There is a particular kind of exhaustion that comes from spending a lifetime making yourself smaller so that other people can stay comfortable. From swallowing your rage so the room does not shift. From performing wellness while carrying wounds that no one has ever given you permission to name or process.
Dr. Thema Bryant has spent her entire career sitting with that exhaustion. Not rushing people through it. Not handing them a protocol and sending them home. Sitting with it, honoring it, and teaching something far more courageous than coping.
In this conversation, Dr. Amanda sits down with Dr. Thema Bryant, former president of the American Psychological Association, clinical psychologist, minister, scholar, spoken word artist, and author of Matters of the Heart. What unfolds is profoundly honest, wide-ranging, and deeply necessary conversation. About trauma and what it actually means to heal. About the systems that wound us and the internalized beliefs that keep us loyal to them. About rage as a healthy response to outrageous things. About what it looks like to age, dance, write, and lead from a place of liberation rather than performance.
In this episode, we explore:
Why it is healthy to be outraged about outrageous things and what happens when women are taught to make nice instead
The systems that are designed to keep survivors silent and why doing nothing actively supports the status quo
What traditional psychology has been missing for women and people of color and what liberation psychology offers instead
The difference between multicultural competency and true liberation in the field of psychology
What it means to be emotionally hygienic as a healer and how to stay present for clients without losing yourself
Why Dr. Thema dances, writes spoken word, and refuses to leave herself behind in the name of professionalism
Aging as a right of passage and what it looks like to do it with joy, visibility, and zero apology
The two experiences that disconnected Dr. Thema from herself and how she found her way back
Who she is choosing to be in this season of the world
This is a conversation for the woman who has been told her anger is too much, her grief is inconvenient, and her healing is taking too long. The woman who has carried something enormous in silence because no one taught her that speaking it out loud was allowed.
Not only is it allowed, it is the most important thing you will ever do.
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Connect with Dr. Amanda on Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/midlife.muse/
Connect with Dr. Thema Bryant:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dr.thema/
Website: https://drthema.com/
Matters of the Heart: https://drthema.com/books/