I Gave My Pain to God — Everything Changed with Christine D'ClairoI Gave My Pain to God — Everything Changed with Christine D'Clairo
The Brain Warrior's Way Podcast
Dr Daniel Amen talks with Christine D’Clario about childhood trauma, postpartum depression, faith, and brain health, including her SPECT scan results. Their conversation links spiritual life with practical mental health tools, highlighting how caring for the brain can support healing from deep emotional pain.
1:29:50•11 May 2026
Faith, Trauma and Brain Health: Christine D’Clario Shares Her Healing Journey
Episode Overview
- Facing painful emotions, including rage, can be safer and healthier than suppressing them, especially after trauma.
- Faith and science are presented as complementary, with brain health seen as part of spiritual responsibility.
- Basic habits like sleep, nutrition, exercise and support systems are shown to significantly influence suicidal thoughts and mood.
- Understanding brain patterns through tools like SPECT scans can reduce shame by showing biological contributions to mental health.
- Challenging automatic negative thoughts and perfectionism can ease parenting pressure and improve day-to-day wellbeing.
“"You need to sit with what hurts so you know exactly where it is so that when you ask the Lord, heal me… and he brings people and resources into your life, you don’t reject it."”
What emotional and inspiring tales of recovery are out there? This conversation between Dr Daniel Amen and worship leader and author Christine D’Clario centres on faith, brain health, trauma, and the messy, very human road back from despair. Christine talks openly about surviving childhood sexual abuse, losing her father, bullying, and later infertility and severe postpartum depression that brought suicidal thoughts.
As a Christian leader, she describes the shame of feeling suicidal while "having two beautiful miracles" in her arms, and how a discerning midwife and a faith-filled therapist helped her start taking her brain and body seriously. The chat focuses on where church culture and mental health care often clash. Christine questions why communities of faith can be suspicious of psychology when scripture repeatedly talks about renewing and guarding the mind.
Dr Amen responds by framing people as whole beings with biology, psychology, relationships and a spiritual life all interacting at once. You’ll hear Christine unpack the idea of "sitting with what hurts" rather than pushing feelings away, including the terrifying experience of facing her repressed rage after remembering childhood rape. She explains how learning that anger itself isn’t sinful, and that suppressed rage can become panic, anxiety and eating problems, was a major turning point.
Dr Amen walks through her SPECT brain scan, postpartum struggles, ADHD traits, trauma history, possible hormonal shifts and family risk factors, showing how practical steps like sleep, exercise, supplements and therapy can support both faith and mental health.
His mantra is simple: "Every day you are making your brain better or you are making it worse." If you’ve ever wondered whether you’re "too broken" for healing, or felt torn between prayer and professional help, this honest chat might help you ask better questions about both. What could change for you if you stopped fighting your brain and started caring for it?
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