Our guest discusses coping strategies to bring hope, healing, and strength even in disaster. Dr. Laurie Nadel is a specialist in acute stress, trauma, and anxiety issues and author of The Five Gifts: Discovering Hope, Healing, and Strength When Disaster Strikes.
Her first career, as a journalist, led her to spend twenty years writing and producing hard news, meaning those grisly clips of people whose lives were going along normally until a sudden, violent event ripped the ground out from under them. Though her work required detachment and focus, she often wondered what happened to those people after the cameras left.
In 1987, while covering the Iran-Contra hearings for CBS News she was diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome due to CMV (cytomegalovirus). However, at that time conventional medical treatment for the virus did not exist. This opened the doorway for Laurie to begin studying meditation and seeking natural alternatives to regain health.
At that time she changed career direction and completed two doctorates through independent study: a Ph.D. in cognitive psychology and a second doctorate in clinical hypnotherapy. Later, she completed post-doctoral diplomas in clinical training in mind-body medicine as well as clinical homeopathy. Part of each year was spent traveling and studying with indigenous healers.
In 1991 Dr. Laurie Nadel opened her private practice, focusing on stress and health issues, especially burnout; anxiety/phobias; and trauma issues. In April of 2018, she published The Five Gifts: Discovering Hope, Healing and Strength When Disaster Strikes. Although the “help cycle” after a disaster lasts about three months, it takes three to five years to recover emotionally. The five gifts that we need for the long haul are humility, patience, empathy, forgiveness, and growth.
Dr. Laurie Nadel’s website: http://www.laurienadel.com/
Dr. Laurie Nadel on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurie-nadel-ph-d-73a6871/
Dr. Laurie Nadel’s latest book: The Five Gifts: Discovering Hope, Healing and Strength When Disaster Strikes
