WOUND THEORY
How Childhood Trauma Shapes Adult Identity, Politics, and Power
OVERVIEW
Wound Theory is a 75,000-word work of narrative nonfiction that reframes political polarization through the lens of trauma psychology and emotional development. Combining neuroscience, attachment theory, and cultural critique, it reveals how unresolved childhood wounds shape adult political identity, voting behavior, and allegiance to ideologies or leaders. This book will resonate with readers of The Body Keeps the Score, The Righteous Mind, The Myth of Normal, and Dare to Lead—those seeking to understand not just what people believe, but why they need to believe it.
In a time of extreme division, where facts bounce off beliefs and tribal loyalties override logic, Wound Theory offers something radically clarifying: we’re not just politically polarized—we’re emotionally dysregulated. What we call “political identity” is often the nervous system’s attempt to manage unhealed pain, unmet attachment needs, and internalized shame.
Drawing from five years of interdisciplinary research, personal experience, and professional systems thinking, I propose that political behavior is often a form of emotional regulation. Our ideologies are less about ideas—and more about survival strategies encoded in the nervous system long before we could vote.
Where traditional political analysis focuses on demographics and rational choice, Wound Theory goes deeper:
Showing how nervous system states drive ideological rigidity
Mapping how insecure attachment shapes our views of authority and community
Exploring how shame becomes certainty—and why cruelty can feel like safety to the wounded
Blending emotionally resonant storytelling, empirical research, and a deep call for cultural repair, this book bridges psychology, neuroscience, and politics to deliver one transformative truth:
“We’re not just fighting over ideas. We’re fighting to regulate pain we never learned to name.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Eric Conklin, M.S., is a trauma-informed political thinker, essayist, and senior cybersecurity leader whose work bridges emotional psychology, systems analysis, and cultural commentary. He is the creator of Wound Theory™, a narrative framework that explores how childhood trauma, emotional repression, and attachment patterns shape adult political identity, ideological loyalty, and power dynamics.
Eric holds a Master’s degree in Cybersecurity and serves as the lead red team operator for a Fortune 20 company, where he specializes in adversarial thinking and systemic exploitation—skills that give him rare insight into how emotional and digital systems alike are breached, manipulated, and defended. His work uniquely connects psychological vulnerability with real-world sociopolitical consequences, from phishing susceptibility to political extremism.
Over the past five years, Eric has synthesized research across attachment theory, affective neuroscience, trauma psychology, and political behavior to develop a trauma-informed lens for understanding identity, power, and polarization. In 2025, he was invited by Dr. Kirk Schneider, a leading figure in existential-humanistic psychology, to join the Corps of Depth Healers—a professional certification program focused on emotionally restorative relationships and cultural repair. Dr. Schneider praised Eric’s work for its “resonance with the developmental challenges that underlie our cultural breakdowns” and welcomed his essays into the Corps’ official archive.
Eric’s longform essays on Wound Theory have received early praise from renowned psychologists, including Dr. Scott Barry Kaufman (“thoughtful and nuanced… you’re spot on”) and Dr. Jonathan Shedler (“a piece that deserves an audience”). His platform—including his Substack and WoundTheory.com—has drawn sustained attention from psychologists, behavioral researchers, political commentators, and cybersecurity professionals alike.
What distinguishes Eric’s voice is not just professional insight, but lived emotional truth. His writing offers readers more than intellectual analysis—it delivers emotional clarity, interdisciplinary rigor, and a bold invitation to understand political identity as a reflection of unhealed wounds and unmet needs.
MARKET ANALYSIS
Target Audience
Wound Theory will appeal to multiple overlapping audiences:
Psychologically-minded adults (25–45) seeking deeper explanations for personal and collective behavior
Politically disaffected readers from across the spectrum
Mental health professionals exploring how trauma shapes political identity
Parents raising emotionally healthy children in a dysregulated culture
Social impact leaders working to reduce polarization and extremism
Market Comparison
This book enters a market hungry for deeper insight into political behavior—particularly as traditional explanations continue to fail:
The Righteous Mind – Jonathan Haidt (330,000+ copies)
The Body Keeps the Score – Bessel van der Kolk (2M+ copies)
Atlas of the Heart – Brené Brown (1M+ copies)
The Myth of Normal – Gabor Maté (250,000+ copies)
The Political Mind – George Lakoff (95,000+ copies)
Wound Theory occupies a distinct intersection of trauma psychology and political identity, offering both emotional resonance and empirical grounding.
