Aimie Apigian

This episode of "The Fourth Wave in Therapy" featured a conversation between Peta and Dr. Amy Apigian, a double board-certified physician in preventative and addiction medicine and leading voice in trauma biology. Dr. Apigian shared how her personal experience with grief and chronic fatigue syndrome in 2014 led her to discover the connection between trauma and physical health, prompting her to develop a body-based approach to healing trauma. She explained her three-energy levels theory (calm and alive, high energy, and low energy) and how the nervous system shifts between these states in response to perceived danger, using the metaphor of a turtle retreating into its shell during overwhelming situations. Dr. Apigian discussed the importance of allowing time for physiological recovery and challenged the cultural emphasis on resilience, defining true strength as the ability to feel and process emotions rather than pushing through difficulties. She outlined her approach of "precision nervous system healing" which integrates mind, body, and biology assessment to create personalized healing plans, and expressed frustration with the medical field's slow adoption of trauma-informed care despite early research on adverse childhood experiences.