As someone who’s been practicing for a while, I’ve seen our view on the treatment of trauma go through substantial development. Our research, theory and treatments have all advanced considerably in the last 40 years.
And as I reflect upon this, I’m seeing 3 waves in the evolution of our outlook.
Looking back at when I first began to practice (in the late 70’s) our understanding of trauma was really quite limited. Of course we recognized the fight / flight response ever since Hans Selye introduced the notion back in the 50’s.
But our prevailing treatment option was talk therapy.
The thinking at the time was that by getting clients to talk about their traumatic event, we could “get to the bottom of” their issues and help them heal.
We were aware of the body and knew it held some power. But few practitioners used it in treatment (except the relatively few who worked with Bioenergetics, Rolfing, Feldenkrais, Rubenfeld, and to some extent Gestalt therapy).
But we were very limited in our ability to explain how body work, or for that matter, a talking treatment, affected the brain (and we had very little evidence-based research for it either). We just didn’t have much of a roadmap to guide us where we wanted to go.
That was the first wave.
Over time, researchers and clinicians started to recognize the limits of talk therapy. We realized that talking about a traumatic event held certain risks. At times, we inadvertently re-traumatized patients, especially if interventions were introduced too soon, before the patient was ready.
We also saw the memory of trauma as more often held in the right brain, the part that doesn’t really think in words.
So we began to use interventions that weren’t as dependent upon talking, interventions like guided imagery, hypnosis, EMDR, and the various forms of tapping.
And as the science surrounding the brain’s reactions to trauma became more sophisticated, clinicians grew to understand more about what was going on.
We began to realize that not everyone who experiences a traumatic event gets PTSD. In fact, most people who experience a traumatic event don’t get PTSD.
And so researchers started to develop studies to determine who did and who didn’t get PTSD. We looked for what factors might predict greater sensitivity to trauma.
And we modified our thinking to add freeze (later known as feigned death) to the fight/flight reaction.
Just adding that piece clarified our thinking about what triggers PTSD.
It also began to expand our treatment options to include sensory motor approaches.
And we started to see how more vastly intricate and multifaceted multiple trauma was compared to single incident trauma.
But I believe a third wave of trauma research and treatment innovations has just begun to crest.
And it’s only come recently.
We continue to see advances in the field of trauma therapy that are opening up more effective methods for working with trauma patients.
Because of all the research that’s been done, we are much better able to predict who gets PTSD and who doesn’t. Not only that but we’ve got a good handle on why certain people get PTSD.
And as brain science has revealed how different areas of the brain and nervous system respond to traumatic events, we don’t think so often about whether trauma is stored in the left vs right brain.
We think in terms of three parts of the brain, the pre-frontal cortex, the limbic brain and the lower, more primitive brain. And we’re much more sophisticated in thinking about which part needs our intervention.
We understand that the lower brain can command the shutdown response, totally bypassing the prefrontal cortex, totally bypassing any sense of “choice” for the patient.
And we see more clearly the part that the vagal system plays in this shutdown response.
We understand more of the role neuroception plays in feeling safe.
Knowing how the body and brain react to trauma opens the door for the third wave.
We are now beginning to use techniques like neurofeedback (based upon but a long way from the biofeedback we used years ago,) limbic system therapy, and other brain and body-oriented approaches that include a polyvagal perspective.
These are techniques I couldn’t have dreamed of when I began clinical practice.
But these are powerful tools that can offer hope to those who have been stuck in cycles of reactivity, shame, and hopelessness.
And now I’d like to hear from you:
What changes have you seen in your work with the treatment of trauma? Please leave a comment below.
Mindfulness plus meditation have been very helpful.
Roro
Mindfulness plus meditation have been very helpful.
Roro
I am not a therapist. I am someone who tries to understand PTSD from the inside out as well as from the outside in. I sincerely hope that this third wave moves us closer towards realizing that as long as a division exists between the analyzer and the analyzed … it will be business as usual. The Mindfulness Movement comes closest to understanding that a psychological dualist approach between client and therapist only perpetuates the past and therefore inhibits moment to moment awareness and insight.
Home run! Great slingugg with that answer!
That seems to be why Rogerian therapy is so affective as part of the answer, but it is just not that simple if one does not understand mental health from a holistic standpoint, i.e. mind, body , spirit. thersapy is as complicated as our body yet using a computer term it is good to sync all these many ideas from so many specialists. Quantum psychology also plays a role in healing if one believes in this theory by Wollensky, as I see this more and more begin brought into my office by any numer of clients. I use the Tonglund method to help in the healing process, while another toolbox tool is to use a CBT tool of thought stopping. Ken Wilbur says we need to meet the client where they are and wrok from thers and that is why it im imperative to have a way into what the client needs. I have rarely met two with the same distinct needs. What is good for the goose is not always good for the gander.
