In this episode of Trauma Rewired, Jennifer Wallace and Elisabeth Kristof explore how complex trauma changes social engagement, why connection can feel exhausting, the role of the inner critic and toxic shame, sensory processing, nervous system overload, people pleasing, social fatigue, masking, emotional suppression, and post-traumatic growth. We discuss why awareness alone does not create change, how nervous system rehabilitation …

There is a difference between feeling ashamed and living inside shame. One is a passing signal. The other is the background atmosphere of an entire nervous system. In this episode, Jennifer Wallace and Elisabeth Kristof go deep on toxic shame as the next distinguishing characteristic of complex trauma in their CPT series. This is one of the most personal episodes …

Everyone has a critical inner voice. But if you grew up in an environment shaped by chronic relational stress, that voice does not just comment. It runs. It loops. It drives your body into a stress state before you have even finished the thought. In this episode, Jennifer Wallace and Elisabeth Kristof explore the inner critic as the next distinguishing …

The deepest wound in complex trauma is not emotional intensity. It is the learned loss of connection to yourself. In this episode, Jennifer Wallace and Elisabeth Kristof open the next chapter of the CPT series by starting where the roots go deepest: self-abandonment. This is the pattern they chose to name first—and intentionally so—because when the nervous system learns that …