Episode 23, Season 1
Show Notes
Have you ever wondered why betrayal hurts so deeply—or why it can feel so difficult to trust again?
In this episode of The Christian Mind Reset, we explore what psychology, neuroscience, and Scripture reveal about trust, betrayal, and healing. You’ll learn how God designed the brain to learn from repeated experiences, why broken trust affects both the mind and body, and how the Psalmist's example in the Psalms points us toward lasting hope.
We’ll discuss attachment, neuroplasticity, predictive processing, emotional memory, and the neuroscience of social pain, while keeping Scripture at the center of the conversation. Rather than using science to validate God’s Word, we’ll see how studying God’s creation helps us better appreciate His design.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
* Why trust is built through repeated experiences of faithfulness.
* How attachment shapes our earliest understanding of safety and relationships.
* Why betrayal feels physically painful and what neuroscience says about social rejection.
* How the brain updates its expectations after relational wounds.
* The role of neuroplasticity in healing after betrayal.
* Why remembering God’s faithfulness is one of the most powerful biblical practices for renewing the mind.
* The difference between biblical forgiveness and rebuilding trust.
* Practical encouragement for learning to trust God while exercising wisdom in relationships.
Key Scriptures
Psalm 9:10
Psalm 77
Proverbs 3:5–6
Lamentations 3:22–23
Hebrews 10:23
Malachi 3:6
Hebrews 13:8
John 2:24
Psalm 147:3
Connect with Dr. April Joy:
Connect with Dr. April Joy:
Substack: The Christian Mind Reset
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References
Ainsworth, M. D. S., Blehar, M. C., Waters, E., & Wall, S. (1978). Patterns of attachment: A psychological study of the strange situation. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Berg, J., Dickhaut, J., & McCabe, K. (1995). Trust, reciprocity, and social history. Games and Economic Behavior, 10(1), 122–142. https://doi.org/10.1006/game.1995.1027
Bowlby, J. (1982). Attachment and loss: Vol. 1. Attachment (2nd ed.). Basic Books. (Original work published 1969)
Carter, S C. (2018). Oxytocin and Human Evolution. Current topics in behavioral neurosciences, 35, 291–319. https://doi.org/10.1007/7854_2017_18
Clark, A. (2013). Whatever next? Predictive brains, situated agents, and the future of cognitive science. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 36(3), 181–204. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X12000477
Eisenberger, N. I. (2012). The neural bases of social pain: Evidence for shared representations with physical pain. Psychosomatic Medicine, 74(2), 126–135. https://doi.org/10.1097/PSY.0b013e3182464dd1
Eisenberger, N. I., Lieberman, M. D., & Williams, K. D. (2003). Does rejection hurt? An fMRI study of social exclusion. Science, 302(5643), 290–292. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1089134
Freyd, J. J. (1996). Betrayal trauma: The logic of forgetting childhood abuse. Harvard University Press.
Friston, K. (2010). The free-energy principle: A unified brain theory? Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 11(2), 127–138. https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn2787
Froemke, R. C., & Young, L. J. (2021). Oxytocin, neural plasticity, and social behavior. Annual Review of Neuroscience, 44, 359–381. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-neuro-102320-102847
Hancock, P. A., Kessler, T. T., Kaplan, A. D., Brill, J. C., & Szalma, J. L. (2023). How and why humans trust: A meta-analysis and elaborated model. Frontiers in Psychology, 14, Article 1081086. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1081086
Kandel, E. R., Koester, J. D., Mack, S. H., & Siegelbaum, S. A. (2021). Principles of neural science (6th ed.). McGraw Hill.
Kosfeld, M., Heinrichs, M., Zak, P. J., Fischbacher, U., & Fehr, E. (2005). Oxytocin increases trust in humans. Nature, 435(7042), 673–676. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature03701
Lancaster, M. E., & Anbar, R. D. (2024, March 30). How oxytocin affects our relationships. Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/understanding-hypnosis/202402/how-oxytocin-affects-our-relationships
McGaugh, J. L. (2004). The amygdala modulates the consolidation of memories of emotionally arousing experiences. Annual Review of Neuroscience, 27, 1–28. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.neuro.27.070203.144157
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