I am not a therapist. I am someone who tries to understand PTSD from the inside out as well as from the outside in. I sincerely hope that this third wave moves us closer towards realizing that as long as a division exists between the analyzer and the analyzed … it will be business as usual. The Mindfulness Movement comes closest to understanding that a psychological dualist approach between client and therapist only perpetuates the past and therefore inhibits moment to moment awareness and insight.
I am adding this because it is important part of the healing modalities to know.
Healing can be very complicated… For me, EMDR brought emotions I had never before experienced and realizations that brought me to my knees. With this came a long process of acceptance, forgiveness and then grieving the loss of what I once believed was my truth.
It has been a lonely process, for what is discussed in the privacy of the counseling hour has not been something I could ever share with anyone, including the wonderful friends and family members of my life.
My goal, from the moment I first met my therapist was to leave counseling whole, grateful and without a feeling of dependency on him. As I heal, I now start the process of leaving the only person who knows everything I wish had never happened. The dependency I tried to avoid has been un-avoidable, the gratefulness that I feel is profound for this man, who with integrity and professionalism, provided a safe haven for this ‘journey out’. After 6 years of intentionally entering (and sometimes forcing myself to enter) that room, I am finally at peace. I am slowly telling close friends (who do not pry) some of my journey, but only if it also helps them or someone else. Details are never important, but how one faces adversity in a proactive way is important to all of us.
I have never seen a book that provides a roadmap out of counseling. Maybe one of you can write one? My goal is to leave counseling permanently, without this being another loss and with the knowledge that I am indeed capable of living the rest of my life finding my own answers and knowing that I am finally ‘done’.
He has told me that he will help me with this too. And I believe that he is right… 🙂
_Waking the Tiger_ by Peter A. Levine is my recommendation for you.
I am adding this because it is important part of the healing modalities to know.
Healing can be very complicated… For me, EMDR brought emotions I had never before experienced and realizations that brought me to my knees. With this came a long process of acceptance, forgiveness and then grieving the loss of what I once believed was my truth.
It has been a lonely process, for what is discussed in the privacy of the counseling hour has not been something I could ever share with anyone, including the wonderful friends and family members of my life.
My goal, from the moment I first met my therapist was to leave counseling whole, grateful and without a feeling of dependency on him. As I heal, I now start the process of leaving the only person who knows everything I wish had never happened. The dependency I tried to avoid has been un-avoidable, the gratefulness that I feel is profound for this man, who with integrity and professionalism, provided a safe haven for this ‘journey out’. After 6 years of intentionally entering (and sometimes forcing myself to enter) that room, I am finally at peace. I am slowly telling close friends (who do not pry) some of my journey, but only if it also helps them or someone else. Details are never important, but how one faces adversity in a proactive way is important to all of us.
I have never seen a book that provides a roadmap out of counseling. Maybe one of you can write one? My goal is to leave counseling permanently, without this being another loss and with the knowledge that I am indeed capable of living the rest of my life finding my own answers and knowing that I am finally ‘done’.
He has told me that he will help me with this too. And I believe that he is right… 🙂
As a teacher and as a Vietnam PTSD client, I have seen them all. I have not found EMDR or talking helpful. My experience was so constant and consistent and over a very long time that it is different than a particular event. I was also as a medic in a field hospital that I was faced with constant traumatic injuries, day and night. Relationships and feeling understood and recognizing what I was experiencing made sense given my experiences was very helpful initially. Also, the neuroscience has opened me up to mindfulness work. I still rely heavily on Medication. Things can get very strange and come at moments you are not expecting them.
As a teacher and as a Vietnam PTSD client, I have seen them all. I have not found EMDR or talking helpful. My experience was so constant and consistent and over a very long time that it is different than a particular event. I was also as a medic in a field hospital that I was faced with constant traumatic injuries, day and night. Relationships and feeling understood and recognizing what I was experiencing made sense given my experiences was very helpful initially. Also, the neuroscience has opened me up to mindfulness work. I still rely heavily on Medication. Things can get very strange and come at moments you are not expecting them.
Thank you for this concise depiction of the evolution of PTSD. The biggest change for me has been in recognizing how the body can identify what the true issue is for each event and each individual. Understanding the Polyvagal theory has certainly helped clarify some thoughts but for my practice more refined muscle testing (using indicators from the mind-body to identify specific focus areas and determine most appropriate modality or process) has made all the difference.
