She found out she had complex PTSD. Then she realized how insidious trauma really is

Writing a book helped Stephanie Foo come to terms with how childhood traumas impacted her outwardly successful adult life

In 2017, Stephanie Foo was slapped with a complex PTSD diagnosis. She was dumbfounded.

Foo, a successful podcast producer on shows like This American Life, had heard of PTSD - the disorder associated in popular culture with war veterans who witnessed death, or had guns held to their heads. She knew those afflicted were frequently revisited by traumatic memories, often in flashbacks playing before their eyes.