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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 how trauma leaves impressions on our genes, sometimes passing biological echoes on to the next generation.
Now, she’s focused on a therapy that could actually break the chain.
0:00 Introduction: What trauma does to the brain
0:20 Chapter 1: Why trauma sticks
3:05 Stress vs. trauma: what’s the difference?
5:55 Why most people don’t develop PTSD
8:37 Chapter 2: How MDMA-assisted therapy can break the loop
9:19 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
Read the video transcript ► https://bigthink.com/series/full-interview/mdma-therapy-yehuda/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=youtube_description
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About [Speaker Name]:
Rachel Yehuda, PhD, Professor of Psychiatry and Neuroscience, is the Director of the Traumatic Stress Studies Division at Icahn School of Medicine, and the Mental Health Patient Care Center Director at the James J. Peters Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
Dr. Yehuda has authored more than 300 published papers, chapters, and books in the field of traumatic stress and the neurobiology of PTSD. Her current interests include the study of novel treatments for PTSD, the examination of risk and resilience factors, the study of psychological and biological predictors of treatment response in PTSD, genetic, epigenetic, and molecular biological studies of PTSD and the intergenerational transmission of trauma and PTSD. Her team’s research on cortisol and brain function has revolutionized our understanding and treatment of PTSD worldwide.
Dr. Yehuda has received many awards in recognition of her work including the Curt Richter Prize in Psychoneuroendocrinology, and the Laufer award from the International Society for Traumatic Stress. She was also awarded the Max Planck Institute for Psychiatry (Munich, Germany) 2004 Guest Professorship in Psychiatry and Neuroscience, and the Marcus Tausk Professorship in Leiden University to honor her accomplishments in the endocrinology of PTSD.
Dr. Yehuda received her PhD in Psychology and Neurochemistry and her MS in Biological Psychology from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and completed her postdoctoral training in Biological Psychiatry in the Psychiatry Department at Yale Medical School.
She has an active federally funded clinical and research program that welcomes students and clinicians.
