Trauma in Relationships: What Actually Helps with Elizabeth Ferreira

Forrest is joined by associate therapist and his fiancée Elizabeth Ferreira for an honest, personal conversation about what it's actually like to be in a relationship when one partner is living with trauma, complex PTSD, or another ongoing mental health challenge. Drawing on their experience together, they discuss supporting without enabling, avoiding power imbalances, managing resentment, dealing with moments of frustration, and the importance of reciprocity. Elizabeth has some thoughts about the DSM. Forrest shares about how Elizabeth has supported him. It’s a good one. Key Topics: 0:00: Intro and Elizabeth’s overview 5:50: How trauma shapes you 9:05: How Elizabeth found safety in her relationship with Forrest 11:12: How the relationship helped Forrest grow 15:44: Self-discovery through relationship 21:19: How to effectively support a partner with mental illness 33:42: Being ‘sturdy’ 39:18: Navigating criticism 43:30: Communicating without resentment or shame 54:57: Avoiding stigma, and why Elizabeth wants to throw the DSM out the window 59:52: Not buying in to the smallest version of your partner 1:04:27: Recap Support the Podcast: We're on Patreon! If you'd like to support the podcast, follow this link. Sponsors Grab Huel today with my exclusive offer of 15% OFF online with my code BEINGWELL at huel.com/beingwell. New customers only. Thank you to Huel for partnering and supporting our show!Sign up for a one-dollar-per-month trial period at shopify.com/beingwell. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Trauma in Relationships: What Actually Helps with Elizabeth Ferreira is an episode from Being Well with Dr. Rick Hanson by Being Well.

This episode is 68:08 long.

This episode was published on Mar 16, 2026.

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