The treatment of trauma can be some of the most complex work practitioners face.
And for years, this challenge was complicated by not having a clear picture of the impact that trauma has on the brain.
But scientific advances within just the past few years have opened the eyes of practitioners to what actually happens in the brain of someone who has experienced trauma.
And according to Bessel van der Kolk, MD, there are three major ways that the brain changes in response to trauma.
To find out what they are (and their impact on the body), take a look at the video below – it’s just 3 minutes.
Bessel is one of the world’s leading experts in trauma and PTSD. Because of his research, we have a deeper understanding of how trauma impacts both body and brain.
And this is crucial – it can help us target our interventions more effectively.
So now, we’d like to hear from you . . .
When it comes to the treatment of trauma, what do you want to know most? Please leave your comment below.
I would like to know specific interventions for rewiring those parts of the brain that have been altered by trauma.
As trauma differs.. and is very individual (what can cause trauma to one person may be less traumatic. )
It – meaning these types of study are rather new. It is all very exciting….
Terry Anderson I don’t appreciate your using this platform to sell your own ad space.
Thank you for your comment Linda.
When we leave comments, we are asked to include our website. So there it is. That is the work I do to help others with the traumas they have, which is part of the reason I took these courses.
How does one overcome what they do not remember because of the age incest started–babyhood and toddlerhood? I was one who went underground on all memories until I was triggered in my early 40s. I remembered it started at age 8 and did everything–one day at a time for decades to unravel and understand plus heal. I remember to pronounce, “That was then and this is now”. It was not until a second miscarriage that I remembered deep within my being of the earlier abuse–just that it happened and was my truth. What I could not remember, my body, mind, and spirit did. Thankfully, through God’s ways, events, timing, so forth I’ve come a long, long way. So much more is recognized now instead of when I began this journey two decades ago. I am sort of living my life backward. So the question is how do I deal with cell memory? I have autoimmune diseases and Fibromyalgia and profound Osteoarthritis that keep me on my knees especially in the winter months. My health tanked after a mere whiplash exactly six months later. Of course, up to then, I was living under a cloud of lies, major stresses, so forth. But truth does set a person Free. But I was wondering if PTSD could be further helped in my case. I try to avoid triggers. I recently had Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) which my insurance covered all but 5%. It was a success. I’m not healed but in remission hopefully for years! Thank you for caring and reading this. Hope is powerful!
‘How does one overcome what they do not remember because of the age incest started–babyhood and toddlerhood? ‘
You can’t treat the memories because you can’t access them, but there will be signs, habits, traits that have resulted because of those experiences. With an experienced and caring therapist, you address these instead.
These earlier experiences are often imprinted on the brain preverbally, so talk therapy is of little help. What I have found personally helpful is expressive/creative therapies that use art, movement, playtherapy, etc to help bypass the verbal memory and tap into the earlier ones. I know by my physical reactions when I have ‘tapped-in’. Often it brings up the emotions of when the experience happened, fear, anger, etc but I was unable to process then. Now they have been brought up in therapy, they can be accessed and processed.
Look into lifespan integration.
How to manage the panic that occurs prior or during trigger situations.
Long slow deep breaths, until you can feel your heart beating, several times.
Several sessions of biofeedback or neurofeedback sessions to help you retrain your body/mind/spirit – if you can afford it.
It seems to me that biofeedback results depend on the administrator. I had many sessions and could feel some changes taking place, but nothing helpful. Who has the resources to try therapists until stumbling upon someone who knows what they’re doing?
It took me 3 months of practise every day with a Therapist to learn “how” to connect my body/mind to the device. It’s the most powerful tool I’ve ever used. Years later, however, I feel the need for more, so I enrolled in Quantum University’s Biofeedback/Neurofeedback courses to obtain training (& equipment), so I can do this for myself, if/when I get triggered by PTSD, which happened 3 months ago.