Thank you for this concise depiction of the evolution of PTSD. The biggest change for me has been in recognizing how the body can identify what the true issue is for each event and each individual. Understanding the Polyvagal theory has certainly helped clarify some thoughts but for my practice more refined muscle testing (using indicators from the mind-body to identify specific focus areas and determine most appropriate modality or process) has made all the difference.
I work in a setting where unfortunately, the clinician in charge, is not keeping up to date on newer research. This is frustrating. It is limiting. I want to stay on top of new approaches, I appreciate your efforts.
I work in a setting where unfortunately, the clinician in charge, is not keeping up to date on newer research. This is frustrating. It is limiting. I want to stay on top of new approaches, I appreciate your efforts.
Hello Ruth,
I am so happy you listed Rubenfeld, when relating to some “exceptions,” in your article above, using genle hands on and verbal exchange, it has been helpful for over 30 some years. I have been a Rubenfeld Practitioner for many years, and it is so true that how the body contracted or compressed has stories to tell and when investigated reveals a reflection of a life lived, trauma included. I am also an Alexander Technique Teacher which has for over one hundred years focused on the juncture of head, neck and spine and how habitual compression along with stress and trauma relates to “flight, fight or freeze.” It seems it is all coming together now with new research and I am excited to participate in your series.
Hello Ruth,
I am so happy you listed Rubenfeld, when relating to some “exceptions,” in your article above, using genle hands on and verbal exchange, it has been helpful for over 30 some years. I have been a Rubenfeld Practitioner for many years, and it is so true that how the body contracted or compressed has stories to tell and when investigated reveals a reflection of a life lived, trauma included. I am also an Alexander Technique Teacher which has for over one hundred years focused on the juncture of head, neck and spine and how habitual compression along with stress and trauma relates to “flight, fight or freeze.” It seems it is all coming together now with new research and I am excited to participate in your series.
New understanding of the role of the body in reactions to psychological trauma, and body -based treatment, are a welcome development. However, some current conventional wisdom about”talk therapy” is mistaken, and without some important clarifications, we run the risk of losing the mind. Both aspects of the person–mind and body– are wounded by Trauma. The failures or even harmful effects of “talk therapy” are due to a fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of psychological trauma and PTSD. What occurs with a traumatic wound is an inability to process, digest, incorporate effectively, the events which have occurred. Since the person cannot integrate the experience, it is indeed counterproductive to promote simply repeating the traumatic event in words. The kind of “talk therapy” which IS helpful, and sometimes vital, is talking in a kind of relationship, and with an understanding of how the mind works, where the traumatized person can grow and develop the new structures and processes of mind with which they can harmoniously integrate and understand what they have experienced. The interactions of two subjectivities in psychodynamic therapy focused on growth, not repetitive trauma-viewing,
make this possible. EMDR, yoga, meditation, and one or another of the somatic experiencing therapies, in concert with psychodynamic therapy, offer many persons the healing they need. . The role of psychodynamic therapy has been extensively documented in the psychoanalytic literature by such authors as Mardi Horowitz, Krystal, Judith Herman, D. Laub, Nanette Auerhahn, and many others.
Art Blank Jr. M.D.
Dr. Blank —
You are so right! I experienced severe, ongoing trauma throughout my childhood and adolescence, and I was dysfunctional in many areas of my life. I had a total of about 20 years of talk therapy with various licensed practitioners. Much of it was probably more harmful than helpful. One of my therapists, however, was internationally known, and I admired and envied her. In therapy, she sometimes spoke of her own problems and issues as examples. She made the talk therapy into a kind of conversation between equals, and sometimes asked my opinion about things as if she really cared what I thought and believed. As I look back on these sessions, I see that they changed me by giving me self-confidence and a feeling of adequacy for the tasks of life, whatever they might be. Other traumatized patients may have benefited from talk-therapy in other ways, but this is how it helped me. I would not say that it totally relieved me of the effects of my trauma, but it cleared away some of the cobwebs and paved the way for further healing. I was not ready to hear directives or recommendations from anyone until I had repeatedly engaged with a respectable, successful person who elicited my comments and opinions and listened to them respectfully and attentively, bestowing upon me the dignity that I was silently craving.
