Living The Red Life - Neuroscience Expert & Attorney on How Stress Hijacks the Brain and Business Decisions

Episode Date: March 13, 2026

Dr. Jennifer Sweeton is an accomplished psychologist who also practices law. The conversation delves deeply into the intersections between psychology, neuroscience, and law, offering novel insights into how stress and trauma influence decision-making processes. Dr. Sweeton shares her personal journey of transitioning from computer engineering to psychology, motivated by life-altering experiences, and brings a unique perspective to therapeutic practices.Throughout the episode, Dr. Sweeton discusses the intricacies of the human brain, especially in relation to stress and trauma, emphasizing the challenges in understanding neurological processes. The dialogue touches on themes of dissociation, creativity, and flow states, shedding light on their implications for entrepreneurs and individuals alike. Dr. Sweeton elaborates on her continued dedication to education through her online CE and CLE platforms, highlighting the importance of training and certification for both mental health professionals and lawyers. Her extensive knowledge and innovative attitude offer a refreshing take on blending disciplines for personal and professional growth.Key Takeaways:Trauma and stress can impair decision-making by shutting down crucial areas of the brain responsible for logical processing.The interplay between psychology and law reveals fascinating insights into human behavior and decision-making patterns.Acknowledging and understanding one's experiences with trauma can lead to better therapeutic outcomes and personal growth.Dr. Sweeton's career evolution underscores the importance of pursuing one's genuine interests and the impact of varied professional experiences.The efficacy of online therapy is comparable to in-person sessions, especially beneficial for individuals with specific trauma-related experiences.Notable Quotes:"When people experience stress, it actually shuts down the areas of your brain that you need activated to make good decisions.""I've been interested in psychology for as long as I can remember, but I didn't decide to study it until after the death of my friend.""So many times when people have been traumatized, they may not want to be super close to you in the same room.""The brain is trying to resolve something when you notice it plays over and over again.""The people who do best in therapy are the people that you can form the best relationship with."Connect with Dr. Jennifer Sweeton:WebsiteFacebookInstagramConnect with Rudy Mawer:LinkedInInstagramFacebookTwitter

When people experience stress, when they experience trauma, it actually shuts down the areas of your brain that you need activated to make good decisions. Yeah. This is also the case, by the way, with children and adolescents, if you ask them, what were you thinking when you did that? They'll say, I don't know or I wasn't, and both are accurate, I think. But it's these areas, the top areas of the brain don't function so well. And that is the main thing that leads people to just making terrible decisions sometimes. Talk about some of your chemistry work and some lives you've, change in the psychiatry side.

I think the people who... My name's Rudy Moore, host of Living the Red Life podcast, and I'm here to change the way you see your life in your earpiece every single week. If you're ready to start living the Red Life, ditch the Blue Pill, take the Red Pill, join me in Wonderland and change your life. Welcome back to another episode of the Living Your Legacy podcast,

the Red Life Edition. Joining me today is Dr. Jennifer Sweeten, quite a powerful force. One side she's a lawyer, and the next side she's a psychologist. I'm not sure how to begin the ying to the yang here, Jen. A doctor. How was your interview today? It was great.

It was a great opportunity to think about how I come together. All these different things come together, I think, in more detail than I had given it thought. Yeah, I'm glad we had that moment together because I'm like, this is a lot of folks sit in the chair and they're like, this is my origin story. but I like to say that your origin story is almost like a super villain. You started off in the search for answers of the heart of psychiatry. Let's talk about that first. Yeah, I've been interested in psychology for as long as I can remember, but I didn't decide to study it until after the death of my friend, after high school.

Even then I still was computer engineering in college, but then my purpose caught up with me. I was supposed to study engineering, but then I got into it. And I was like, you know, I think I'm more interested in the psychology and the brain side of things. Oh, you said computer engineering. Why did you pivot? I just realized computer engineering wasn't really sparking much of an interest for me. And what was is my college roommate's textbook on psychology.

So I started reading it. And I thought, you know, I'm more interested in this. Were you in the top bunk, bottom bunk? I was in the bottom bunk. All right. So I could just picture you with this giant psychology book. This was like before the days of the designers coming in and doing dorms, you know, you see those. Before the we works?