I’ll be able to help heal myself with these courses & use what I learn to help others through the Readings I do as a Medical Intuitive as many people come to me with PTSD & other trauma related life experiences: terryandersen.com for details
Hmmm I live outside of the USA, with little access to this technology… …everybody’s journey is a little different- but then again there are a lot of similarities. I had symptoms of sleep apnea- went through our public health system which took time. I got sick of this and tried conscious breathing. For 6 or 8 week I coughed up heaps of gunk. But now my breathing is improving and the apnea is in remission.
I studied all the NICABM materials and found them helpful and formative. My life has been a living nightmare until now.
After an abusive childhood which lasted until I left home at the age of 21, a childhood filled with beatings, shaming, functioning as a maid for my family with 5 children, a mother with OCD who was psychologically manipulative (I was the “it” of the family), and an equally psychologically manipulative father who read books on psychology and had meetings with the 4 younger children to teach them “psychology”, then used the material to excuse his abusive behavior by telling us later that “we remembered it all wrong”!. His meetings were not about psychology but were rather about brain washing! I have, at the age of almost 75 overcome most of the flash backs which occurred on a regular basis until I was well into my 50s. However, I still find myself feeling as if “I am back there” especially as it concerns my relationships with other people. I tend to put up with situations and not speak up for myself until there is a tower of abuse and then and only then do I express myself… I try to make others feel comfortable about themselves even though they are treating me badly. When I finally do stand up with complaint I come off as being unreasonable, as I have not expressed myself earlier in a situation… I am divorcing my husband of 52 years due to years of narcissistic behavior. He was a child of alcoholic parents, his mother particularly who died of the effects of alcohol abuse. He uses women but does not like them. I do not know how I finally had the presence of mind to end the sick relationship. Thankfully I have a great job with wonderful employers. Out of the five of us children there was not one who was not affected by our childhood. My younger sister likes to compare it to living in a concentration camp. It is very hard when growing up in an atmosphere as we did, to overcome the belief that you are a nothing to the rest of the world! Where does one begin?
wow, thank you for sharing this and for the continuous hope! Look into lifespan integration, which is supposed to be an integrative method without retraumatizing the person. Or medical hypnosis could help if you are suggestible. But the latter needs to be done with a professional who does not look for reviving memories I which may not even relate to real events (false memories).
I would like to know how best to help my 9.year old adopted daughter. Adopted at 17 months. She has attachment issues. She is unable to believe she is loved, uses chocolate to self soothe, terrified of new experiences, terrified of any change in routine, verbally and physically abusive towards sister and parents, but behaves like an angel to anybody outside immediate family. She had a truly traumatic birth, born premature, lucky to have survived pregnancy, then placed in loving foster care and then placed with us. No amount of love is enough. No amount of chocolate is enough. No amount of attention is enough. It’s like living with a black hole of unmet needs.
1. Stop giving her chocolate as a reward to try to stop her bad behavior.
2. Train her to talk slow deep breaths in through her nose & out through her mouth every time she has an episode.
3. Everyone in the household do it with her at the same time.
4. Get everyone to think positive thoughts at the same time.
5. Find positive activities to replace negative ones, immediately when the old disruptive patterns surface.
The child uses chocolate to self-soothe. They cannot remove the chocolate without providing an alternate way and she does not have one now. I guess they can try diaphragmatic breathing with her. But it may have to go deeper than that. This is the best book I have read on developmental trauma, Healing Developmental Trauma: How Early Trauma Affects Self-Regulation, Self-Image and the Capacity for Relationship. The theory is dead-on but the method they propose…. -I do not see its value. But, yes, they explain how and when issues form in childhood, why mainstream therapies do not work (CBT, dynamic/Freudian, mindfulness/meditation etc.) and they mention that removing self-soothing aids, even if deleterious, is counterproductive.
Do you think she has missed out on those natural nurturing physical stages that a child goes through before birth and during birth if she was premature?
Weighted blankets can help children (any age really) to help them feel secure.
Having a loving Foster family would have been a time of going through major milestones of growth and nurturing. Do you spend time talking about when she was a baby. To leave her foster parents at 17 months would be a huge wrench to her leaving definite trauma effects. It’s a slow road working with such early pain. I believe in always taking time after the dust settles from outbursts to talk through what happened in a loving and supportive way to help set up a positive template that will carry on through life.
