In this episode of The Dr. Hedberg Show, I interviewed Dr. Shannon South to discuss healing trauma and finding joy in our lives.   Dr. Shannon D. South, aka the “Joy Doctor”, is an award-winning therapist, an Amazon best-selling author, and a professional speaker. As an expert in the field of spirituality and healing trauma for over 20 years, she knows how to assist people in finding wholeness and joy naturally. In 1994, during graduate school, Shannon had a spiritual experience during meditation that healed her debilitating anxiety and depression permanently. Since this transformative experience, she has helped thousands of clients connect to their most loving and joy-filled selves. Shannon also leads workshops and retreats for counselors, chaplains and coaches on how to integrate Spirit and Soul into their practice. Her most upcoming book, Ignite! Turn off the Chaos and Turn on the Joy is a roadmap to this unique, healing process. Shannon loves dancing, being in nature, teaching spiritual psychology and enjoying the beautiful mountains of NC where she resides with her family and friends. She can be found at www.whatsyourjoyiq.com or www.drshannonsouth.com

We answered the following questions in the transcript below:
1) Why did you start working with trauma and studying integrative approaches to counseling? (i can share a blip of my personal story in healing from anxiety, depression, and PTSD)

2) What are some of the best approaches you see/use in healing trauma?

3)Why is it important to heal unresolved trauma for health? (mind-body healing, connection to how we relate to something vs. what the something is, etc.)

4) How do clients learn to get out of stress reactivity and into the relaxation response?

5) How does unresolved trauma impact health?

6) Tell us more about Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction and the research on it for healing.

7) You also use spiritual psychology in your work with clients. How is this different than traditional therapy?

8) Does healing old trauma patterns create more creativity, joy, and peace?

9 Does unresolved trauma hurt relationships? If so, how?

10) Thoughts on anxiety, depression, compulsive behavior and PTSD and healing from these…. Ex. what is the mind really meant to be used for? (instead of obsession and over thinking)

11) What are some attitudes that are important in healing from trauma from a mindfulness perspective?
Podcast Transcript:
Dr. Hedberg: Well, welcome everyone to the Dr. Hedberg Show. This is Dr. Hedberg. And I'm excited today to have Dr. Shannon South on the show. We've known each other for quite a while now here in Nashville. And Dr. South, she's also known as the Joy Doctor and has a tremendous amount of information and expertise on trauma, healing trauma, and really overcoming things like anxiety and depression, and things like that. So, I want to really dig in today, and you should learn a lot from her. And we'll talk about things that if you're a patient of mine, you know, we talk a lot about. But, of course, these are things that are outside of my area of expertise and that's why I want to have around today so that we could really dig into that. So, Dr. South, welcome to the show.

Dr. South: Thank you. I'm honored to be here. I've been following your work for some time and watching your amazing healing and supporting of other people, so I'm thrilled to be a part of that.

Dr. Hedberg: Great. Before we jump in, why don't you just tell us a little bit about yourself and what you're focusing on these days?

Dr. South: Absolutely. I am a licensed professional counselor and an author, and I do trainings for therapists on bringing more soul and spirit into their practice. But I also have been working with trauma and spiritual psychology fo...