Why do you keep making the same choices even when you know better? In this episode, Michael Unbroken sits down with Carrie Davidson, a registered nurse, trauma coach, and author, to talk about complex PTSD (CPTSD), childhood trauma, and why so many survivors stay stuck in the same patterns.
Carrie grew up with an alcoholic parent in a home where nothing was predictable. As a kid and young adult she was diagnosed with ADHD, depression, anxiety, and PTSD, and none of those labels got to the root of what she was going through. Things finally made sense when she learned about complex PTSD and the inner critic. Her big shift was a new way of seeing herself: "I am not broken, but I'm patterned, and patterns can change."
In this episode, you'll learn:
• Why trauma survivors get "subconsciously addicted" to behavior that feels safe and familiar
• How diagnoses and labels can miss the root cause of trauma
• Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and how they shape adult behavior
• Why you can't think your way out of trauma, and why healing also has to happen in the body and nervous system
• Being "high functioning" while struggling with substance use
• Performative healing vs. real change
• Letting go of the identity you built just to survive
• Why healing can't happen alone and needs community
TIME STAMPS
00:00 Intro: The decision to choose a different life
01:27 Why trauma keeps us stuck in patterns
03:21 Knowing better but making the same choices
06:13 Diagnoses, labels, and discovering complex PTSD
08:43 Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)
11:58 "I'm not broken, I'm patterned"
14:22 Show me your calendar and I'll show you your life
17:48 Trauma, the body, and dissociation
22:38 The trauma sweater and the Groundhog Day cycle
28:12 Creating something from nothing
30:15 Performative healing and radical self-honesty
37:16 Letting go of the identity that kept you safe
39:03 From party girl to living true to yourself
41:22 How to work with Carrie
42:10 What it means to be unbroken
ABOUT CARRIE DAVIDSON:
Carrie Davidson is an author, registered nurse, and trauma recovery coach who spent decades in destructive patterns before learning in her mid-thirties that she was living with complex PTSD. Coming to her work from inside the wound rather than a textbook, she writes and speaks about the difference between what was done to her and what was passed down, what addiction was really trying to do for her, and what changed when she stopped performing recovery and started living it. Her memoir, Addicted to Trauma: A Memoir of CPTSD, Addiction, and the Patterns That Almost Killed Me, arrives in Summer 2026. She splits her time between Durham, North Carolina, and San Pedro, Belize, and can be found at carriepdavidson.com.
Connect with Carrie Davidson:
• Website: https://carriepdavidson.com/
• Instagram: @carriepdavidson
• TikTok: @carriepdavidson
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cpdavidson1
• Podcast: https://podmatch.com/guestdetailpreview/178045952435507297817a5a1
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carriepdavidson/
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