[00:00:00] Dr. Katie Deming MD: Hello, and welcome back to the Born to Heal podcast. On today's episode, I want to talk about emotions and actually recently you've heard from a few different experts about emotional healing. So we've talked about Psych K with Will Hahn. We've also talked about Emotion Code with Dr. Brad, who is the founder of Emotion Code, and that was an incredible episode.[00:00:28] Dr. Katie Deming MD: And we have more coming. Actually, I [00:00:30] have other episodes that I've recorded doing interviews with other experts. But today's episode, I want to explain why I'm talking so much about emotions. And I've explained before that there is this link between emotional trauma and illness. Right, so the a study is an example of Children, the higher the number of [00:01:00] emotional emotionally traumatic events in their childhood.

[00:01:04] Dr. Katie Deming MD: The higher the incidence of disease in adulthood, including cancer, diabetes, lung disease, heart disease, we have that. And then we've also heard from Melissa Sell and the whole idea of German New Medicine that came from Dr. Homer, who saw that acute emotional trauma, so shocking [00:01:30] emotional events, are also correlated with diseases, including cancer.

[00:01:36] Dr. Katie Deming MD: And so there is clearly this link between emotional trauma and illness. And we're not talking about this. So for me, it's important that we talk about this and not that we talk about it and make it your fault that you have cancer. It's not your fault that you have cancer, but The good news is that when you [00:02:00] understand this information, you can take responsibility and you can do things to release that traumatic baggage that you've been carrying around.

[00:02:11] Dr. Katie Deming MD: It's like, the way that I think about this with emotional trauma is that, and most of, just to be honest, most of us have experienced trauma. emotional trauma in our lifetime. Most of us have had trauma both in our childhood and then also in adulthood. So this is not something that if you have [00:02:30] emotional trauma, there's something wrong with you.

[00:02:31] Dr. Katie Deming MD: This is like part of being a human being and living in society today. Emotional trauma is something that is quite common. And I would venture to say that everyone has experienced some form of emotional trauma. And so it's not about that of saying something's wrong with you if you have illness that may be related to emotional trauma.

[00:02:53] Dr. Katie Deming MD: It's more saying, well gosh, that's amazing. We have something then additional that we can [00:03:00] address that can help support my physical health, right? I think it's actually quite limiting when we say Well, cancer just developed and I don't know why it happened. And so I've just got to do all of these toxic treatments and then just like hope and pray that it never comes back again.

[00:03:21] Dr. Katie Deming MD: And I can tell you from being in a system that takes that approach, patients are scared. They're like, well, if I don't know how [00:03:30] it started, like, How do I and I, we treated it great, you know, it was treated, but like how do I make sure it doesn't come back again? And this is one of the tools that you can use to look at your life and think, gosh, did I have something emotionally traumatic that may be related to my cancer?

[00:03:52] Dr. Katie Deming MD: And if so. It would be great to address that. And this is why I'm having this conversation is [00:04:00] because we need to be talking about this. Number one, so that you can do work to release that emotional trauma. And now we've had great examples of professionals and we have more that are coming of techniques that you can use that are not traumatic.

[00:04:16] Dr. Katie Deming MD: They're not going to re traumatize you and have you. Dig up the past and go through all of this stuff that's really upsetting to release. That trauma, but by releasing that trauma, you're [00:04:30] unloading your backpack. It's almost like we've been carrying around these heavy backpacks full of rocks and all of that trauma.

[00:04:37] Dr. Katie Deming MD: And we've just been like walking around with it. And ultimately that's going to hurt your body carrying around this heavy burden. And so what I want to do is I want to lighten your backpack. I want to help you take out those rocks. Get rid of this emotional baggage that we're all carrying around. So that's the first [00:05:00] piece.

[00:05:00] Dr. Katie Deming MD: The reason why it's so important for us to be addressing this is that number one, you can recognize maybe there's a component, an emotional component to my illness that I can address. Okay. And I'm just bringing on guest after guest talking about these different techniques so that you can be educated and you can explore which one works for you.

