:06
Speaker 1: you're doing?
28:08
Speaker 2: Positive affirmations That's always been my jam. I collect them
28:16
Speaker 2: and I have two favorites that I've used. I must
28:19
Speaker 2: say them every day, and one is nothing, I will
28:22
Speaker 2: not let anything spoil my day, and the other one
28:26
Speaker 2: is I find the joy in every day. Those two
28:31
Speaker 2: things get me through every day no matter what, and
28:33
Speaker 2: have for forty eight years.
28:37
Speaker 1: Wow, Christy, I mean, how do you say it as
28:45
Speaker 1: a Jesus intense yep? I mean surviving a terrorist attack,
28:52
Speaker 1: a bombing, waking up under this giant plant that, as
28:59
Speaker 1: you said, probably shielded you from to breathe, falling down,
29:03
Speaker 1: and so forth.
29:10
Speaker 2: What do.
29:12
Speaker 1: Therapists need to know when they're working with someone who's
29:16
Speaker 1: experienced something like this.
29:22
Speaker 2: I think therapists need to know that there are so
29:25
Speaker 2: many layers to the trauma. And I never realized this
29:32
Speaker 2: until I wrote a book, that there's the outside, the event,
29:39
Speaker 2: and then there's all this others. It's like an onion.
29:41
Speaker 2: I always say, it's like an onion. You peel off
29:43
Speaker 2: the top layer and then you keep finding stuff underneath
29:46
Speaker 2: it that still needs work. And it's like that, you know, like,
29:54
Speaker 2: I don't think you're ever totally better. There's always something
30:00
Speaker 2: and it's kind of letting that something come out and
30:08
Speaker 2: feeling free enough to deal with it. Like I never
30:10
Speaker 2: realized how angry I was about toxic positivity. I didn't
30:18
Speaker 2: even know how to name, but comments like it was
30:22
Speaker 2: I had mentioned earlier, you know, get just get over it,
30:26
Speaker 2: forgive and forget. You know. I still I'm pretty angry
30:29
Speaker 2: about that stuff. But that was like not at the
30:34
Speaker 2: top of the list of things to deal with, but
30:36
Speaker 2: it's still there and I still am dealing with that.
30:42
Speaker 2: And I just think that therapists need to know that
30:44
Speaker 2: there's just like a whole lot of a whole lot
30:47
Speaker 2: of layers and just listen to your clients to see
30:51
Speaker 2: what layer they want to work on right now, what's
30:54
Speaker 2: the most important thing for them?
30:59
Speaker 1: Awesome? All right? Once again? The book is titled Missing
31:04
Speaker 1: Pieces of Terrorist Attack Survivor's Memoir of Trauma, Resilience and Healing. Christy.
31:11
Speaker 1: What's the best way for people to learn more about
31:13
Speaker 1: you and the book?
31:15
Speaker 2: You can go to my website, which is www dot Christianne.
31:21
Speaker 2: It's c h R I S T I A N
31:24
Speaker 2: e H. What's right there, Scarpino. It's kind of one
31:29
Speaker 2: word dot net, okay, and.
31:33
Speaker 1: We'll have that link up here at the show notes
31:35
Speaker 1: page at the Trauma Therapist podcast dot com. Christy, thank
31:38
Speaker 1: you so much for coming on here today and sharing
31:42
Speaker 1: your story. You are an inspiration. You really you are,
31:49
Speaker 1: and I just appreciate you being here. Thank you so much,
31:52
Speaker 1: my pleasure.
31:53
Speaker 2: Thank you,