Value Proposition
Universal Framework: Applies across political ideologies using shared psychological principles
Nervous System Lens: Connects political behavior to embodied emotional states
Actionable Tools: Offers frameworks and language to identify and heal political reactivity
Interdisciplinary Integration: Bridges neuroscience, political psychology, and attachment theory
Compassionate Clarity: Helps readers view conflict through the lens of emotional adaptation
CHAPTER SUMMARIES
Introduction: The Wound Beneath the Division
We’re not just politically divided—we’re emotionally dysregulated. This chapter introduces Wound Theory as a trauma-informed framework explaining how political identity is often an unconscious strategy to regulate shame, fear, and unprocessed emotional pain.
PART I: THE PERSONAL WOUND
Chapter 1: The Nervous System Is Political
Political behavior begins in the body. This chapter explores how trauma responses—fight, flight, freeze, and fawn—manifest as ideological rigidity, tribalism, and reactivity. Drawing from polyvagal theory and affective neuroscience, it maps how nervous system states shape belief systems.
Chapter 2: Attachment Is the First Politics
Before we choose a party, we choose caregivers. This chapter shows how childhood attachment styles (anxious, avoidant, disorganized) form the emotional templates that drive our trust in—or rejection of—authority, community, and political belonging.
Chapter 3: When Shame Becomes Certainty
Unprocessed shame often disguises itself as moral absolutism and ideological righteousness. This chapter explores how shame fuels cancel culture, scapegoating, and conspiracy thinking across the political spectrum.
PART II: THE COLLECTIVE MIRROR
Chapter 4: Identity Fusion: When Politics Becomes Survival
Ideological fusion is a nervous system survival response. This chapter examines how emotional identification with political movements creates cognitive rigidity, tribal epistemology, and resistance to truth—even in the face of evidence.
Chapter 5: Media Algorithms and the Exploited Wound
Modern media doesn’t just inform—it dysregulates. This chapter explores how social media platforms exploit emotional wounds through outrage, fear, and dopamine-driven feedback loops, reinforcing division and emotional dependence on ideology.
Chapter 6: The Wound in Power
Authoritarian leaders resonate with the wounded parts of the collective psyche. This chapter analyzes how narcissism, cruelty, and performative strength appeal to emotionally unmet populations, creating parasocial bonds rooted in unresolved pain.
PART III: SYSTEMS OF REGULATION
Chapter 7: Religion, Shame, and the Search for Safety
Religious frameworks often mirror early attachment dynamics. This chapter explores how religious trauma, perfectionism, and emotional suppression shape political absolutism and shape concepts of moral purity, punishment, and belonging.
Chapter 8: Schools, Families, and Emotional Training Grounds
Our core emotional regulation strategies are shaped long before political affiliation. This chapter examines how family systems and traditional schooling suppress emotional expression and reward compliance—priming adults for extremism and authority dependence.
Chapter 9: The Left Has a Wound Too
Wound-based politics aren’t exclusive to the right. This chapter explores how progressive movements can also manifest unresolved trauma through savior complexes, moral rigidity, and emotional projection disguised as principle.
PART IV: INTEGRATION AND THE WAY FORWARD
Chapter 10: The Regulation Roadmap
This chapter introduces a five-step model for recognizing and healing emotional projection in political discourse: Recognize, Resource, Reflect, Respond, and Repair. It offers practical tools for individual and collective regulation.
Chapter 11: Raising Integrated Humans
To change the future, we must raise emotionally secure children. This chapter explores parenting strategies and emotional literacy practices that reduce the need for future ideological armor and identity fusion.
Chapter 12: Beyond the Wound: Communities of Regulation
Healing must be systemic. This chapter explores how institutions, relationships, and digital communities can become containers for co-regulation—shifting us from reactive polarization to sustained emotional presence.
DETAILED WRITING SAMPLE
THE NERVOUS SYSTEM IS POLITICAL
How the Body Votes Long Before the Mind Does
Opening Scene
You're in a political argument with someone you love. Maybe it's your father, maybe it's a friend from college. The topic doesn't even matter anymore. Your voice is shaking, your hands are clenched, and your chest feels tight.
You're not debating—you're defending.
You're not explaining—you're surviving.
What just happened?
This Isn't Just About Beliefs
Most people think political identity is about what we think.
Wound Theory says it's about how we regulate.
We don't cling to ideologies because they're logical.
We cling to them because, at some point in our lives, they made us feel safe.
The human nervous system is designed to protect us from threat. When we experience fear, uncertainty, or shame—and we don't have a secure emotional container—we adapt.
We fuse with something.
A person. A group. A belief. A flag. A strongman.
Not because we're irrational—but because we're human.
The Science of Survival
When the nervous system senses danger, it doesn't wait for permission. It doesn't ask your political party. It doesn't run a cost-benefit analysis.