[00:05:21] Dr. Katie Deming MD: And I don't have. A presupposed idea of what is the right modality for you, [00:05:30] because each one of you are unique and different. And one modality may work for one person and it may not resonate with someone else. And so learning about these different techniques and bringing on these different experts is my way of just putting the buffet in front of you so that if there is emotional trauma to deal with.

[00:05:52] Dr. Katie Deming MD: You can explore some of these different modalities and you can figure out, okay, what is working for me? And maybe you need to [00:06:00] do several of them. That's the other thing is that there is like there are layers to emotional work and sometimes one modality may work for a little bit and But then you realize like, Oh gosh, there's even more layers to that.

[00:06:15] Dr. Katie Deming MD: And then you find you're in a different place and you want to use a different modality. And that's great too. It's kind of like with the diet where I was talking about, it's like people saying this is the only way this is the only way the same thing can happen in some of these other spaces. And I want to say [00:06:30] to you that all of these techniques have value.

[00:06:33] Dr. Katie Deming MD: And so it's more just tuning into what resonates with you, what's working for you. And then. Testing, trying some of these out, you know, seeing what is going to give you the benefit that you need. But I think it's beautiful. And I know in my own personal journey to becoming more healthy in my body, since I've left Western [00:07:00] Medicine, I've done a ton of emotional work because I realized that, you Emotional trauma that I've experienced in my life has led me to making poor decisions in relationships and then not following who I truly was when I knew that I should be doing something different, that I stayed on a path that was not good for me for far longer than I should because of the baggage that I was carrying [00:07:30] around, all the rocks in my backpack.

[00:07:32] Dr. Katie Deming MD: I like didn't have the worthiness to. believe that I was worthy of choosing a path that felt aligned with me for my life and my career. So the things that I'm recommending for you are things that I've done. So I've explored these different modalities. I've used them in my own journey. And the second piece around emotions that is really important is that, yes, dealing [00:08:00] with the past trauma, but then how do we deal with.

[00:08:04] Dr. Katie Deming MD: Emotional events that are happening in our life ongoing because look around you like we live in an environment that is traumatic. You're being bombarded with information from the news. Everything that we hear around the world. We're living in very challenging times and. It's traumatic. Some of the things that you see [00:08:30] on the news are just frankly traumatic, and that is also not an accident, so one of the things that I would like to encourage you to do is turn off the news, but it is important not only for us to deal with the past emotional trauma, but also to create a level of emotional fluency so that we don't Get trapped in our emotions and basically start stuffing more rocks in the backpack.

[00:08:59] Dr. Katie Deming MD: Right? I mean, [00:09:00] most people, the way that they live is they've got rocks in the backpack already from their past trauma. And then basically they're walking around and then putting more rocks in their backpack all the time. And so your backpack is just getting heavier and heavier and you're weighed down and you don't know what's wrong and you don't know why you feel so bad.

[00:09:16] Dr. Katie Deming MD: And it's because you're carrying all these rocks and you keep putting more in there. And so one of the ways that you can avoid putting additional rocks in the backpack is by becoming more fluent [00:09:30] with your emotions. And this means learning how to experience emotions. Which most of us have not been taught to do.

[00:09:39] Dr. Katie Deming MD: So most of us have been taught either to suppress our emotions Because like you're too much if you're you get overly emotional about things. It's like people have told you gosh You're like a hot mess and like, you know, you're crazy. Wow, like why is everything upsetting you? And so then you learn to like shove it down or [00:10:00] suppress Right?

[00:10:01] Dr. Katie Deming MD: Or we go into our left brain and we basically analytically, you know, we analyze our emotions and basically shut off the emotions and just use reason and logic to shut that down. And that tends to be a more male trait. Both sexes, you know, demonstrate that. Right. So, you know, in general, we say it's like, you know, more right brained that people who go into their right [00:10:30] brain when they get emotional, get overly emotional and feel like they're going to lose control and, um, you know, can just be crying and.