Yeah. College dorms. Right, right. What really fascinating? you, what really sparked your imagination and made you go, that's, that's, that's focused on psychiatry. Well, I noticed after the death of my friend, I was different. I felt like I was walking around almost like in a dream, almost like a haze. And now I understand that is dissociation. But that was a very strange experience to experience, but then also

to observe as I was experiencing it. And I wanted to know what's happening with me, what's happening with some of the friends that I was seeing and things that I was seen about them that was different. And what's going on in the brain? Because I knew really, even then, it all comes down to what's going on neurologically. It's all what's going on in the brain. Oh, gosh, I'm so curious. Just dive right in. But before we do, let's talk about some of the stuff that you just talked about, oh, I just lost track of my thought here. I hate what that happens. Let's talk about that, actually. When you're talking about psychiatry and we're slowly moving into the evolution of being a lawyer, I kind of want to work about, talk about the emotions and what's

really driving us to make the decisions that we make. Because the reason why I'm making that connection is because I'm sure as a lawyer, you see a lot of human behaviors that are erratic. How did you make this decision? Yeah. How did you? What?

Make that connection, that correlation. Yeah, and you see this in law too, where you'll be like, how did this law happen? Who did this to where this became a thing? Yeah. And, you know, there's a lot of explanations for it. But, you know, when people experience stress, when they experienced trauma, it actually shuts down the areas of your brain that you need

activated to make good decisions. This is also the case, by the way, with children and adolescents, if you ask them, what were you thinking when you did that? They'll say, I don't know or I wasn't, and both are accurate, I think. But it's these areas, the top areas of the brain don't function so well. And that is the main thing that leads people to me, just making terrible decisions sometimes. Terrible segue. way. Speaking of terrible decisions, like I said, terrible segue way, let's go back to the disassociation,

which is what I did just a moment ago and I forgot the question. Rudy, one of my great mentors and my baby brother, he dissociates, but he calls it, I'm not going to ROI on that. I'm not going to spend any energy on this decision because it's not, I want to just focus on these things. I see him do that. But I also see the similarities of dissociation. And I also see the psychotic natures of other entrepreneurs, myself included, when it comes to a decision. making, leading. You've got to be a little crazy to do what we do, correct? Right. And there's times that you do need to be dissociative. Not all dissociation is trauma-based. There's something called in the brain, the default mode network. And this is when

you're on autopilot. This is like when you get in the car to drive home and all of a sudden you're home and you have no idea how you got there. That is a form of dissociation. That's also associated with creativity and a flow state. So we know that people who are really creative tend to go into that default mode more often than people who are not. So it is a symptom of trauma, but then it's also kind of a symptom of health and creativity. It's just kind of interesting. Very interesting. I'm absolutely engaged. Clearly, let's talk about that childhood drama.

You and I are both only children. Yes. Many folks would be like, that's a great superpower. And many folks would be like, oh, God, are you okay? I'm like, yes, I constantly needed to be. You know what I mean? Like, talk about how that leans into your superpower, but also, is could be a kryptonite.

Hmm. And my daughter now is an only child. There you go. Do you see some similarities? I do, but she is so much more of an extrovert. She has higher social needs

than I do. So I have to go to more of an effort to make sure she has those social connections and I think I needed. Gosh, was it a strength? Was it a weakness? You know, I grew up as

Gen X. So we're kind of a stereotype is like that we were pretty feral and we didn't get a lot of supervision. I think being an only child actually made it pretty perfect because my parents were of that generation of like, let you go do things, back when it gets dark.

But they also had a closer eye on me that I think some of my peers, same age, who had like four or five siblings. So I think I got like the perfect balance of independence with that generation, but then also supervision. Well, I'm sure you and I are in this similar ballpark. There weren't a lot of cell phones, barely pagers back then. But we didn't get supervised because we were really being supervised by whatever reality he wasn't a device in our hands.

Right. So we were able to make kind of like our own self-conscious decisions and have, I would think, healthy, you know, coming to the age stories and their 12, 13s, and 14s, and her preteens, and now today, hopefully. Now let's talk about the evolution of being a lawyer. Like, we talked about this in your episode. How does, you know, when you're, you're psychiatrists and you're taking notes on your client, you're really deciphering what they're saying.

And as a lawyer, really still deciphering what they're saying to use it against them or for them. Talk about the similarities. the contrasts of this. Yeah. I think in both cases, hopefully are goals to help people. Yeah. I realize it's a little bit different.

Super villain asterisk. Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, I think the ultimate goal is the same, but what you're looking for is very different.