New understanding of the role of the body in reactions to psychological trauma, and body -based treatment, are a welcome development. However, some current conventional wisdom about”talk therapy” is mistaken, and without some important clarifications, we run the risk of losing the mind. Both aspects of the person–mind and body– are wounded by Trauma. The failures or even harmful effects of “talk therapy” are due to a fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of psychological trauma and PTSD. What occurs with a traumatic wound is an inability to process, digest, incorporate effectively, the events which have occurred. Since the person cannot integrate the experience, it is indeed counterproductive to promote simply repeating the traumatic event in words. The kind of “talk therapy” which IS helpful, and sometimes vital, is talking in a kind of relationship, and with an understanding of how the mind works, where the traumatized person can grow and develop the new structures and processes of mind with which they can harmoniously integrate and understand what they have experienced. The interactions of two subjectivities in psychodynamic therapy focused on growth, not repetitive trauma-viewing,
make this possible. EMDR, yoga, meditation, and one or another of the somatic experiencing therapies, in concert with psychodynamic therapy, offer many persons the healing they need. . The role of psychodynamic therapy has been extensively documented in the psychoanalytic literature by such authors as Mardi Horowitz, Krystal, Judith Herman, D. Laub, Nanette Auerhahn, and many others.
Art Blank Jr. M.D.
Thank you for this series Ruth. I am getting so much out of this and it is a wonderful tool for trauma therapy.
Thank you for this series Ruth. I am getting so much out of this and it is a wonderful tool for trauma therapy.
Over the years I have watched “alternative” practices, like EFT and TFT, become accepted in the mainstream and substantiated by science. I remember the days when I was frowned upon for using Heartmath and EFT in schools with disruptive and learning disabled students. We have come a long way. The future of psychology looks brighter to me now than it did 20 years ago.
Over the years I have watched “alternative” practices, like EFT and TFT, become accepted in the mainstream and substantiated by science. I remember the days when I was frowned upon for using Heartmath and EFT in schools with disruptive and learning disabled students. We have come a long way. The future of psychology looks brighter to me now than it did 20 years ago.
Yes, you’re right, Ruth. Developing new ways of working with trauma have been absolutely necessary to help patients to heal, especially for severe cases. I had to help myself first before I could help others. I have been working with a method I developed over the past 35 years that I call “Psychobiophysical Healing”TM which works on seven levels through the brain and the heart and which has helped all patients with PTSD, and most psychological as well as physiological conditions to heal from the root cause. I treat people from anywhere in the world on Skype in addition to my private practice in California. I have enjoyed listening to you and watching you and your series with all those illustrious teachers and therapists and am looking forward to more! Thank you for all your work, Ruth.
Yes, you’re right, Ruth. Developing new ways of working with trauma have been absolutely necessary to help patients to heal, especially for severe cases. I had to help myself first before I could help others. I have been working with a method I developed over the past 35 years that I call “Psychobiophysical Healing”TM which works on seven levels through the brain and the heart and which has helped all patients with PTSD, and most psychological as well as physiological conditions to heal from the root cause. I treat people from anywhere in the world on Skype in addition to my private practice in California. I have enjoyed listening to you and watching you and your series with all those illustrious teachers and therapists and am looking forward to more! Thank you for all your work, Ruth.
Yes, trauma treatment has changed, and continues to change.
It breaks my heart to see survivors of trauma still re-traumatized over and over again through insurance assessments that force them to re-tell their stories in words.
If only the rest of the world would keep pace with these advances, our approach to education, to social justice and even to how we approach collectively dealing with endemic stress would change.
From a sensorimotor psychotherapy viewpoint, we make a clear and profound distinction between freeze (tonic immobility with high sympathetic outflow) and feigned death (collapse and loss of sympathetic outflow) – there are many different reasons why this distinction is important and it will make a good question for Pat Ogden during your interview with her.
Yes, trauma treatment has changed, and continues to change.
It breaks my heart to see survivors of trauma still re-traumatized over and over again through insurance assessments that force them to re-tell their stories in words.
If only the rest of the world would keep pace with these advances, our approach to education, to social justice and even to how we approach collectively dealing with endemic stress would change.
From a sensorimotor psychotherapy viewpoint, we make a clear and profound distinction between freeze (tonic immobility with high sympathetic outflow) and feigned death (collapse and loss of sympathetic outflow) – there are many different reasons why this distinction is important and it will make a good question for Pat Ogden during your interview with her.