I have found that the setting up of coping templates in daily routines can help give supportive structure to a child’s feeling of security. To learn to recognise the triggers and always take time to discuss what happened when they are in a good space.
I wish I had known years ago about how the brain reacts to trauma as Bessel explains. It makes total sense as to why one cannot reach the other parts of the brain to make informed decisions. I wish I had known years ago about his work!
It’s so good to know the reality then one can work in a real way towards finding healthy coping strategies.
Take Care and keep don’t despair.
Wow, weighted blankets make sense! I am nervous at my dentist’s, especially after an episode of almost faint (vagal shock), but last time I was there they left on my body the lead apron for protection against X-rays and my anxiety subsided! Came back when they removed it as I felt exposed!
and you are right, attachment is huge and it forms in the pre-verbal phase. She must have been so traumatized by the removal from her foster care family. I read about the types of attachment and the longitudinal studies done in the States over decades on how attachment style is formed in babyhood and how it impacts the adults for life; this is the book:, Attachment in Psychotherapy (Wallin). This child seems to have the avoidant attachment. She also seems to be seeing her new loving family as a problem; her unconscious cannot accept that she was taken from her foster care family. I think this method, lifespan integration, can help without retraumatizing. The practitioners claim that one year of this suffices to sooth the raw emotions and the attachment is secure within two-three years. It could take even less than these times.
Agreed, just reading about weighted blankets makes a lot of sense and I remember these at the dentist and how they were more helpful than scary. As a triage superviser we often used a tool when we would get a client call to recommend if they were suffering trauma feelings, to put a blanket in a warm dryer and then wrap up in it until the feeling calmed and it worked every time. Also used a cup of warm tea or warm milk, the latter having milk properties for calming. in these crisis calls we had many trials. Many found singing an old favorite childhood song helpful.
She has had several relinquishments all in the most important attachment period. You’ve mentioned three; separation from her birth mother, from the Intensive care unit, then from her foster family. They might have been loving, but all that means to her at the deepest level is that she’ll lose anyone she attaches to no matter the quality of the attachment.
I think you need specialists with experience in adoption and a specialist diagnosis or assessment. I’m speaking here as an adopted person. This is not ‘bad behaviour’ to her, it’s an attempt to self soothe coming from a profound attachment trauma. ‘Just’ loving her is not going to be enough, I’m sorry to say. It’s wonderful that (if) you do and it’s certainly necessary, but it’s not enough here. Probably you know that as you’re here! There are now a lot of internet resources – perhaps sharing stories there will provide some links suitable for you/near you? There is at least a lot of online information now. Some experts are Nancy Verrier, Paul Sunderland, Heather Forbes. Thanks for your post and making this visible. It’s a profound developmental trauma and I look forward to the day it’s recognised as such. With all my heart I wish you all the best.
I have found that self- affirmation , in a good way, read to self as often as possible can tremendously helps increasing a sense of self live, self respect, a new perception of what a person can think about herself. And, lots of patience not only with your child but apply this to yourself as well. Good luck to you and to your daughter.
part One: What personal interventions can empower a person “on the fly” in a long term relationship?
We fall into our old habitual patterns which don’t necessarily serve us well. This is in the primitive brain as I now understand it. Giving the gift of space in the moment, be it physical, mental, and emotional are ever in the forefront if we just take the gift.
Part two of the same question: Is stepping outside of what we hold to be true to be practiced in the moment as an observer of our inner world that generates our outer world in thoughts feelings and emotions without responding or identifying with it ?
It sounds good in written and verbal form but the trick seems to be in application of taking the Gift when experiencing the trigger.
