Bonus Beasts: Polar Bears and PTSD - Bird Brain

Q: How long is this episode of Bird Brain?

This episode is 1 hour and 9 minutes long.

Q: When was this Bird Brain episode published?

This episode was published on May 5, 2025.

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What this episode covers

Bonus Beasts: Iorek Byrnison, from the His Dark Materials trilogy.This episode isn’t just about polar bears. It’s about what happens when you’re stripped of your purpose — and how, for some people, recovery means forging a new kind of armour. To explore that, I’m joined by psychiatrist and trauma specialist Dr Mathew Hoskins — who’s worked on cutting-edge therapies for PTSD, including MDMA-assisted psychotherapy. Today we’re asking: what can a fictional bear teach us about real psychological healing?

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