Obviously, with psychology, you're looking at what are the symptoms, what's the impairment, what's the goal, what do they want to change, which is a little bit different than law,

which when we're thinking maybe less about the individual and more about the case. You got into this car accident. Have you gone to the doctor? What did the doctor say? Do you have your medical records? Who have you told?

So it's more about the situation around the person than the person themselves. It's more about the context, I think. Do you always feel like you approach things with that engineering mindset? Yes, I think so. Because even though you speak of the carriers, it's very engineered. Yeah, left brain. But in a great way. Well, thank you.

I recognize the power. I'm just saying I'm putting it that way. Yeah, more like kind of numbers, logic base. My daughter actually came home from school recently. And she said, I'm left-brained. I found out. I was like, yes, you are. I could have told you that.

That's awesome. Yeah, but I'm a little more on that side. Right on. So talk about having a partner in crime, having your daughter, having a father, how important that is. And for folks that are listening that, unfortunately, don't have that blessing, but also that do have that blessing. Speak to these folks.

Yeah. Well, you know, partnering is the biggest business move you're ever going to make. And there's other things that are important in life, obviously besides business. But he has been fantastic as a support system, as a business partner, as a father, as just a partner in general as a friend. Sure. He's been amazing in all of these capacities. Right on.

Is your partner a cheerleader or a rule breaker with you, an optimist? What is your ying to the yang here? Yeah. Okay. So he is more of a rule follower than I am. Great. So he grounds me sometimes. It's a little bit more airy.

What else about him? He's adventurous, though. He's level-headed. So he has kind of a good mix of different traits that seem to maybe be. opposites but but they work together. The reason why I bring this up is I'm a little biased just because my partner if it wasn't for my partner I'd probably lost in the weeds because I'm just always in my mind and I lead with fire and very much a fire sign if you're into that. My partner is an earth sign and it very much the flow is very much be water like Bruce Lee says as opposed to try to

steam up the water and be theatrical about things and I've actually found peace of mind and having a moment to just be tranquil and breathing exercises. Talk about some of your chemistry work and some lives you've changed in the psychiatry side. I think the people who do best in therapy are the people that you can form the best relationship with. Absolutely. Really, it's that trust and that rapport. I think that is the best predictor. And the research supports this as well.

That methods are methods and methods can be helpful, but it's really that connection. And so, you know, you can go to school for however many years, but sometimes the connection just is there or isn't there. and you just have to know when it's there and then know, I think, when to refer out, because there's some things that you just can't teach. Right on. Speaking of not teaching, but another terrible segue, a segue, 40,000 physicians, that was a stat that I remember reading? Yeah, so online CE credits are continuing education company.

My husband and I, yeah, I don't even know. I think the number might be more like 60,000 or something, but it's a lot. I'll brag, which leads me to another great segue is, what's your hospital day? What's your day to day like? It's a variety of things. So every day involves online CE credits in some way. Increasingly Legal Master, the CLEC company, so kind of the same thing, but for lawyers. Cool.

And most days involve something with a client, although I don't think there would be every single day. Right on. And then it sprinkled in there, some writing, some speaking, and legal work, which is just amazingly fascinating. So every day's a little bit different. Right on. Like how you listed out your superpower. So now we have an agenda and a criteria to get through. So first of all, let's talk about, you mentioned your job.

day to day and I want to talk about your book. You're an author. What inspired you to write your book? Reaching a broader audience. There's only so much that you can accomplish one-on-one in a therapy room. I really enjoy the process of psychotherapy, but I know that there are some brain-changing skills that are fairly straightforward, actually, and easy that if just people knew about them, not for everybody, but for some people, it might eliminate the need, actually, for therapy. So I wanted to write books to communicate those things, kind of from a neuroscience perspective, but also a psychology perspective. Do you find that there's been a shift with, you know,

with digital and Zoom therapists versus the brick and mortar in person? Is there been a benefit, this benefit, or do you find that the in-person experience far outweighs a thousand Zoom calls? This is discussed constantly in the mental health world, and people have very strong opinions about it. What I've noticed is it depends on the person. The research really shows that it's just as efficacious, really overall, that you're looking at averages.