It runs this program instead:
Fight → Attack anyone who threatens your worldview
Flight → Disconnect, numb out, or retreat into confirmation bubbles
Freeze → Shut down in the face of complexity or challenge
Fawn → Abandon your truth to keep peace in the group
Sound familiar? These aren't just trauma responses.
They're the emotional operating systems of political behavior in the modern age.
And the kicker? Most of us have no idea it's happening.
When Identity Becomes Armor
Wound Theory says political identity isn't just a choice—it's a nervous system regulation strategy.
It's the emotional scaffolding we build around the pain we haven't processed.
We pick sides, not to solve problems, but to feel held.
We shout opinions, not to educate, but to discharge dysregulation.
We stay loyal to leaders, even abusive ones, because they mirror what's familiar—even if it's dysfunctional.
And when someone challenges that identity?
It doesn't feel like disagreement.
It feels like abandonment.
A Nation in Nervous System Crisis
You can't fix a dysregulated country with facts.
You can't solve mass emotional projection with better polls.
And you can't de-radicalize a population that's using politics to survive childhood wounds it never got to name.
That's why people defend the indefensible.
That's why no one can "just get over it."
That's why logic breaks down in the face of emotional fusion.
Until we realize we're not arguing with beliefs—we're arguing with defense mechanisms—nothing changes.
A Personal Example: Obamacare and the Nervous System
I still remember the first time I felt viscerally threatened by a political policy: the rollout of Obamacare.
It wasn't because I had read the bill.
It wasn't because I deeply understood health economics or the ACA mandate.
It was because someone on the news—someone I trusted—said the government was taking over our freedom.
And suddenly, something deeper kicked in.
It wasn't a rational objection. It was a full-body reaction. My chest tightened. I felt angry, cornered—like something was being taken from me. Like I was being told how to live by people who didn't know me, didn't care about me, and didn't want to.
Looking back, I know what was really happening.
It wasn't just about healthcare. It was about control.
And underneath that? Shame. Vulnerability. Powerlessness.
I wasn't opposing a law. I was defending a survival strategy.
See, I grew up in a home where independence was everything.
Emotional needs weren't really safe to express. You were expected to tough it out, figure it out, and never rely on anyone else.
So when the government said, "We'll take care of you," it didn't land as compassionate.
It landed as invasive. Smothering. Even threatening.
That's what Wound Theory helps me see now:
My political reaction wasn't irrational—it was deeply personal.
I was reacting with my nervous system, not my intellect.
And I wasn't alone.
Millions of people weren't just rejecting policy—they were protecting emotional frameworks built in childhood. Frameworks where dependence meant weakness. Vulnerability meant danger. And institutions, like people, could never truly be trusted.
That's why yelling "Healthcare is a human right!" didn't work.
Because for many, it wasn't about healthcare.
It was about survival.
A Different Wound, A Different Politics
This pattern isn't unique to conservatism. Consider my friend Leah, a passionate progressive activist whose political identity formed through a different wound:
Leah grew up in a household where her needs were routinely dismissed, her emotions invalidated, and her voice silenced. When she discovered social justice activism in college, something profound clicked—not just intellectually, but physically. For the first time, she felt seen. She felt powerful. She felt part of something that would finally right the wrongs she had always sensed but couldn't name.
When conservative voices challenged her progressive views, she didn't just disagree—she felt physically unsafe. Her heart raced, her breathing quickened, and she felt the same sensations she experienced when her parents dismissed her needs as a child.
Her progressive activism wasn't just a political choice—it was a nervous system regulation strategy. Her identity as an activist provided the emotional safety her childhood had denied her.
This isn't to invalidate the real injustices Leah fights against. It's to understand that her nervous system was primed to recognize and respond to certain types of threats based on her early experiences. Her politics, like mine, had roots in wounds that preceded any policy debate.
From Personal to Political: How Wounds Scale
What happened to me during the Obamacare debate and to Leah in her activism isn't unique.
It's happening everywhere—on TV, in comment sections, in families, in Congress.
When people scream about "freedom" or "socialism" or "the deep state," they're not always responding to facts.
They're responding to felt experiences their nervous system doesn't know how to name.
When a Trump rally chant echoes "lock her up," it's not just about prosecuting a political opponent.
It's about discharging shame—projecting it outward so the crowd can feel safe inside.
When progressives cancel someone over a single misstep, it's often not about principle—it's about predictability. If I can make the world pure, I can feel emotionally safe.
Wound Theory shows that both sides of the aisle are often just different nervous system responses in motion:
The authoritarian right often manifests the fight-or-flight response: aggression, control, isolation.
