Podcast Summary: "How to Get Better Results with AI & The Science of Healing Trauma"

Podcast: Something You Should Know
Host: Mike Carruthers | OmniCast Media
Guests: Christopher Sommerfield, Dr. Amy Opigian
Date: October 9, 2025

Episode Overview

This episode of "Something You Should Know" explores two major topics: demystifying how AI tools like ChatGPT work and how to get better results with them, followed by a deep dive into the science of trauma, debunking common myths, and offering practical insights into healing. Host Mike Carruthers interviews AI expert Christopher Sommerfield and trauma specialist Dr. Amy Opigian, providing listeners with actionable advice and fascinating explanations pertinent to both technology and mental well-being.

Key Discussion Points

1. Food Expiration Myths (00:36–04:30)

Before the main interviews, Mike shares practical "intel" on foods that almost never expire (such as salt, honey, sugar, maple syrup, hard liquor, and dried beans), debunking common worries about expiration dates.

2. How to Get Better Results with AI (06:51–28:25)

AI Basics and How ChatGPT Really Works

• Historical Context: AI’s pursuit to mimic human interaction has existed since the 1950s, but only took off recently due to new algorithms and large data availability.
  • "The dream of building a system that can interact with people...has been the kind of north star of computer science and AI research since the 1950s."
    —Christopher Sommerfield (07:40)
• The Deep Learning Revolution: Around 2010-2012, new data-processing algorithms + huge internet datasets enabled modern 'deep learning.' By 2019-2020, language models produced humanlike answers.
• How Responses Are Generated: Input is converted into 'tokens' (bits of words), run through 'transformers' (algorithms adept at recognizing context, patterns, and relationships in language), and then predicted, one token at a time.
  • "The transformer is very good at learning those relations...even for elements of all data that you feed to it."
    —Christopher Sommerfield (10:00)

AI Knowledge, Confidence, and Humanlike Quirks

• Language models are trained on vast internet data—"almost the entire Internet"—allowing them to make informed, creative responses even to unique questions.
  • "[They] have been trained on lots and lots of data...the information we have put on the Internet encompasses the vast majority of things we need to know about."
    —Christopher Sommerfield (14:18)
• Overconfidence in Answers: AI is often more overconfident than humans, always offering an answer (even when uncertain), due to training methods rewarding confidence and eloquence over probabilistic caution.
  • "The model is trained to produce confident and eloquent answers...sometimes at the expense of truth."
    —Christopher Sommerfield (13:44–13:55)

Why Different Models Give Different Answers

• Different AI models have different personalities and values, shaped by their training data and the values/approaches of their developers (e.g., OpenAI's models vs. Xai's Grok).
  • "Famously, some models...have often been found to be slightly more libertarian and progressive...whereas Xai’s model Grok is often a little bit more on the other end."
    —Christopher Sommerfield (20:21)
• Even with the same model, some randomness is built in; you'll rarely get the exact same answer twice.

Why AI Feels Human

• People naturally project intentionality onto complex systems—known as the "intentional stance."
  • "ChatGPT, of course, is just waiting for us to treat it like a friend."
    —Christopher Sommerfield (22:48)
• "When your computer shuts down or goes wrong, you get annoyed at it...No reason to get annoyed at it, but you do."
  —Christopher Sommerfield (22:48)

Tips and Tricks for Better Results from ChatGPT

• Politeness Matters: If you are polite, you actually get better, more helpful answers!
  • "Let me tell you a secret...you do actually get a better answer out of ChatGPT if you’re polite to it...if you’re rude to it, it doesn’t give you such a helpful answer."
    —Christopher Sommerfield (23:27)
• Prompting for Better Reasoning: Instructing the AI to “think step by step” (or to slow down and be careful) improves the quality of its reasoning.
  • "If you present the reasoning problem and you say, 'please think about this problem step by step,' then the model is much more likely to give you a better answer."
    —Christopher Sommerfield (24:25)
• Understand Context Dependency: The AI's outputs can shift dramatically depending on your tone, the context you set, and instructions you provide.
  • "Depending on the way that you interact with it, it will instantiate a context and it will start to behave like people would behave in that context."
    —Christopher Sommerfield (25:41)
• No Persistent Memory (Yet): Each session is typically a fresh start; the model doesn’t “remember” your personality unless you establish it each time, although some new models experiment with session memory.
• Fun Tip: Ask ChatGPT to generate an image of what it thinks you look like; it can make surprisingly educated guesses based on your data.

Key Takeaway

• How you interact with AI determines what you get out of it. Being clear, polite, and thoughtful in your prompts fundamentally changes your results.

3. The Science of Trauma and Healing (30:37–52:22)

What is Trauma—And What Isn’t It?

• Trauma is not just “bad things that happen.” It’s a physiological state of overwhelm when the body cannot cope; not everyone exposed to the same experience is traumatized.
  • "My definition now of trauma is focused on the body's experience...there are very distinct physiology changes...when the body goes into a trauma response."
    —Dr. Amy Opigian (31:51)
  • Trauma=Any experience that, at the time, overwhelmed your ability to respond.

