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What if the parts of you that feel most damaged by trauma are also the parts capable of leading you toward healing?

Dr. Frank Anderson joins Abdullah Boulad on Living a Life in Balance to explore trauma, dissociation, and the body's role in healing, drawing on decades of work as a Harvard-trained psychiatrist and psychotherapist. In this conversation, Frank explains how his own traumatic childhood, including six years of conversion therapy, shaped both his personal understanding of pain and his professional path into psychiatry.

Together, Abdullah and Frank explore where trauma is actually stored in the body and brain, why a therapist's presence matters as much as any technique, and why healing depends on giving agency back to the client rather than keeping it inside the therapy room. Frank walks through the different forms trauma can take, from relational and cultural to systemic and institutional, and introduces the concept of passive abuse, how the inaction of a "safe" parent can be as damaging as direct harm.

The conversation goes further into what actually helps people heal, including EMDR, sensorimotor psychotherapy, and Internal Family Systems, and why an integrated approach across body and mind matters more than any single method. Frank also shares what led him to co-found a production company dedicated to trauma-informed storytelling, exploring how media, from Inside Out to social platforms, can either support or undermine mental health at scale.

Frank also shares his vision for healing beyond the therapy room, including the role of community in recovery, and the personal practices he relies on to stay balanced between his professional purpose and family life.

About Frank: Dr. Frank Anderson is a Harvard-trained psychiatrist, psychotherapist, and world-renowned trauma treatment expert. He is the acclaimed author of Transcending Trauma and the memoir To Be Loved: A Story of Truth, Trauma, and Transformation, and co-author of the Internal Family Systems Skills Training Manual. He is a lead trainer at the IFS Institute alongside Richard Schwartz and co-founder of Trauma-Informed Media, an organization dedicated to bringing trauma awareness and healing to a global audience. Frank believes that addressing traumatic events, rather than avoiding them, is what leads people toward genuine healing and forgiveness.

00:00:00 - Dr. Frank Anderson's Journey Into Trauma and Psychiatry
00:06:50 - Childhood Conversion Therapy and Its Lasting Impact
00:09:18 - Understanding Personal Trauma: Physical & Verbal Abuse
00:10:03 - Healing From Trauma: What Works (EMDR, IFS..)
00:13:21 - Where Trauma Lives in the Body and Brain
00:18:24 - Why Therapist Presence Is Essential to Trauma Healing
00:22:26 - Client Empowerment: Healing Happens Outside Therapy
00:27:47 - Different Types of Trauma: Relational, Cultural, Systemic
00:31:12 - The Power of Community-Based Trauma Healing
00:35:29 - Passive Abuse: How a "Safe" Parent Can Still Cause Harm
00:38:34 - Bringing Trauma-Informed Storytelling to Media and Film
00:43:50 - Movies Like "Inside Out" Shape Mental Health Awareness
00:51:03 - Social Media, Attention Spans, and Mental Health Content
01:00:02 - Balancing Career Purpose With Family and Well-Being
01:01:05 - What Drove Dr. Frank Anderson to Become a Psychiatrist
01:08:45 - Healing From Trauma Is Possible: A Message of Hope

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#traumahealing #recoveryjourney #mentalhealth #love #trauma #therapy

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What if the different voices, emotions, and reactions inside you are not signs that something is wrong with you, but parts of you trying to protect you?

Richard C. Schwartz, Ph.D., joins Abdullah Boulad on Living a Life in Balance to explore Internal Family Systems (IFS), the therapeutic model he developed to help people understand and work with the different parts of themselves.

In this conversation, Richard explains how his early work with people struggling with eating disorders led him to discover the concept of parts, and how his own childhood experiences shaped his understanding of protection, fear, and emotional pain.

Together, Abdullah and Richard explore what IFS can teach us about protectors, exiles, and the Self, including why Richard believes there are “no bad parts” and how even the most difficult thoughts, emotions, and behaviors can have a protective intention.

Richard also guides Abdullah through a live IFS exercise, offering a practical glimpse into how the approach can help us connect with parts of ourselves that may have been carrying pain for years.

The conversation goes further into how IFS works in therapy, whether it can be practiced safely as a form of self-help, how it can be adapted for people who struggle to access their emotions, and the potential relationship between IFS and psychedelics such as MDMA and ketamine.

Richard also shares his vision for the future of IFS, including its potential applications in trauma recovery, prisons, and collective healing, as well as the personal practices he uses to stay balanced.

About Richard:
Dr. Schwartz is an American systemic family therapist, academic, author, and creator of the Internal Family Systems (IFS) branch of therapy. He developed his foundational work with IFS in the 1980s after theorizing that his clients were made up of many different parts of their “Self.” He teaches that “Our inner parts contain valuable qualities, and our core Self knows how to heal, allowing us to become integrated and whole.” In IFS, all parts are welcome.