Each wave’s success, know it or not, included the gradual and usually unconscious learning to apply self-regulation, learning to recapture the body by moderating the alarming arousal or freezing responses which are adaptive during traumatic events but which can be ignited by recollections and associations long afterwards. If the arousal/freezing responses do not overwhelm the individual’s capacity for self-regulation but do challenge it, verbal recounting MAY be accompanied by release from the alarming internal states, as may the desensitization encounters with the place and the situation. For everyone, including those who are too reactive to benefit from the earlier “waves,” direct training and practice such as yoga, forms of relaxation, or even simply (!) consciously monitoring of the body can use that basic but often unrealized factor in what has made any of the “waves.”
Twenty-five years ago I wouldn’t have understood what I wrote just now! But we were using it nonetheless — just less consciously and less effectively.
Each wave’s success, know it or not, included the gradual and usually unconscious learning to apply self-regulation, learning to recapture the body by moderating the alarming arousal or freezing responses which are adaptive during traumatic events but which can be ignited by recollections and associations long afterwards. If the arousal/freezing responses do not overwhelm the individual’s capacity for self-regulation but do challenge it, verbal recounting MAY be accompanied by release from the alarming internal states, as may the desensitization encounters with the place and the situation. For everyone, including those who are too reactive to benefit from the earlier “waves,” direct training and practice such as yoga, forms of relaxation, or even simply (!) consciously monitoring of the body can use that basic but often unrealized factor in what has made any of the “waves.”
Twenty-five years ago I wouldn’t have understood what I wrote just now! But we were using it nonetheless — just less consciously and less effectively.
Dear Ruth,
Thank you for putting together these ‘Trauma Series’. As a RN in a major Medical ICU, I witnessed very traumatic happenings for our patients and their families. I was able to draw on what I have learned through these webinars to be a more affective caregiver.
I am also a care receiver, having struggled for many years with nightmares, strong and ‘very difficult emotional and physical feelings’ when I least expected them and the frustration of trying to explain what was happening physically to a psychologist only to be told “you just need someone to listen to you” and “why would you want to know what happened? Just live your life!”
I became very good at coping. I learned how to turn off fear in seconds until the next nightmare or unexpected “trigger”. At times, life inside of me was like living in a nightmare, as the people around me witnessed instead my smile or my children joined me as I attempted to make wonderful childhood memories for them… We camped, hiked through woods and our home was a gathering place for their friends. I ‘went through the motions’ and dreaded alone time because I didn’t have these distractions.
Six years ago, I found a therapist who has patiently helped me learn how to tolerate the fear I would experience “out of the blue” or in the middle of the night. I have been able to take partial memories and make peace with them. Forgiveness has been a huge piece of my healing.
He and much of the material on your Webinar, along with the books that many of your speakers have written, are the reason that I am starting to feel like I once felt many years ago. The most important factor has been belief and validation of what ‘I EXPERIENCED’ and a focus on ‘leaning into’ rather than ‘running from’ the strongly negative feelings or fear.
With new found energy, I am finally starting to wake excited about my day; I feel stronger and very hopeful that this will continue. I am realistic, for I have found that the ‘strong feelings’ have not magically gone away, but when they do come, I am able to acknowledge them, tolerate them, let them pass and refocus on what is present. I keep photos of my grandchildren,beautiful sunsets and good memories handy for these moments. And they do pass 🙂
As I go through this transformation,
I am humbled…
…as a dream
wakes me with the past,
…as I realize
that the past 6 years were for naught
but hushing the response of fear.
No quick fixes
to what is unknown,
to what stays below the surface,
…or for the woman who quietly
and finally
begins to rest.
I have learned how to live
with reality
in it’s totality.
Again, thank you.
Dawn
Yay
Dear Ruth,
Thank you for putting together these ‘Trauma Series’. As a RN in a major Medical ICU, I witnessed very traumatic happenings for our patients and their families. I was able to draw on what I have learned through these webinars to be a more affective caregiver.
I am also a care receiver, having struggled for many years with nightmares, strong and ‘very difficult emotional and physical feelings’ when I least expected them and the frustration of trying to explain what was happening physically to a psychologist only to be told “you just need someone to listen to you” and “why would you want to know what happened? Just live your life!”
I became very good at coping. I learned how to turn off fear in seconds until the next nightmare or unexpected “trigger”. At times, life inside of me was like living in a nightmare, as the people around me witnessed instead my smile or my children joined me as I attempted to make wonderful childhood memories for them… We camped, hiked through woods and our home was a gathering place for their friends. I ‘went through the motions’ and dreaded alone time because I didn’t have these distractions.
Six years ago, I found a therapist who has patiently helped me learn how to tolerate the fear I would experience “out of the blue” or in the middle of the night. I have been able to take partial memories and make peace with them. Forgiveness has been a huge piece of my healing.
