Sex Saved Her Life: on Trauma, Desire and Coming Back Alive with Somatic Psychotherapist Dr. Holly Richmond

What happens after the healing? Therapists are trained to treat trauma. Almost none of them are trained for what survivors actually need next: a passionate, embodied, erotic life.

In this episode, Natassia sits down with Dr. Holly Richmond — somatic psychotherapist, sex therapist, and author of Reclaiming Pleasure — to explore the gap nobody talks about. Holly shares her own story of a decade-long sexless marriage, the moment eroticism cracked her open, and the three-step clinical framework she's spent her career building for women who want to reclaim desire on the other side of trauma.

They get into why the body expresses trauma rather than stores it (and what that means for healing), the surprising fantasies survivors often develop and why they make complete psychological sense, why safety and comfort are not the same thing — and why confusing them quietly kills desire in long-term relationships. Plus: the prescription for day sex, what self-pleasure and masturbation actually have to do with each other, and why "I don't care if I ever have sex again" is never the end of the story.

This one is for anyone who has ever felt shut down, disconnected from their body, or quietly wondered if desire is gone for good. It isn't.

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Dr. Holly Richmond’s website: https://drhollyrichmond.com/

Dr. Holly Richmond’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drhollyrichmond

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