Is Being "Good" a Trauma Response? The Biology of Proving WorthIs Being "Good" a Trauma Response? The Biology of Proving Worth
The Biology of Trauma™ With Dr. Aimie
Greg shares how accidentally killing his high school sweetheart led to years of guilt, numbing and overachieving, and how understanding moral injury and shifting his focus from self‑proving to honouring her life changed his healing. Dr. Aimie highlights how trauma lives in the body and why movement, supportive connection and aligned purpose can ease the burden of regret.
45:12•17 Mar 2026
Is Being “Good” Your Way of Carrying Trauma? Greg’s Story of Guilt, Moral Injury and Healing
Episode Overview
- Guilt, grief and moral injury can live in the body for decades, showing up in tears, muscle tension, weight gain and sensitivity to disrespect.
- Attempts to numb pain with alcohol, drugs, food or overexercise may bring short-term relief but never resolve the underlying trauma.
- There is a key difference between doing good to prove you are okay and doing good from a place of alignment or in order to honour someone you have lost.
- Finding people who truly understand your experience, whether in therapy or peer groups like those for accidental killers, can dramatically reduce shame and isolation.
- Physical movement, theatre and other body-based practices help emotions move through instead of staying stuck as an endless inner “film loop.”
“There is a future of happiness. There is a future of fulfillment. And there's a future of calm. Of stillness, of groundedness. It's there. You can get to it.”
What can we learn from those who have battled addiction, regret, and deep guilt? This conversation on The Biology of Trauma™ With Dr. Aimie centres on Greg, who accidentally killed his high school sweetheart in a car crash at 18 and has carried the impact in his body and life for more than four decades.
You’ll hear Greg describe the night of the accident, the shock that “felt like being hit in the face with a baseball bat,” and the desperate running that became his first way to outrun unbearable feelings. He’s open about misusing alcohol and drugs at college “to the nth degree to numb myself,” even though he didn’t become addicted, and how theatre school unexpectedly became his most powerful “therapy” by teaching him to access emotions through his body. Dr.
Aimie and Greg talk about moral injury – breaking your own deepest values, like “thou shalt not kill,” whether consciously or unconsciously – and how that can turn a life into a long attempt to prove you’re a good person. Greg explains that much of his career of doing good in the world was actually about proving he wasn’t “a horrible, horrible murderer”.
The turning point came when he shifted from doing good to feel okay about himself to doing good to honour his late girlfriend, including creating an arts scholarship in her name. You’ll also hear why movement matters when emotions feel impossible, how theatre and physical activity can help shift stuck trauma, and why finding people “who accurately get you and reflect to you” can change everything.
Greg leaves listeners with this hopeful reminder: “There is a future of happiness… a future of calm… You can get to it. I’m not saying it’s easy, but I believe you can get to it.” If you’ve ever felt crushed by regret or driven to be “good” at all costs, could it be your body asking for a different kind of healing?
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