He and much of the material on your Webinar, along with the books that many of your speakers have written, are the reason that I am starting to feel like I once felt many years ago. The most important factor has been belief and validation of what ‘I EXPERIENCED’ and a focus on ‘leaning into’ rather than ‘running from’ the strongly negative feelings or fear.
With new found energy, I am finally starting to wake excited about my day; I feel stronger and very hopeful that this will continue. I am realistic, for I have found that the ‘strong feelings’ have not magically gone away, but when they do come, I am able to acknowledge them, tolerate them, let them pass and refocus on what is present. I keep photos of my grandchildren,beautiful sunsets and good memories handy for these moments. And they do pass 🙂
As I go through this transformation,
I am humbled…
…as a dream
wakes me with the past,
…as I realize
that the past 6 years were for naught
but hushing the response of fear.
No quick fixes
to what is unknown,
to what stays below the surface,
…or for the woman who quietly
and finally
begins to rest.
I have learned how to live
with reality
in it’s totality.
Again, thank you.
Dawn
Awesome. Great description. Thank you.
Awesome. Great description. Thank you.
I am working according the EMDR method and used EFT as well very affectively. This method helps people in a very quick way to process the trauma. It is exciting to experience understanding the way of trauma and the brain.
I am working according the EMDR method and used EFT as well very affectively. This method helps people in a very quick way to process the trauma. It is exciting to experience understanding the way of trauma and the brain.
I am fascinated with the ongoing study and understanding of trauma and the brain. It is exciting to see attention paid to a good medical assessment as well as trauma assessment. Team work or other comparisons and collaboration of professionals seems essential and welcome. So much to learn……
I am fascinated with the ongoing study and understanding of trauma and the brain. It is exciting to see attention paid to a good medical assessment as well as trauma assessment. Team work or other comparisons and collaboration of professionals seems essential and welcome. So much to learn……
I appreciate your sharing of information on the latest developments arising from the understanding offered by neuropsychology. In reference to PTSD one change being discussed locally to me is intervention time after trauma event. There has been historical criticism of intervening too soon with talking therapies after trauma, and of course diagnostic criteria asks us to identify trauma symptoms still present three months following. So interventions generally recommended to support ‘stabilising’ only. The Berkshire Trauma Service advised on a more idiosyncratic approach, if treatment appears indicated sooner, perhaps following assessment of resilience and psychological mindedness (for CBT interventions) then to go ahead and treat.
Thanks and all the best Chris.
I appreciate your sharing of information on the latest developments arising from the understanding offered by neuropsychology. In reference to PTSD one change being discussed locally to me is intervention time after trauma event. There has been historical criticism of intervening too soon with talking therapies after trauma, and of course diagnostic criteria asks us to identify trauma symptoms still present three months following. So interventions generally recommended to support ‘stabilising’ only. The Berkshire Trauma Service advised on a more idiosyncratic approach, if treatment appears indicated sooner, perhaps following assessment of resilience and psychological mindedness (for CBT interventions) then to go ahead and treat.
Thanks and all the best Chris.
I am still finding EMDR and TFT very effective, and am excited about Dr. Allan Botkin’s discovery of IADC and am taking his training in Illinois later this month. He developed it while doing EMDR at a veteran’s hospital in the Chicago area. It completely clears long-standing grief from loss through death, in one or two sessions. I highly recommend his book, Induced After Death Communication: A Miraculous Therapy for Grief and Loss, by Allan L. Botkin, PsyD and Craig Hogan.
Hey, that’s the grsaeett! So with ll this brain power AWHFY?
I am still finding EMDR and TFT very effective, and am excited about Dr. Allan Botkin’s discovery of IADC and am taking his training in Illinois later this month. He developed it while doing EMDR at a veteran’s hospital in the Chicago area. It completely clears long-standing grief from loss through death, in one or two sessions. I highly recommend his book, Induced After Death Communication: A Miraculous Therapy for Grief and Loss, by Allan L. Botkin, PsyD and Craig Hogan.
YES YES YES! (did I say YES?) = )
I’m a Somatic Experiencing practitioner, Feldenkrais Practitioner and assistant at the master level is Peter Levine. This is SO refreshing to see and read.
For those interested, I did an interview with one of my colleagues, also a high level assistant within the SE world, on the topic of Neuroception, would LOVE to share.
Here it is.