Ruth and Bessel
I have PTSD for 65 years. I knew for a long time it had to be also a brain problem. It was only in the 80s did i understan more of what i had. For me it has been unending pain. I am a victium of long term crime..abuse, torture, and on going lack of understanding. Never worked, no formal education other than elementary school. I started changing my life after was given a german shepherd. No longer did anyone hurt me. The dog was at my side. No one dared to hurt me. I learned dog training, then went into the prison systens and started a program where inmates train dogs to help the handicapped…and started them all over the world. It is working with criminals and helping them become ‘other’ centered and my ability to forgive that has helped me learn how to become more healed even thoug it hasnt stopped the brain from keeping mr in non stop pain
That is an incredible story. Thanks for sharing this. Animals know, they are intuitive protective, have insight on a cellular level (if that makes sense) and never judge. Their love is pure, and your dog saw your purity through it all. Those who have suffered abuse emit a scent, I am convinced of this. Animals come to me, trust me and protect me. I feel that connection. Your work is amazing, vital and was necessary to your self preservation. I have PTSD from childhood abuse. Allergies keep me from having a pet.
That is amazing, thank you for sharing! I have found this method called lifespan integration that promises to deal with trauma and PTSD. I like it very much but I was not fortunate enough to find a good therapist. This is a video that presents it via a patient interviewing her therapist.
I would like to know more about the effects of trauma to body/brain and emotions during childhood abuse. Also how this is survived, but resurfaces later in life when dealing with new trauma.
My sn is high functioning autism and has ptsd from being bullied this has become an anxiety that has stopped him from leaving the house his trauma started at 13 and he is now 19 and can not tolerate normal day to day living his sensory issues also cause extreme issues we are looking at rapid eye movement therapy to dislodge the memories causing his ptsd from the short term memory to the long term memories have you heard of any success with this therapy or do you suggest another therapy his brain due to his autism is on a constant high alert even before he received trauma
My granddaughter has PTSD from being choked by someone, so I put her in Taikwando & you should see her blossom, become empowered, with increasing self-esteem, self-worth & learning how to protect herself. She even broke her 1st board with her foot, that she didn’t think she could do. She’s coming out of her shell.
These three stages can sometimes be received out of the order and in exaggerated or diminished intensity spoken of by Bessel van der Kolk. The awakened brain may be able to transfer the confused trauma of the sleeping brain at very awkward moments of an individual under sudden unexpected distress. Some of such socially compromised people might be gradually coached to defer such panicked instincts into a rehearsed mental catch basin of examination. The brain switching intensity that Bessel van der Kolk indicates does disorient the PTSD recipient far more than most people. People react suddenly to a pie thrust into their face… and the resolution of their next reactions is typical fight or flight resolution. It is vital that PTSD sufferers have some coping mechanisms they can develop for themselves that mimic such a cartooned situation. We can all laugh at the suggestion that we should awaken every PTSD person with a pie in their face… but we can show them a video of such a person waking up and getting just that… to see the two responses that follow- one comedic resolution and the other in perfectly destructive rage. Poetry is built up on such unexpected meaningful changes…and require to some degree of a gradual brain flip accommodation to engage in the imagery development and intended resolution. No PTSD is like any other’s PTSD. The sprung reaction isn’t like any other sprung reaction… except that it is devastating and can present itself as a harbinger of worst yet to come. I met one soldier on medical discharge whose group could regularly experience live fire ambushes up to three times a day in Afghanistan. No soldier can be trained to cope with this just as any woman or girl can be prepared to be raped or sexually assaulted. And any fireperson or policeperson cannot be prepared to view the grim reality of the horrible situations that they may have to overcome in their duties. We can start by asking them what their favorite poem and pie is… Here’s something more practical for every PTSD person to consider applying themselves too: cbc.ca/radio/whitecoat/wounded-healers-how-peer-support-workers-help-patients-in-crisis-1.4439694
So exhausted from trying everything I have cptsd
Trauma started at birth and continued
Need to know what he or you havefounds that works.Me the most effective form of treatment has been hands on body like somatic or any type of emotional energy really sort through the body, Western medicine has been awful, and I’ll never try the psych drugs again
Thank you for all your efforts with this help is so needed
Problem is, and Vero Beach for Florida, have yet to find the type of care that’s on the West Coast so I’ve really been not doing well
Also, was using cannabis to treat this disorder, and feel like now long-term use of that is creating or excessive use is creating maybe some heart issues and Extreme hypersensitivity and other things, has anyone had feedback from this since it’s now widely being used on the West Coast and is medically legal in Florida for PTSDany comments
I have friends who use street cannabis- and it does get them by. I call the NICABM people “Nicklebum”. I hope they don’t mind. I am 66 years old now. I had a horrific experience with a huge amount of prescription drugs given to me when I was 17. I sought better solutions. It used to anger me- rage… grrr…! That society and the world could not come up with better solutions. Went through the 70’s where my friends were using dope, Heroin LSD and speed. But my experience with prescription drugs had innoculated me against this. I have always sought a solution to the trauma- finding peers and good company along the way has helped me heaps. I had chronic migraine. I am not pain free today, but I manage my pain and discomfort well. I am free drug free today- and this is around prescription medication.