Common Examples and Misconceptions

• Trauma can result from “ordinary” childhood stress if a child feels emotionally unsupported or overwhelmed, not just from dramatic events like car accidents.
  • Story of Elena: As a child, the expectation to suppress her needs for her mother caused lasting overwhelm and shaped her behaviors and health as an adult.
    (33:04–34:57)
• Breaking a bone is physical trauma—if given the right support, the body heals. Emotional trauma heals on the same principle, but requires internal safety and resources.
  • "The body needs certain things in order to be able to engage its own healing strategies. And it is no different than any other traumas we want to say."
    —Dr. Amy Opigian (36:50)

Does Trauma Define You Forever?

• Myth-busting: It is NOT true that trauma must damage you for life.
  • "That is a myth. That is a misconception that these experiences...will somehow negatively impact us for the rest of our life. The body and mind have such an innate ability to heal."
    —Dr. Amy Opigian (41:03)
• Many people recover from trauma given time, support, and the right resources; if someone remains “stuck,” it means the body hasn’t gotten what it needs—not that healing is impossible.

Why Do Some Heal, Others Don’t?

• Two people can face the same traumatic event; one recovers, the other develops lasting issues. The difference lies in their sense of internal and external safety, support, and previous resilience.
  • "One comes back...can assimilate, and another is stuck at home in fear...The difference was that, for one, they went into that more resourced...kept it at a stress level or experienced that trauma response and resolved it at that time."
    —Dr. Amy Opigian (43:20)

Healing Trauma—What Works

• Healing requires creating a felt sense of safety in the body and developing “interoception” (the ability to feel and interpret your body’s internal signals).
• Simple body-based interventions help reconnect people to a sense of safety (e.g., holding a pillow to the stomach can create instant calm).
  • "We are going to see how we can create a felt sense of safety right now...I have people put a pillow...over their stomach...Their shoulders drop, their face softens...This is why it's important to just do some of this connection exercises at first."
    —Dr. Amy Opigian (49:20)
• Trauma work isn’t about endlessly rehashing the story but about moving through uncomfortable feelings and letting your body complete the defensive reactions (returning to safety and openness).
• If you’re no longer overwhelmed, the trauma is no longer active.
  • "If you had that reaction...But now you don’t feel overwhelmed. Time fixed it...Are you no longer traumatized?...they are no longer under the impact of that past trauma."
    —Dr. Amy Opigian & Mike Carruthers (51:34–51:52)

Generational Trauma

• Parents’ inability to sense their own emotions and inner state can impact their children’s emotional regulation—explaining how trauma can feel “inherited” or span generations.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On AI politeness:
  "Let me tell you a secret, which is that we know that you do actually get a better answer out of ChatGPT if you’re polite to it...it simulates how people interact in society."
  —Christopher Sommerfield (23:27)

• On trauma myths:
  "That is a myth. That is a misconception that these experiences...will somehow negatively impact us for the rest of our life. The body and mind have such an innate ability to heal."
  —Dr. Amy Opigian (41:03)

• On asking AI reasoning questions:
  "...If you present the reasoning problem and you say, 'please think about this problem step by step,' then the model is much more likely to give you a better answer to the problem."
  —Christopher Sommerfield (24:25)

• On trauma healing:
  "Time only heals when the body has what it needs. And then you compound that over time, and yes, the healing and the resolution will come."
  —Dr. Amy Opigian (44:56)

Timestamps for Important Segments

• Food Expiration Myths – 00:36–04:30
• AI Deep Dive: Christopher Sommerfield – 06:51–28:25
  • How modern AI works – 07:37
  • AI knowledge source – 14:18
  • Personality of different AIs – 20:01
  • AI’s human feel – 21:24
  • Politeness influences results – 23:27
  • Best practices for prompts – 24:25
• Trauma & Healing: Dr. Amy Opigian – 30:37–52:22
  • Defining trauma – 31:35
  • Experiential examples – 33:04
  • Healing physical vs emotional trauma – 35:34
  • Why some trauma persists – 41:03
  • How to reconnect with your body – 48:25
  • Signs of healing – 51:34

Tone & Style

• Expert, accessible, encouraging: The show breaks down complex topics without jargon, both demystifying AI for everyday users and reframing trauma as something that, with the right approach, can be healed—not a life sentence.

Final Takeaways

• With AI: Treat ChatGPT more like a cooperative correspondent than a cold tool. Be polite, set clear context, and prompt it methodically for the best results.
• With Trauma: Trauma is less about what happens and more about whether your body felt overwhelmed and unsupported. Healing is possible for everyone—sometimes time is enough, but other times, simple body-based strategies and a nurturing environment are essential for true recovery.

Recommended Reading:

• “These Strange New: How AI Learned to Talk and What It Means” by Christopher Sommerfield
• “The Biology of How the Body Holds Fear, Pain and Overwhelm and How to Heal It” by Dr. Amy Opigian

For links and more, see the show notes.