Irene xo
I live in a Canadian city of over one million people, Calgary AB. In my opinion we are in the dark ages here. The go to therapy is still CBT. DBT is staring to make an appearance but the wait lists are very long. I have been constantly traumatized physically and mentally by the psychiatric system here in Calagry and had given up on my healing journey. A friend in the U.S sent me information on current treatments and I finally feel some hope that I can be healed. Many of my questions regarding ineffective treatment have been answered. Thank you for all the information you send it has helped me immensely.
Sorry to hear of your frustration Deborah Clements. There are a couple of excellent Self Regulation Therapists in Calgary very well trained by Dr Ed Josephs and Dr. Lynne Zettl in trauma therapy. I too am very well trained using their outstanding methods which utilize the research of many therapists commonly presenting on NICABM. Contact CFTRE.com (Canadian Foundation of Trauma Research and Education) to find a therapist in Calgary or if you wish message me to assist you in your quest to find an appropriate therapist.
I live in a Canadian city of over one million people, Calgary AB. In my opinion we are in the dark ages here. The go to therapy is still CBT. DBT is staring to make an appearance but the wait lists are very long. I have been constantly traumatized physically and mentally by the psychiatric system here in Calagry and had given up on my healing journey. A friend in the U.S sent me information on current treatments and I finally feel some hope that I can be healed. Many of my questions regarding ineffective treatment have been answered. Thank you for all the information you send it has helped me immensely.
Huge! difference, from lost to could be found, from hopeless to you ca do it, from bear it to heal it.
I am wondering if in the series anyone is talking about working with the limbic system; and talking about the freeze specifically.
What exactly is best used with freeze?
How do you determine witch part of the brain is triggered or in unbalance in the client?
what works best treating each part of the brain?
Tose are my main concerns… besides many point you mention in the next series,
wonderful!
thanks
Irene, thank you for your comment! I am also very interested in how the freeze response occurs and how it can be avoided.
I was diagnosed with PTSD some years ago.
I have had, what I now believe is a freeze response, after a strong trigger…but it is delayed by a few days…so when it occurs, I am not thinking of the past trauma and I’m feeling calm, once even humming!
My BP (68/40) sometimes my pulse (44-52) will suddenly drop very low, so I know it is a vagal response. I will be symptomatic and will be taken to the ER. In my last 2 ER visits, I shared with the doctor that I believed this was a response to a strong exposure to a past trauma.
This happened often, years ago during the first trauma. Extensive testing showed a healthy heart and nothing wrong.
With my last episode, I told my husband, I was staying home.
After each episode, it takes about 45-60 minutes to feel ‘normal’ again.
I am very interested in preventing this. It is an out of the blue happening, very embarrassing and when I think of watching a little one…scary.
Thank you to all of you who continue to research the body’s response to trauma and unavoidable memory occurances.
Huge! difference, from lost to could be found, from hopeless to you ca do it, from bear it to heal it.
I am wondering if in the series anyone is talking about working with the limbic system; and talking about the freeze specifically.
What exactly is best used with freeze?
How do you determine witch part of the brain is triggered or in unbalance in the client?
what works best treating each part of the brain?
Tose are my main concerns… besides many point you mention in the next series,
wonderful!
thanks
My practice is totally integrative, with components of the myriad masters with whom I have studied. (I’ve taken some of your webinars.) The process that impresses me the most, is the direct root to deep healing, using EMDR. I facilitated transformation in a man who had repeatedly raped his wife for twenty years. The rage and self-loathing in him from his past fueled his evil. I’ve facilitated people’s healing of seizures (some of them from anxiety), resentments in marital relationships, the shame that is often under layers of justification with affairs, the impact on affairs and the ruminating that often occurs with the wounded partner.
Acknowledging my “addiction” to learning, I have created some of my own “processes” including aspects of neurolinguistics, journalling, cognitive/behavioral, attachment theory, Imago and the list will never end when I experience something that could enrich my help for people who are suffering – with trauma, with self-esteem issues, with anger, depression….
Our responsibility, our privilege, our love for our clients can change their brains in ways that open their lives and their ability to love themselves and others. What we do will radiate out into families, workplaces, the world. I am awed by my choice of career. Thirty-two years and still learning. Thanks to people like you who have much to offer. However, whomever we can thank for neuroplasticity and our ability with our own limbic system to engage others and lead them into a whole, healthy way of being! It’s awesome!
My practice is totally integrative, with components of the myriad masters with whom I have studied. (I’ve taken some of your webinars.) The process that impresses me the most, is the direct root to deep healing, using EMDR. I facilitated transformation in a man who had repeatedly raped his wife for twenty years. The rage and self-loathing in him from his past fueled his evil. I’ve facilitated people’s healing of seizures (some of them from anxiety), resentments in marital relationships, the shame that is often under layers of justification with affairs, the impact on affairs and the ruminating that often occurs with the wounded partner.