This seems to defeat the purpose, if one used cannabus as it can cause some havoc in the brain that might make one dissociate which is what is seems a trauma victim is trying to decrease instead of increase. My son had open heart surgeries He knew at a young age that it was great for his pain in te open heart recovery but really played havoc in his brain maturity. He knew early on that this was not the answer to the surgical trauma except for pain. He avoids any type of drugs, even antidepressants. Guess he realizes his heart needed to heal but no excuse to damage his brain along the way.
Try neurofeedback. You’d need many sessions.
Good luck.
Seniors who were traumatized as children were never exposed to this kind of research and treatment. Is there hope when the brain is reset like this? What would treatment for this population look like?
Couldn’t make out the first thing the ? perception system?
With PTSD, I assume, perhaps incorrectly, that it may be easier to contract disease. That happened to me after being diagnosed by Mayo Clinic/2007. I have Lyme’s disease, yes a tick born illness, but I believe it has manifested itself in a more profound,serious way within my body as a result of PTSD. Is there a weakened immune system due to PTSD? Leigh
I feel this is a given. Allergy sufferers, asthmatics, immune disorders, mysterious rashes..couple that with bipolar disorder (triggered by trauma). It took over a year but I detoxed my immune system. Took a lot of amino acids, magnesium, GABA (mood stabilizer), 5HTP….and i started to feel better. Stressful scenarios on top of pre-existing conditions can make bad appear worse. Surrounded by those who live with the same trauma issues, my family is rampant, means spending less time with them. Recognize that family isn’t always your core support group. Divorcing yourself emotionally and sometimes physically is key to healthy and autonomous coping. Reading, educating yourself, a far amount of solitude and reflection helps me. I started to develop allergies and breathing issues after a traumatic event in my childhood. (that I recall) 50 per cent of asthmatics (a study I read recently) have childhood trauma issues.
Thank you – this really helps me when trying to explain to colleagues, what’s happening for the children I support who have experienced trauma. I’ve also taken on-board your advice on yoga; breathing, etc. I have begun doing this first thing at school before lessons start with some of the children. They love it.
Thank you! This is so good to hear! I write, collage, do yoga ( which helped a lot), go to nature. But sometimes when too much comes together and my mental strength is not there anymore I slide into a full cycle of trauma living again. It takes months for me to get out. I am right now searching for a therapist. I am also Highly Sensitive which does not make it easier and still is a gift to find ways with my intuition.
Tough to find therapists who believe in intuition & other higher human faculties.
I approached a professor of psychology once about my own abilities & he said “no one will believe you Terry”…EGADS he is teaching lots of students with a limited closed mind.
Have you looked in Quantum University, neurofeedback/biofeedback?
Here’s what I did with my abilities when they surfaced from a sudden kundalini awakening: terryandersen.com
What are interventions that are helpful when a client has suffered long term developmental trauma, and
Lost a mother to death at four months old, and has no self soothing ability, and is also Bipolar II, and very
Identified with her diagnosis, and is on SSD at age thirty five,and has been in therapy since she was nineteen?
She is very angry that therapy has not worked.
I’ve run full circle around all these therapies you mention to overcome my own chronic complex PTSD.
The ONLY thing that worked successfully for me is bio-feedback, neuro-feedback, so I enrolled in Quantum University Neuro-feedback courses so I don’t have to rely on outside costly time consuming professional services.
Dr. Joe Dispenza & team of Neuro-scientists teach these courses, on how to overcome PTSD for good.
