Surviving Toxic Relationships Podcast with The Matadoras · Elizabeth Jane and Deana Lynn

Episode #89: Renewing the Mind After Trauma & Addiction | Faith, Neuroscience, and Freedom with Roseanne Forte

·26 min·1 clip

Roseanne links Romans 12:2, first Timothy 4:15, and neuroscience to a repeatable process for changing behavior.

1. Surviving Toxic Relationships Podcast with The Matadoras centers this episode on renewing the mind after trauma, addiction, and toxic relationships with Roseanne Forte. 2. Lizzie and Dina host Roseanne Forte, an international best-selling author, creator of the Choose Freedom program, former C-suite executive, and former church leader. 3. The episode asks how faith, scripture, and neuroscience can help people move from shame and stuck patterns to actual freedom. 4. Roseanne says she grew up in a family that was “not very faith-based,” went to Catholic school, and left church by sixth grade. 5. She met her husband at 29, married him, and says their relationship centered on partying, bar culture, and frequent arguments under the influence. 6. She recalls a honeymoon conversation where he said that now that they were married, “somebody has to make all the decisions,” and that it would default to him. 7. When she was pregnant with her second child, the couple separated and the marriage collapsed, which is when she says she found Jesus at about 35. 8. She describes later years in the church as spending “half my life trying to please him,” while still not understanding what was happening in her marriage. 9. Roseanne says she became deeply lost in “a serious darkness,” lost her sense of self, and used alcohol to cope with what she calls horrible thought processes. 10. She says counseling and EMDR helped with CPTSD, but the healing felt incomplete until she stopped hiding substance use and looked outside the church for brain-based tools. 11. Roseanne describes learning about neuroplasticity, mindset shifts, and the way God designed the brain as the turning point in her recovery. 12. She argues that labeling and “lifetime sentencing” create stigma that keeps people from asking for help, especially when they fear being defined as an alcoholic. 13. She says AA and Celebrate Recovery have helped many people, but the labels and some 12-step language did not fit her experience in an abusive relationship. 14. A key framework she teaches is solving for cognitive dissonance, where a person can simultaneously say “I love it” and “I hate it” about the same substance or relationship. 15. She says the practical response is practicing truth every day through prayer, scripture, and a devotional that includes “scripture mindful minutes,” gratitude, and reflection. 16. Roseanne points to first Timothy 4:15, “practice these things, immerse yourself in them,” and Romans 12:2 as her scriptural anchors for renewal. 17. She says her own spiral used to last for weeks, but now she can notice stress in her body, identify warning signals, and shift more quickly. 18. The conversation is conversational and testimonial, with Lizzie and Dina asking direct follow-up questions and Roseanne answering in a practical, personal style. 19. Women of faith healing after betrayal, addiction, or controlling relationships. 20. Listeners wanting a heavy clinical or purely secular recovery approach.

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