The anxious left may operate from fawn or freeze: appeasement, hypervigilance, over-correction.
Neither is simply "bad" or "wrong."
Both are adaptations.
Both are survival strategies.
And until we recognize that most political discourse is unconscious emotional regulation in disguise, we'll stay stuck in the same loop:
📣 Yell
🤬 Defend
😢 Withdraw
🔁 Repeat
Politics Begins in the Body
We like to pretend our votes are rational.
That we make decisions based on evidence, policy, logic.
But Wound Theory says: Your politics were shaped long before you could vote.
They were shaped the first time you cried and no one came.
The first time you got punished for speaking your truth.
The first time you realized love had conditions—and safety had rules.
Political identity is what happens when the nervous system tries to make sense of a world that once hurt you.
Some people fuse with a strong leader because they never had a strong parent.
Some reject every institution because the first one they trusted—their family—was unpredictable or unsafe.
Some cling to moral purity because they were never allowed to make mistakes without being shamed.
These aren't beliefs.
These are strategies.
And the body remembers all of them.
From Nervous System to Nation
We're not just watching political polarization—we're watching a national trauma response.
Millions of people walking around in fight, flight, freeze, and fawn—without language for what's happening inside them.
And when leaders, media, and algorithms feed that dysregulation instead of healing it?
We don't get democracy.
We get dysregulated identity warfare—and call it patriotism.
Where We Go Next
If political behavior is a reflection of emotional regulation...
Then where does regulation begin?
It begins in the earliest relationship you've ever had.
It begins in attachment.
In the next chapter, we'll explore how your connection (or disconnection) from your caregivers shaped the way you see power, trust, safety—and even truth.
Because before you chose a party,
before you picked a side,
before you ever said "I believe,"
you learned something even more important:
What to do with your emotions.
That... was your first politics.
MARKETING PLAN
Platform & Engagement
Since launching Wound Theory in early 2025, Eric Conklin has built a steadily growing platform that blends psychological depth with cultural relevance. His essays have drawn attention across academic, media, and practitioner communities—reaching psychologists, political commentators, therapists, cybersecurity professionals, and emotionally engaged readers hungry for meaning beneath polarization.
Substack newsletter with strong reader engagement and rising subscriber base
Consistent traffic to WoundTheory.com
Growing social presence across Twitter, LinkedIn, and psychology-adjacent communities
Public praise from respected voices in psychology, including:
Dr. Scott Barry Kaufman: “Thoughtful and nuanced… you’re spot on.”
Dr. Jonathan Shedler: “A piece that deserves an audience.”
Dr. Kirk Schneider: “Resonant with the developmental challenges that underlie our cultural breakdowns.”
In 2025, Eric was invited to join the Corps of Depth Healers, a certificate program founded by Dr. Schneider to advance emotionally restorative frameworks in cultural, political, and therapeutic spaces. His work has been archived in the Corps’ official repository and shared within their interdisciplinary professional network.
Pre-Launch Strategy (In Progress)
Weekly Essays: Publish high-value, emotionally resonant essays to Substack to continue audience growth
Podcast Tour: Appear on 25+ psychology, political, and culture-focused podcasts
Video Series: Create a 10-part “Wound Theory Explained” series to demystify the framework and drive viral engagement
Workshops: Host live events and virtual sessions for therapists, educators, and leadership coaches focused on emotional literacy and depolarization
Social Content Strategy: Curate high-impact quotes, visuals, and short clips to share across platforms and drive lead capture
Audience Development Tools
Wound Theory Assessment Tool: Interactive quiz to identify emotional/political attachment styles
Reader Community: Moderated space for emotional processing and political dialogue beyond ideology
Book Club Guide: Downloadable companion for discussion groups and therapist-facilitated circles
CEU-Eligible Training: Create professional development content for therapists, educators, and DEI practitioners
Multimedia Integration: Launch a branded podcast and YouTube presence (interviews, lectures, emotional case studies)
Strategic Outreach Targets (Active)
Psychology + Emotional Health Thought Leaders:
Gabor Maté, Brené Brown, Esther Perel, Dr. Bruce Perry
Political Commentary / Social Psychology:
Jonathan Haidt, David Brooks, Heather Cox Richardson
Media Outlets:
WIRED, The Atlantic, Greater Good, Aeon, Psychology Today, The Ezra Klein Show
Cross-Promotion & Institutional Partnerships
Therapy and CEU providers: Potential curriculum licensing
Parenting + Education Organizations: Workshops and tools for emotional development
Conflict Resolution Groups: Collaborations with depolarization and civil discourse nonprofits
Corporate & DEI Leaders: Speaking and training opportunities for emotional regulation in leadership
COMPETITIVE TITLES
While no existing book fully articulates the Wound Theory™ framework, several successful titles demonstrate a growing demand for trauma-informed, psychologically rich explorations of political behavior, identity, and cultural dysfunction. This book enters the market as both a bridge and a breakthrough—blending emotional insight, scientific rigor, and cultural relevance.
