Why do certain relationships, or moments of connection, feel both comforting and terrifying?

In this episode of Just Be, therapist Sophia Spencer explores how your earliest caregiving experiences shaped your nervous system’s sense of safety, and why those early lessons still echo in adulthood.

You’ll learn about:

• Attachment Theory — how early relationships taught your amygdala what safety feels like.
• Trauma — what it really means (and why it isn’t limited to PTSD or “big” events).
• Emotional Safety — why warmth and connection matter more than material security.
• Intergenerational Trauma & Epigenetics — how stress and emotional patterns are passed down across generations.
• Relearning Safety — how therapy helps your body and brain update what love and belonging feel like.

Because before confidence or visibility comes safety — and that safety begins where it all began: in connection.

Referenced Concepts

• Attachment Theory: Bowlby, J. (1969). Attachment and Loss. Basic Books.
• The Strange Situation: Ainsworth, M. D. S. et al. (1978). Patterns of Attachment. Erlbaum.
• Trauma: van der Kolk, B. (2014). The Body Keeps the Score. Penguin.
• Emotional Bonding: Harlow, H. F. (1958). The Nature of Love. American Psychologist, 13(12), 673–685.
• Epigenetic Transmission: Yehuda, R. & Bierer, L. M. (2009). The relevance of epigenetics to PTSD: Implications for the DSM-V. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 22(5), 427–434.
• Amygdala and Fear Learning: LeDoux, J. (1996). The Emotional Brain. Simon & Schuster.