#453. An Ace Therapist Gives Dan A Run For His Money | Dr. Jacob Ham

Sometimes part of healing trauma means learning how to be human. 

This episode is the last episode of our Mental Health Reboot series to mark Mental Health Awareness Month. Dr. Jacob Ham, who was introduced in Stephanie Foo’s episode earlier this week, helped Stephanie through her case of complex PTSD and discusses how to live with the hardest things that have happened to you. 

Dr. Ham is the Director of the Center for Child Trauma and Resilience and Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. He sees children, youth, adults, and families across the age range and for a variety of issues. 

In this episode we talk about: 

• What Dr. Ham says may be the “most important thing he’s discovered” as a therapist
• Why he shuts down his clients’ attempts to intellectualize their experiences
• Kairos versus kronos 
• Why Dr. Ham says the Incredible Hulk is so important to him
• The concept of mentalization
• What it means to love exquisitely
• And whether or not we have to learn to love ourselves before we can learn to love others

Content Warning: Explicit language.

Where to find Jacob Ham online: 

Website: https://drjacobham.com/

Social Media:

• Twitter: @drjacobham
• Facebook 
• YouTube

Book Mentioned:

• What My Bones Know: A Memoir of Healing From Complex Trauma by Stephanie Foo

Other Resources Mentioned:

• Stephanie Foo
• #452. How To Live With the Worst Things That Ever Happened to You | Stephanie Foo (TPH Episode)
• Center for Child Trauma and Resilience at Mount Sinai 
• Internal Family Systems (IFS)
• #323. How (and Why) to Hug Your Inner Dragons | Richard Schwartz (TPH episode) 
• Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5-TR)
• Bessel van der Kolk MD
• The Body Keeps The Score by Bessel van der Kolk MD
• Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)
• The U.S. Has an Empathy Deficit (Scientific American)
• Are We All Becoming More Self-Centered (Psychology Today)
• Joseph Goldstein
• Jerry Colonna
• The Case Against the Trauma Plot by Parul Sehgal (New Yorker)
• If Everything Is ‘Trauma,’ Is Anything by Jessica Bennett (NYT)