Playback speed

1×

Subtitles

Share post

Share post at current time

Share from 17:47

2:41

/

50:00

Transcript

My current research is really about understanding long-term effects of stress and really entertaining the question of why we are so transformed when we undergo traumatic experiences and why the effects can linger for so long. We are looking at a variety of hormonal and molecular mechanisms to try to help us understand that.

I’m also interested in treatment of PTSD. And really what to do about the fact that so many people have effects of traumatic experiences that trouble them. They feel haunted by their traumatic experiences or they feel really stuck because of things that have happened to them in the past.

So what’s the best way to get unstuck and what’s the best way to move forward following trauma exposure? So those are the things that my colleagues and I are studying. Why I’ve dedicated my career to studying the effects of trauma is because trauma exposure seems to be everywhere. And increasingly,

the more we seem to be learning about the effects of trauma, in some ways, the more stuck we’re getting as a society. We see it as sort of an insurmountable burden or barrier when, in fact, there’s always been stress and there’s always been trauma.

And truly, there must also be a way to go forward in the face of trauma and use the lessons of trauma to really achieve resilience and post-traumatic growth. I think what’s really helpful is to make the distinction between the experience of stress and the experience of trauma.

So maybe what’s useful is to talk about the difference between stress and trauma. We experience both on pretty much a regular basis, according to statistics. Many people see it as a kind of continuum, with stress being maybe a less serious version of trauma, and trauma’s sort of at the other end of the spectrum.

And that’s not entirely wrong. A stressful event is something that is challenging to you in the moment. It could be a trouble at work, trouble in interpersonal relationships. It could be an illness or coping with really any of a number of things. When most people talk about a traumatic experience,

they’re talking more in the order of life threat, interpersonal violence, childhood abuse, combat, being in a natural disaster. So clearly there is a range of challenging events with trauma being at the other end of the spectrum. But the differences go even deeper than that because when we talk about a stressful situation,

38

1

3

A PTSD researcher explains MDMA-assisted therapy

This isn’t a trip, it’s the most challenging therapy session of your life

Big Think

Apr 04, 2026

Trauma doesn’t end when the danger does, and for decades, science couldn’t explain why. Rachel Yehuda, a leading PTSD researcher, has spent her career inside that question, uncovering the way that trauma can leave impressions on our genes, sometimes passing biological echoes of those events to the next generation.

Now, she’s focused on MDMA therapy, which could actually break the chain.

Timestamps

00:20 Chapter 1: Why trauma sticks
03:05 Stress vs. trauma: what’s the difference?
05:55 Why most people don’t develop PTSD
08:37 Chapter 2: How MDMA-assisted therapy can break the loop
09:19 How trauma warps self-perception
12:40 MDMA-assisted therapy explained
16:38 How societal narratives shape recovery (or worsen it)
23:04 The reality of psychedelic therapy (not a quick fix)
28:55 Chapter 3: Healing can echo across generations
30:48 Epigenetics explained
40:00 Can healing be passed on too?
43:43 PTSD beyond fear: guilt, shame, and trauma
47:01 What real healing looks like