The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt
Explores moral psychology and political division through evolutionary theory. While deeply influential, it is not trauma-informed and does not address emotional development or attachment theory. Wound Theory builds on Haidt’s moral foundations work by incorporating the role of emotional wounds and nervous system dysregulation in shaping belief systems.
The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk
A landmark book on trauma’s effect on the body and brain. While it brought trauma into mainstream conversation, it does not explore how trauma translates into political identity or cultural behavior. Wound Theory extends van der Kolk’s insights into the realm of ideology, identity fusion, and collective behavior.
The Myth of Normal by Gabor Maté
Explores how modern culture contributes to illness and dysfunction, with a strong emphasis on trauma and emotional suppression. Wound Theory aligns with Maté’s perspective but adds a political dimension, providing a narrative and framework for how trauma shapes ideological identity, voting behavior, and authoritarian attachment.
The Political Mind by George Lakoff
Focuses on cognitive framing and metaphors in shaping political thought. While intellectually rich, it lacks the emotional and somatic dimension that Wound Theory brings. This book complements Lakoff’s work by exploring the pre-cognitive, regulatory forces behind ideological formation.
Strangers in Their Own Land by Arlie Russell Hochschild
An important ethnographic look at political identity in conservative America. Hochschild introduced the idea of the “deep story,” which overlaps with Wound Theory’s emphasis on emotional narratives—but her work is observational rather than diagnostic. Wound Theory goes further by providing a universal, trauma-informed explanatory model for political behavior across the ideological spectrum.
Atlas of the Heart by Brené Brown
Maps emotional states and their role in connection and disconnection. While not political in scope, Brown’s work on shame, belonging, and vulnerability directly complements the emotional foundations of Wound Theory. This book could serve as an accessible on-ramp for readers transitioning into deeper political and psychological insight.
Gap Filled by Wound Theory
Offers a unified, trauma-informed framework connecting childhood experience to adult political identity
Applies attachment theory, emotional regulation science, and somatic psychology to polarization and ideology
Provides both explanatory depth and actionable insight for individual healing and collective discourse
Reframes political behavior as a function of emotional survival, not just belief or cognition
IDEAL PUBLISHERS
Wound Theory is a crossover work of narrative nonfiction that blends psychology, cultural commentary, and political insight. It is positioned for publishers who have demonstrated success launching books at the intersection of emotional health, big ideas, and societal relevance. The ideal publisher will have a strong track record in psychology and cultural nonfiction, an appetite for original frameworks, and the ability to champion emotionally resonant, intellectually bold work.
Key Attributes of a Strong Publisher Fit
Emphasis on psychology, emotional health, and cultural commentary
Proven success with books that blend academic depth and mainstream accessibility
Interest in depolarization, trauma-informed frameworks, and social insight
Ability to launch interdisciplinary thought leadership with viral or long-tail potential
Suggested Imprints and Publishers
These imprints have successfully launched titles that align thematically, structurally, or tonally with Wound Theory:
Portfolio / Penguin Random House (e.g., Start With Why, The Obstacle Is the Way)
Flatiron Books (e.g., The Myth of Normal by Gabor Maté)
Crown Publishing Group (e.g., The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt)
Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster (e.g., The Body Keeps the Score in partnership editions)
PublicAffairs (e.g., The Political Mind by George Lakoff)
Basic Books (e.g., The Deep Places, Strangers in Their Own Land)
HarperOne (e.g., Brené Brown’s emotional intelligence series)
Wound Theory is particularly well-suited for editors who are looking for original, trauma-informed frameworks that do not fall into traditional partisan or academic silos. It invites readers into emotionally literate political discourse—and offers a roadmap out of the psychological dysfunction that underpins modern division.
CONCLUSION
Wound Theory offers a rare and timely opportunity to reframe political division through the lens of emotional healing. By revealing political identity as a form of emotional regulation, this book helps readers understand themselves—and each other—on a deeper level.
This is not just a book about politics. It’s a guide to emotional literacy, nervous system integration, and cultural repair.
Because in the end, we’re not just fighting over power. We’re fighting to feel safe.
if you read my stuff.. I think we are on the same wave length... and we should talk if you are interested; https://substack.com/home/post/p-159227015
The whole list: https://substack.com/@ogredragon?utm_source=user-menu