I really like it. think something that I just have to keep in mind about trauma is that a lot of times when people have been traumatized, especially if it's like physical trauma, sexual trauma, they may not actually want to be super close to you in the same room. That can feel threatening. And I think for them being in a safe place in their home, that can sometimes give them the distance that they need to actually feel safe to open up. So I think it works really well for trauma sometimes. I've just not recently recognized the forms of different levels of trauma, PTSD. I catch myself reenacting scenes in my head speaking out loud. I actually woke up.

this morning upset because I had a monologue with a fight that I had with my mother years ago, months ago, but I don't speak to her anymore. So my partner noticed a shift of my energy. And I'm like, well, I've become as transparent as I can. I think I am suffering from some form of PTSD because I'm reenacting moments that just happened maybe decades ago. I'm like, why am I in this moment? Is there a lesson here? Why am I in? Like, what is happening to me upstairs? I clearly haven't been, what's the word? I haven't seen any professional help. it's this is all self-guided and through experiences like speaking to you right well you know your brain usually is trying to resolve something when you notice it plays over and over again your brain's not trying to drive you crazy although it feels like an enemy at times but it's trying to resolve to fix it it's trying to get you to a place where you say okay now this makes sense or I'm okay with us or it no longer bothers me got it the thing about rumination though is that oftentimes you start looping don't actually accomplish what your brain's trying to accomplish if that makes sense that actually quinks a lot of sense how do I sign up?

Like, well, actually, actually leads to my question. I'm, I'm going through my own adventure, my own, sometimes I'm very transparent.

You know, I'm a 42-year-old male that, you know, isn't married, doesn't have children. Some folks want to hug me and go, are you okay? And other folks that are men

and their giant boys are like, wow, video games all day. But is that, is that, it almost seems like that's almost like the hip thing to be now.

In your 40s, you're the new 20s. Like, oh, you're in your third or fourth divorce, but you've made it. Your kids are, like,

What is the new normal is what I'm trying to land on? Like, am I a normal male? Like, or am I abnormal? What do the stats say? Oh, gosh. From a psychologist perspective, like, kind of everything is normal. Like, I'm not shocked by anything. Right on.

But then nobody's normal. Like, if I get to know a person enough, their families are never normal. Oh, no. Everybody's, like, you know. So it's hard to tell. Here's the question that you ask yourself, are you okay? Is it working for you? Are you happy?

If you're not, there's a problem. If you are. And who cares what other people think? Amazing. I feel like the who cares what other people think is the ego that we're, but the thing that we don't identify, I feel like there's something far more divine that's being downloaded.

Where do you think this negative frequencies are coming from that aren't resolved and within our hearts? I think some, well, where they come from? That's a difficult question. It could be spiritual. Yeah, I was going to say, I mean, there's neurological answers to that. I think there's also spiritual answers to that.

It could be, from a spiritual perspective, it could be there's something that happened 17 generations back that you don't know about. Sure. Right. Because trauma does, we know, tend to get communicated through the generations, even when it's not communicated. Well, it's still kind of in the code, huh? Yeah. It's still there. Yeah.

So it could be something like that. It could be that spiritually you're aware of something that's just not finished for you. Something it's prompting you to do something potentially. That could be another explanation too. Is the brain scary? Because right now I feel like all these amazing answers, but there's no ending. There's no like true definitive answer. It's just these open gap like plot holes.

Yeah. So the more you study the brain, the more questions you have. Exactly. And the fewer the answers, which can be, I think, distressing if you're someone that really values like getting to the root of something and answering it. But I do think with technology and everything moving as fast as it's moving these days, I don't think that's going to be the case forever. I think in 40 years, we're going to have a very different understanding. Right now. Well, within our lifetimes.

Yeah. Right. Right, right now. The crazy is still happening day to day. Doctor, how can folks find you today? How can folks find your book? How can folks continue following your tribe? Right. Well, you can find all of my books on Amazon. You just do it search for my name, Jennifer Sweeten. They will pop up. You can find me on my websites, Jennifer Sweeten.com or Sweetenjurylaw.com or the company websites that we have online cedecredits.com or legal mastercly.com. So that's mouthful. I love it. Those are all the ways. And what are we going to learn about you in your episode? What's a good preview for your Women in Power episode?

Yeah. You're going to learn about, of course, my journey. And I would say specifically how sometimes hard things can inform your journey in really positive ways. That it's not always that you set out with the plan and you accomplish it the way you envision. But sometimes really hard things can lead to good things. Right on, doctor. I really appreciate your time and energy. It was such a soothing afternoon.

I hope that a feeling is repricidicated English. I can do it. With that, that concludes another episode of the Living Your Legacy podcast, The Women in Power Edition. Doctor, thanks again. It was such an honor. With that, I am Ray Gutierrez for Insight Success.