Why Your Unresolved Trauma is Keeping You Stuck & How to Rewire Your Brain to Move Forward with Laverne Cox

Laverne Cox shares her moving story of childhood trauma, gender nonconformity, her path to affirmation through performance, and her ongoing process of healing and self-discovery.

Laverne recounts formative childhood experiences, including bullying, gender nonconformity, and finding affirmation through public speaking and performance.

From an early age, Laverne Cox endured trauma and shame because of her gender nonconformity, which heavily impacted her sense of self. During preschool, she was the target of bullying and derogatory terms such as "sissy," signifying how her peers responded negatively to her gender expression. Cox recalls an incident of attempted physical aggression where she was further subjected to slurs tied to her femininity.

Despite these challenging experiences, Laverne found solace and agency in her talents. She was able to express herself and win admiration through dancing and public speaking. She particularly found joy in mimicking Solid Gold dancer Darcelle Wynn during dance classes and speaking at church every Sunday. Moreover, she demonstrated her abilities by winning talent shows and cultivating an academic reputation for being intelligent and articulate. These early affirmations allowed her to develop a sense of identity beyond her appearance, founding on her education and talents, which later became cornerstones for her resilience.

Laverne's early life was marked by trauma, shame, and stigmatization due to her gender nonconformity, which shaped her developing sense of self.

Laverne recalls being in denial about her childhood trauma and the bullying she faced, highlighting the importance of acknowledging these violent experiences that she did not have the tools to handle back then. This acknowledgment was essential in her healing journey.

Despite the challenges, Laverne found outlets for self-expression and recognition of her talents, laying the foundation for her future resilience.

A pivotal moment occurred in middle school when, despite being a target of mockery, her talents shone as she was voted the vice president of the student council following a public speaking success. Her identity became attached to accomplishments and recognition for her academic and oratorical skills, as well as her evolving interest in androgynous fashion.

Laverne describes her ongoing process of "re-parenting" her inner child and integrating her past experiences of trauma and resilience.

Laverne has engaged extensively in therapy to process the pain of her childhood. She now focuses on what's right with her, rather than what's wrong with her, shifting to a perspective that highlights the affirming aspects of her life.

Laverne has worked extensively in therapy to acknowledge ...

Laverne Cox discusses the intertwining of personal and societal factors in mental health and highlights the Community Resilience Model (CRIM) and its techniques to address this holistic approach.

Laverne discusses the Community Resilience Model (CRIM) and its emphasis on tracking physical sensations and resourcing to regulate the nervous system.

Laverne Cox delves into how CRIM prioritizes the physical sensations in the body as a way to regulate the nervous system, which can lead to greater resilience. She describes working with her therapist on techniques to rewire and refire neurotransmitters to broaden what she refers to as a "resilience zone." This zone is visualized as a fluctuating space between two bounds, akin to a ground floor, allowing a person to experience emotions without tipping into states of hyperarousal or hypoarousal.

CRIM's "shift and stay" technique involves consciously shifting attention to neutral or positive bodily sensations to counteract anxiety and stress.

When mentioning the "shift and stay" technique of CRIM, Laverne Cox explains that it involves directing focus away from anxious body parts towards those that feel neutral or positive. For instance, if she experiences anxiety in her stomach, she shifts her focus to her ankle, and by concentrating and breathing into that area, she can dissipate the anxiety she feels.

Laverne highlights the critical role of the body in processing trauma and cultivating wellness, as much of our early life experiences are stored somatically.

She goes on to highlight the critical role of the body in processing trauma and cultivating wellness, noting that we often store our early life experiences somatically. This underscores the need for healing work to be somatic, taking into account the body's primary role in the communication of information.

Laverne underscores the importance of developing media literacy and critical thinking skills to navigate the abundance of wellness information and misinformation.

Laverne Cox also points out the importance of developing media literacy and thoughtful engagement with mental health information due to the wide array of wellness content available, some of which may be misinformation. She suggests that wellness and mental health should be approached with a systemic lens, accounting for the structures of oppression that shape indivi ...

Laverne Cox sheds light on the systemic challenges and discrimination faced by the trans community, elucidating how societal anxieties about gender roles are resulting in legislative and rhetorical attacks, particularly targeting trans youth and access to gender-affirming care.

Laverne provides historical context on the legislative and rhetorical attacks against the trans community, particularly targeting trans youth and access to gender-affirming care.

Laverne Cox discusses the intense stigmatization aimed at trans people and the root causes of such systemic issues, which include unhealed childhood trauma and structural problems like poverty and income inequality. Cox says that the stigma influences people who do not personally know someone who is trans. She highlights that these beliefs are rooted in broader societal anxieties rather than issues with trans individuals themselves, suggesting that transgender individuals become scapegoats for society's discomfort with the evolving concept of gender.

Families are fleeing states that have passed laws criminalizing parents who support their trans children and healthcare providers. Cox notes that over 500 pieces of legislation were introduced targeting the LGBTQ community, predominantly trans people and drag artists, with 20 states banning gender-affirming care for young people. Oklahoma and Alabama have passed laws to limit gender-affirming care up to ages 26 and 19, respectively. These actions suggest that the aim is not solely about protecting children.