[00:10:38] Dr. Katie Deming MD: And have a hard time controlling their emotions. That's like a right brain response. We think about that as being more feminine. And then the masculine is like basically just, overanalyzing and just shutting down the feelings before they happen. And neither one of these are great, because basically what we want to do is we want to be able to [00:11:00] experience emotions from a place where we're not.

[00:11:03] Dr. Katie Deming MD: Both sides of our brain are connected and experiencing the motion, which is basically just a wave. So Dr. Brad talked about this on the episode with the emotion code is that, you know, emotions are just a wave that once you learn to ride them. They're not gonna kill you and if you learn how to ride them, it's actually such a valuable tool because every [00:11:30] day we get triggered by something.

[00:11:32] Dr. Katie Deming MD: So something happens that emotionally triggers us could be, you know, that's triggering something from your past. But when you have tools, To allow that wave to rise and then crest and then just go down to neutrality is very powerful. Learning how to ride your emotions is very, very powerful. And this is what I mean by emotional fluency.

[00:11:59] Dr. Katie Deming MD: Emotional [00:12:00] fluency is learning how to be an emotional being, which human beings are emotional beings. And the other thing is, is that we are electromagnetic beings. Right. So we have a, we are charged and we are electromagnetic, right? So an EKG and EEG and the EMG, these are all like measuring electricity in the body and emotions are magnetic.

[00:12:29] Dr. Katie Deming MD: And if you [00:12:30] get caught in your emotions, it basically gets you all wonky and feeling off from a magnetic standpoint and also pulling in things. That are not going to be helpful for you. If you're overly emotional, you're pulling in basically like attracts like. You're pulling in things that are gonna be, you know, if you're in anger, you're pulling in things that are, you know, gonna create anger inside of you.

[00:12:59] Dr. Katie Deming MD: So [00:13:00] moving through and getting to a place of neutrality is your most powerful place. And my goal for you is Is to help you lighten that backpack that you've been carrying around and then learn how to not pack it with more rocks. And then also if you do have some rocks that come in, which is going to happen because we're humans, then it's like, how do I take those out?

[00:13:25] Dr. Katie Deming MD: And becoming more neutral, where we allow emotions to flow through us, [00:13:30] but we don't get trapped in them and we don't suppress them. Many of us have been taught to suppress our emotions as a way to survive. And it actually is a very effective coping strategy. Emotional suppression can be very effective if you are growing up in an environment where it is not safe.

[00:13:54] Dr. Katie Deming MD: To express your emotions, suppressing them can be a brilliant way for you to [00:14:00] survive that environment, but it's not going to serve you once you're an adult and you're not in danger. Suppressing your emotions basically is just again, adding rocks to your backpack. And so I'm wanting you to recognize, start to create awareness around.

[00:14:24] Dr. Katie Deming MD: What are your go to coping mechanisms around [00:14:30] emotions? And as you start to gain awareness and recognize like, oh, like I don't feel anger, like I just push that down. And that for me was actually my biggest My biggest learning in the past couple years of doing emotional work is that I recognized that in my childhood, it wasn't safe to express anger.

[00:14:53] Dr. Katie Deming MD: And so I don't get angry, which is not healthy. Like I'll get frustrated, but I don't [00:15:00] get angry. People can do really like this. And I just don't get angry. And so part of my learning was to learn how to be with anger and let that be safe and okay. And I that I wasn't gonna stay there forever, but I just had never done that.

[00:15:17] Dr. Katie Deming MD: I had never allowed myself to get angry. If something that had happened that justified anger and so as you hear this episode, I encourage you to take a minute and look [00:15:30] at, okay, like, do I feel the full range of emotions? Are there emotions that I just don't feel? And is there a reason for that? Like, maybe something happened or maybe the way you grew up, it wasn't safe.