I’m 62 years old and now finally engaging with yoga , mindfulness, medical herbs , acupuncture, walking ,getting good sleep, clinical kinesiology, cranio sacral therapy for my nutritional needs and eat an organic plant based diet with lean protein. I have had to resign from a full time job in mental health as I now have PTSD which became apparent when faced with challenging behaviour and anger. This has lifted the lid on childhood sexual abuse and violence. I don’t feel depressed but constantly feel trauma which is easily triggered.
My question is and thank you for your patience, I have not been referred to a psychiatrist or mental health team.
I start CBT and hopefully EMDR this week.
Is there anything else I can do to retrain my brain to feel safe ?
I live in the U.K. and have undertaken a DNRS course in Zurich with Annie Hopper to help with Multiple Chemical Sensitivities to all petrochemicals and chronic fatigue disorder.
This helped but did not completely resolve my condition.
I am planning to restart my mindfulness in the community and begin positive steps once I have worked with my counsellor by next spring.
I have implemented so many life style changes and really want to know what helps with deep seated trauma.
Heartfelt thanks for sharing your knowledge.
Highly recommend energy psychology (EFT/TFT and others) look up practioner and more info on the Association for Comprehensive Energy psychology (ACEP)
How does a person heal from traumatic events?
I was raped at a young age by my brother in law while his wife, my older sister, watched.
I lost my father at 23, he was 63 and passed quickly from pancreatic cancer. We were very close all my life. I have been in three abuusive marriages. One at only 18, another at 25, the third at 28.
My youngest child attempted suicide by intentional overdose of prescription medications at only 15. Four
additional intentional overdoses followed. Today he is 22, remains an addict after extensive counseling and numerous drug rehabilitation stays.
My oldest daughter was blinded and suffered severe brain damage when I was only 17. Raising her has also been very stressful.
Any suggestions would be a blessing.
Thank you,
Khris
Take action now & file a law suit against the perpetrator/s. There are laws to protect innocent from sexual crimes against young.
My experience with healing trauma, is through understanding & forgiveness.
Quantum University has neurofeedback courses to help overcome trauma.
medium.freecodecamp.org/200-universities-just-launched-560-free-online-courses-heres-the-full-list-d9dd13600b04
I have an adopted 13 tear old. I would like to know how to help her increase her window of tolerance. I see her suffering in school with relationships ,perceptions of failure, reluctance to study etc.
Study Dr. Joe Dispenza on YouTube
Expressive writing – simple, free – might work to re-wire the pain pathways in the brain. I’m reading “Back in Control” by Dr David Hanscom, a spine surgeon. While the focus is alleviating physical pain, this stress management technique, just a few minutes a day, twice a day can interrupt the neural pathways caused by mental/emotional trauma also. The act of writing your thoughts down literally activates a different part of the brain and begins to desensitize the nervous system…and the science supports this. Fascinating stuff and a really great read.
Morea bout how the brain reacts to trauma, and how to support clients in recovery from this.
Hi, thanks for these very helpful vignettes. So interesting, and well researched. Could you tell us more about the last point, where someone with PTSD blunts their own personality/ body and their access to understanding others? & is it different for CPTSD? What is the best way to deal with it?
thanks!
I did not know my last name was going to be used. What I shared, was me, and it was for all positive reasons. However, it has made me very uncomfortable and sad that you would think it necessary.
I undertook some short courses offered by NICABM- to improve my understanding of my own trauma journey. I am interested in starting a group called C.O.T. Children Of Trauma to provide support for people like myself.
Last week i came upon this clip and this practitioner. I do not know her, though she lives 50 minutes away from here in NZ. I pn this up because Emma’s journey parallels my own.
THIS is not a promo for Emma… it underlines my own journey. Two years ago I had sleep apnea. Two times I fell asleep at the wheel of my car.
My wife and daughter shouldered me into seeking help. I went up and down to Dunedin a few times and was tested on some spaceman gear.
I had to take the shuttle because i was afraid I would hit someone if I drove.