Acknowledging my “addiction” to learning, I have created some of my own “processes” including aspects of neurolinguistics, journalling, cognitive/behavioral, attachment theory, Imago and the list will never end when I experience something that could enrich my help for people who are suffering – with trauma, with self-esteem issues, with anger, depression….
Our responsibility, our privilege, our love for our clients can change their brains in ways that open their lives and their ability to love themselves and others. What we do will radiate out into families, workplaces, the world. I am awed by my choice of career. Thirty-two years and still learning. Thanks to people like you who have much to offer. However, whomever we can thank for neuroplasticity and our ability with our own limbic system to engage others and lead them into a whole, healthy way of being! It’s awesome!
Nice overview. And there was also an ancestor of the first stage espoused by misguided followers of Skinner, who thought that mere survival and will power would do the trick. I remember a professor, who proudly described his cure of a shocked and traumatized dog by repeatedly returning the animal to the site of trauma without repeating the shock. While the “cure” was eventually somewhat effective for the dog, presumably because of what we now know to be processes of memory, it was also traumatizing for psych students to hear. Applying this flooding method to humans, especially those with what we would now call dis-regulated attachment, was actually cruel as well as misguided and authoritarian. Survivors of battle shock in WW2 and Vietnam had to endure this “pull up your socks and get on with it” treatment. It is a remarkably visible shift in consciousness in our field that we have sought for more effective and empathically related methods and even found the rationale in neuroscience to support them.
Nice overview. And there was also an ancestor of the first stage espoused by misguided followers of Skinner, who thought that mere survival and will power would do the trick. I remember a professor, who proudly described his cure of a shocked and traumatized dog by repeatedly returning the animal to the site of trauma without repeating the shock. While the “cure” was eventually somewhat effective for the dog, presumably because of what we now know to be processes of memory, it was also traumatizing for psych students to hear. Applying this flooding method to humans, especially those with what we would now call dis-regulated attachment, was actually cruel as well as misguided and authoritarian. Survivors of battle shock in WW2 and Vietnam had to endure this “pull up your socks and get on with it” treatment. It is a remarkably visible shift in consciousness in our field that we have sought for more effective and empathically related methods and even found the rationale in neuroscience to support them.
Please do not discount that the internal injuries can cause seemingly mental health issues (due to the clinicians perspective), when in reality it is the injury, the damaged tissue itself that is causing the bodily responses.
Vagus nerve can be affected by intestinal blockage pressing on the nerve. Clearly here we would remove the blockage and free the vagus nerve (which by the time the blockage is removed the nerve may be damaged), and NOT treat as so called PTSD or mental illness. CORRECT DIAGNOSIS is imperative, as there are many negligent MD’s all too willing to hand over a mental illness dx when in reality they have missed the correct physical disability, while they pass on from doctor to doctor the mis-Dx and while patient gets “sicker and sicker”. There may be a degree of ptsd at work, yet if the patient is denied the means to heal or attend to the physical body, the “mind” stuff becomes mute.
As stated above the intestinal blockages need detoxing, proper amounts of stretching and exercise as well as stress management.
Too many times, also brain injury and brain/vessel abnormalities are overlooked and poo pooed. This is not only detrimental to client but may be deadly when mishandled. For if you call a patient severley depressed due to lethargy and lack of motivation when in fact they have a brain injury with blockage and vessel malformations and slow blood flow through vital conscious areas, ((slowing breathing capacity))of the brain, to treat this as mental illness is wrong, IT IS A PHYSICAL injury needing medical NOT psychological intervention. Once the patient is properly breathing, getting sufficient oxygen to body organs, the brain can “think ” again, and they are oheir way to wellness.
JUST A NOTE: Bloodwork may look good, chest x-rays ok…..but when arterial blood gas is done the overwhelming lack of oxygen is startling….BE SURE there is a FULL medical evaluation before DX any mental illness, so many are dx with mental illness when there is an organic physical cause easily remedied. This is how (we) you may be putting trauma upon trauma.
There is much progress in the healing of trauma, and I am grateful for the flow.
I have also followed the changes and I am amazed at what we knoe at the moment. I am especially interested in brainentrainment and how to combine it with other brain and bodyoriented approaches.
I have also followed the changes and I am amazed at what we knoe at the moment. I am especially interested in brainentrainment and how to combine it with other brain and bodyoriented approaches.