[00:15:42] Dr. Katie Deming MD: And so that was a brilliant coping mechanism. But now you want to start to look at those things and create awareness for yourself. So I think the important thing when we talk about emotions is to recognize that I am not [00:16:00] saying that if you have emotional trauma or emotional stressors that are related to your cancer, that this is something bad.

[00:16:11] Dr. Katie Deming MD: This is actually really good news because you're like, Oh, there's something I can work on here. And from listening to Melissa cells episode on German new medicine in the five biological laws, our bodies are beautifully designed to deal with. [00:16:30] Emotional trauma and shocking emotional events that our bodies are protecting ourselves.

[00:16:34] Dr. Katie Deming MD: So your cancer could in fact be a sign of protection that your body was protecting you from a shocking emotional event. And to me, that's beautiful. Like, what's more beautiful than recognizing like, wow, my body hasn't failed me. My body didn't do anything wrong. Thank you. My body was protecting [00:17:00] me from an event that happened.

[00:17:02] Dr. Katie Deming MD: And so I hope that hearing this helps you recognize that emotions and emotional trauma and the role that it plays in illness is actually great news. This is not bad news. This is good news because this is something that we can address. You may not want to address it, right? So some of us are really averse to dealing with [00:17:30] emotions, but it's a huge opportunity for you.

[00:17:34] Dr. Katie Deming MD: And so if this episode, if the idea of emotions and cancer makes you feel uncomfortable, I want you to lean in. Like you are probably the one who can benefit the most from hearing this information. If this makes you feel uncomfortable, it means there's something there. And so I had this, a beautiful conversation with one of my [00:18:00] clients who I had seen her, it's been quite a while now, but she finally, she had, um, she was doing chemotherapy and basically I'd seen her when she was first starting all of that and, and at the time she was, And I was feeling like, Oh my gosh, like why me?

[00:18:17] Dr. Katie Deming MD: How did this happen? And, and she had a lot of emotional stuff that she needed to work through. And, um, she was really caught in like, what did I do to deserve this? How did this happen? [00:18:30] And then I just met with her. And she was like, had completely shifted, she had done emotional work, so she had been working with a Psyche K provider through, after I saw her, she then worked with him all the way through her chemotherapy and her surgery.

[00:18:46] Dr. Katie Deming MD: And she came back and she said, you know, before when I was diagnosed, I thought I must have done something really wrong to have had this happen to me. And she said, now that I've done all this [00:19:00] work and, you know, gone through this experience, she said, I feel like I must have done something really good in another life or in this lifetime to have had this beautiful experience that I had of, she had an amazing team of doctors and she's just been surrounded by people who have really, you know, loved her in her healing process.

[00:19:24] Dr. Katie Deming MD: And from doing the emotional work, she has completely flipped the way that she sees her [00:19:30] cancer. And she had a complete response. So like a very large tumor, complete response, and is now like, So excited about life. And so this work can be so powerful. And I encourage all of you to think about, okay, do I have potential events that may have contributed to my illness from a So that's it.

[00:19:55] Dr. Katie Deming MD: stressful, emotional standpoint, and then also what are [00:20:00] my coping mechanisms around emotions and what is there for me to learn and grow so that I can become more comfortable with my emotions and stop putting all those rocks in my backpack. So I hope this episode has been helpful for you and I look forward to seeing you next week on next episode.

[00:20:23] Dr. Katie Deming MD: Okay. Take care.

[00:20:23] Dr. Katie Deming MD: Thank you for joining me on Born to [00:20:30] Heal. It's been a privilege to share this time with you, and I hope that today's episode has offered you valuable insights on your journey toward optimal health. Please consider subscribing, sharing this podcast with your friends, and leaving us a review. To learn more about how you can work with me, please visit katydemming.

[00:20:48] Dr. Katie Deming MD: com. You can find additional resources in the episode show notes linked below, and remember to join us next week as we continue to explore more holistic approaches to healing. [00:21:00] Until then, this is Dr. Katie Deming reminding you that just like me, you were born to heal.