Cox speaks to a "deep propagandistic misinformation campaign" around the identities of trans individuals, leading to erasure efforts in public life. There's a connection made between restricted gender-affirming care for trans individuals and the curtailing of reproductive rights. She recalls the attempts since the early 2000s to implement bathroom bans, with North Carolina's HB2 in 2016 as a noted example.

Laverne explains how conservative groups have strategically focused on issues like trans participation in sports and gender-affirming care for children to further stigmatize and dehumanize trans people.

Cox discusses conservative focus groups post-same-sex marriage legalization that honed in on trans women in sports as a salient issue, leading to strategic focus and story proliferation in conservative media. For instance, Florida's Medicaid no longer covers gender-affirming care, and a bill was passed limiting such care to doctors, affecting a large portion of trans people who receive care from nurse practitioners.

Laverne highlights the lack of empirical data and the discrepancy between the public narrative and the actual experiences of trans people in sports and healthcare.

Cox mentions inflated narratives of trans women dominating sports, focusing on high-profile cases out of proportion with reality, ignoring the lack of empirical evidence that trans women have an advantage in sports. She notes that conservative arguments are creating distractions with a focus on their terms—the debates on sports participation and gender-affirming care for trans children.

Additionally, a story run by the New York Times was highlighted, where the focus on a single whistleblower's claims overshadowed the positive testimonies from the families and children involved in trans healthcare, showing a pattern where trans voices are unheard and the prevailing narrative diverges from empirical data.

A gap in research on trans women's performances across various sports is identified, and Cox points to the single trans woman Olympian under the Internati ...

Laverne Cox is on a mission to shift the conversation and humanize the trans experience. She emphasizes the need to refocus the narrative on trans individuals' humanity, acknowledging the diverse personalities within the community and pushing against a tide of misinformation.

Laverne emphasizes the importance of shifting the conversation away from the terms and frames set by those seeking to erase trans people from public life.

Laverne Cox advocates for shifting the public discourse to center the voices and experiences of trans people. She insists that private matters such as trans individuals' access to healthcare and participation in sports should not be debated by those outside the community or who are not healthcare professionals. Cox calls out the hijacking of the narrative surrounding trans issues by those pushing anti-trans agendas, underlining the need to discuss these matters within their real context and tended by the people they affect.

Laverne asserts that discussions about trans people's access to healthcare and participation in sports are not the concern of those who are not trans or healthcare professionals, as they are deeply personal and private matters.

Cox highlights that topics surrounding the rights of trans kids to gender-affirming care and participation in sports should be focused discussions between trans individuals, their parents, and medical experts. She condemns the legislative efforts aimed at erasing trans identities and the conservative narratives that have played on fears to justify such legislation.

Laverne calls for centering the voices, experiences, and humanity of trans people in the public discourse, rather than allowing the narrative to be hijacked by those with anti-trans agendas.

Laverne Cox underscores the need to center the narrative on the humanity of trans people and reject discussing her identity based on terms that dehumanize her community. She argues that misinformation campaigns have led to harmful legislation, emphasizing the importance of media literacy and checking sources to counter these narratives.

Laverne shares her personal experiences of building connections and challenging preconceptions through everyday interactions, demonstrating the power of human connection and empathy.

Through her personal experiences, Laverne Cox demonstrates how simply being oneself can change perceptions.

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Laverne Cox delves deep into the societal and psychological underpinnings that fuel anti-trans rhetoric and the ensuing discrimination against trans people.

Laverne suggests that the backlash against trans people is rooted in deeper societal anxieties around shifting gender roles and the dismantling of patriarchal structures.

Laverne argues that the existence of trans people challenges traditional notions of gender and womanhood, which can be deeply unsettling for those invested in maintaining rigid gender norms and power dynamics.

Cox connects the stigmatization and discrimination faced by the trans community to broader societal issues such as systemic oppression and structural inequalities. She identifies the dissonance created by trans individuals as challenging for those who desire certainty and are uncomfortable with the reality that gender is not strictly binary. Cox explains that intersex individuals biologically exemplify that gender exists on a spectrum, and thus the backlash against trans people is part of a resistance to letting go of long-held narratives.

Furthermore, Cox addresses the evolution of women's roles and independence, suggesting that the resulting backlash contributes to targeting trans people, and highlights how women’s growing autonomy and redefinition of womanhood undermine patriarchal constructs.

Laverne contextualizes the anti-trans rhetoric within a broader societal context of gender-based oppression, white supremacy, and the fear of losing privilege and control.

Cox links mental health and wellness to domination structures, including white supremacy and cisnormativity. She shares her journey of unlearning internalized transphobia and racism, which is integral to fostering self-love and combating societal prejudices.

Cox emphasizes that societal anxieties about losing grip on rigid categories manifest as a refusal to acknowledge trans identities. She posits that the frustrations of working-class men are tied to the inadequacy of patriarchy to serve them, leading to further anxiety about gender roles and power dynamics, with trans individuals often bearing the brunt as scapegoats.

Laverne emphasizes the need for critical consciousness and the willingness to sit with discomfort and uncertainty as essential to addressi ...