00:00:00 - Podcast Introduction: Dr. Richard Schwartz & Internal Family Systems (IFS)
00:01:37 - Dr. Richard Schwartz’s Childhood, Family & Path to Psychotherapy
00:05:19 - How Internal Family Systems (IFS) Was Discovered
00:07:07 - Childhood Loneliness, Family Dynamics & Emotional Pain
00:09:17 - How Protective Parts Develop to Cope With Fear & Criticism
00:11:18 - Using IFS to Understand Our Own Family Dynamics
00:13:35 - Discovering the “Parts” Within Us
00:16:10 - IFS Explained: Protectors, Exiles & the Inner World
00:18:01 - “No Bad Parts”: Do All Parts Have a Positive Intention?
00:22:36 - Can Internal Family Systems Change Psychotherapy & Heal Conflict?
00:25:25 - LIVE IFS Demonstration: Connecting With a Part
00:33:10 - Managers vs. Firefighters: The Two Types of Protective Parts
00:38:58 - How IFS Therapy Works: Accessing & Healing Exiled Parts
00:41:41 - IFS, Rational Minds & Narcissistic Traits: Building Trust in Therapy
00:45:17 - Can You Practice IFS Without a Therapist?
00:49:32 - IFS & Psychedelics: MDMA, Ketamine & Accessing the Self
00:54:24 - The Future of IFS: Trauma, Prisons & Collective Healing
00:57:05 - How Dr. Schwartz Uses IFS to Stay Balanced
01:00:05 - A Message of Hope: No Bad Parts & the Healing Self

Follow Abdullah Boulad:
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You can order Abdullah’s books here: https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B0BC9S5TCF?ccs_id=c64f2588-7eb1-4592-b4d1-647a0f379b51

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How do trauma, addiction, and neurodivergence shape the course of a life, and what does real healing actually look like?

Araminta Jonsson, Founder and CEO of Masters Events and organiser of Europe's largest trauma conference at the University of Oxford, joins Abdullah Boulad for a deeply personal conversation about trauma, addiction recovery, autism, ADHD, resilience, and finding purpose after adversity.

Together, they explore Araminta's extraordinary journey, from being thrown out of home at 15, living homeless on the streets of Miami, and battling cocaine addiction, to receiving a late autism and ADHD diagnosis and becoming one of the leading voices bringing together the world's foremost trauma experts. She shares how addiction became a way of coping with undiagnosed neurodivergence and unresolved trauma, why recovery is about addressing the root cause rather than the symptom, and the lessons that transformed her life.

The conversation also explores the science of trauma healing, nervous system regulation, community, creative expression, and the importance of feeling safe to recover.

Drawing on insights from leading experts including Dr. Bessel van der Kolk and years of experience organising global trauma conferences, Araminta discusses the practices that support lasting healing, the power of connection, and why purpose plays such a vital role in recovery.

Whether you're navigating addiction, trauma, autism, ADHD, mental health challenges, or simply looking for a deeper understanding of healing and personal transformation, this episode offers honest insights into resilience, recovery, and what it truly means to build a life in balance.

About Araminta Jonsson:
Araminta is the Founder and CEO of Masters Events, the organisation behind Europe's largest trauma conference, Transforming Trauma, held at the University of Oxford. Through her work, she brings together many of the world's leading experts in trauma, addiction, neuroscience, and mental health to advance education, collaboration, and recovery. Drawing from her own lived experience of addiction, neurodivergence, and healing, Araminta is passionate about creating spaces where science, lived experience, and community come together to help people heal.

00:01:44 - Growing Up with Undiagnosed Autism & ADHD
00:03:19 - Homeless at 16: Living on the Streets of Miami
00:07:14 - Returning Home and Rebuilding Through Education
00:10:25 - The Journey to an Adult Autism & ADHD Diagnosis
00:12:32 - How a Late Neurodivergence Diagnosis Changed Everything
00:14:41 - Food, Cocaine & Relationship Addiction Explained
00:17:08 - Cocaine Addiction in Colombia: Hitting Rock Bottom
00:20:43 - Asking for Help and Beginning Addiction Recovery
00:23:45 - Pregnancy, Sobriety & Finding Hope Again
00:26:18 - Relapse, Rehab & Surviving an Abusive Relationship
00:29:35 - Teaching Creative Writing in Prisons After Addiction
00:34:25 - How Recovery Led to a Career in Mental Health Events
00:36:49 - From Addiction Conferences to Trauma Education
00:41:05 - Building One of the World's Biggest Trauma Events
00:42:10 - Launching the Transforming Trauma Conference at Oxford
00:49:29 - What the World's Leading Trauma Experts Teach
00:51:15 - Finding Purpose After Addiction and Trauma
00:53:25 - The Future of Trauma Education & Global Collaboration
00:56:00 - Daily Habits That Support Mental Health & Recovery
00:57:24 - Simple Wellbeing Tips Everyone Can Start Today

Follow Abdullah Boulad:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/abdullahboulad/
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Follow Araminta:
https://uk.linkedin.com/in/araminta-jonsson-259b6546

You can order Abdullah’s books here: https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B0BC9S5TCF?ccs_id=c64f2588-7eb1-4592-b4d1-647a0f379b51

Follow THE BALANCE Rehab Clinic:
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