Episode 5: Why Trauma Repeats — The Brain’s Loyalty to Familiarity

In Episode 5 of The Relational Safety Podcast, Stephanie explores why relational trauma tends to repeat itself across relationships. She explains how the brain prioritizes familiarity over happiness, how Early Maladaptive Schemas drive relational reenactments, and why people often find themselves drawn to dynamics that mirror early attachment environments. This episode introduces the concept of schema confirmation and examines how the nervous system reinforces familiar safety predictions even when they produce painful outcomes.