I got a bit sick of this, because it was taking time- and a lot of professional time at the other end. And I seemed to be getting nowhere.
I was aware that I was chest breathing. I got tired easy and did not sleep well.
So being a kiwi bloke I had a crack at it myself. Deep breathing.
For 6 or 8 weeks I coughed up heaps and heaps of gunk. Several times a day. But every day things got a little better.
I wrote a letter to the specialist in Dunedin- went down there and he discharged me.
I have had this stress response since I was a kid- not being able to play sport properly, and not even being able to run for any distance.
Getting help from a physio, and getting the breathing response checked would be essential.
You don’t have to be a DIY guy.
War is not the only cause of dysfunction and trauma. It could be said that life itself does this! I never knew my grandfather. He died in 1946. Some say of a broken heart, my mother suggested suicide. He was a war hero, but a quiet and unmoving man. My grandmother left him for a doctor, who was an alcoholic and was struck off towards the end of his career. My dad was caught up in this conflict. My grandfather lost his mum at a young age, and his two oldest brothers, all to Tb. This would not happen today.
Learning that we are not responsible for our family culture is a great relief. In our lives we are told we have choices, but it is oh so hard to exercise these choices! Shifting this family culture takes time, patience, and sometimes, professional help. But everyone is in this together. Discoveries about how the body and brain operate can offer hope.
Hi
I was recently diagnosed with PTSD (Jan 2017)
I have battled to receive therapy and now am only receiving online CBT . As a clinician myself I find This to be extraordinarily unhelpful as i know it to be the “Talking cure “‘not the ‘typing cure’
I am struggling immeasurably at the moment as cannot afford private treatment. Happy to give a timeline an details if needed . I live in the U.K and mental health services are inept. I work in health care so am aware of this professionally.
Regards
Louise
Louise, I had biofeedback for 3 months after being diagnosed with PTSD & a brain injury as a result of being brutally attacked by 2 armed robbers who nearly murdered me. Biofeedback helped me more than any other modality, medicine or talking therapy. So much so, that I’m not enrolled in Quantum University’s biofeedback & neurofeedback programs toward a PhD in Natural Medicine. I cannot say enough about how much these technologies helped & empowered me.
Hi Terry
Thanks for replying.
I have not read much about biofeedback but will look into it
Louise
What lasting impact on the brain does severe trauma that starts at birth and continues until 33 yrs old
My son is stuck in his hyper vigilance, due to trauma, yet has abandoned the emotional
support he needs because this has been an established pattern since childhood now locked
by PTSD. His explosive anger seems to be an expression of loss that he hasn’t got words for
because that vocabulary hasn’t been able to set a pattern of recognition in the brain. He has
finally been able to articulate some of the deep anguish he has about loss of relationship
yet cannot release the backlog of grief because of the interruption to processing that the trauma
hyper vigilance has caused. This frustration manifests itself with him punching walls for relief and an
avoidance to seek help through anti-anxiety medication. There seems to be a ‘knowing’ that that
is not the way to go even though we and his doctor advocate it, which causes him considerable
distress. Have you any suggestions?
Get him to study Dr. Joe Dispenza’s work on YouTube
You might check out Irene & Seth Lyon and their HEALTHY NERVOUS SYSTEM REVOLUTION! I believe this information and education on regulating the nervous system is the missing link in healing trauma! Also Dr. Gabor Mate’.
Your son needs support, empower him, listen without speaking if he opens up and know “trauma has no words” ~ Bessel van der Kolk. Make that okay for him. Find someone who was trained by Peter Levine or Pat Ogden, there is something underneath the anger that needs to be processed and this can be done without words. Sorry to hear he is on anxiety medication, as often the side effect is more anxiety. “What people usually don’t know when they start taking meds for anxiety symptoms, is that by relying solely
on pills they will not learn how to control or eliminate symptoms without medication.
~ Dr. Margaret Wehrenberg
He must learn how to self regulate, calm his own nervous system – he has the power to learn the skills to do this, but if he is being told he “has” PTSD, this takes away his responsibility to cultivate change. ThE hyper vigilance is not locked by PTSD, it is locked because it is a well rehearsed pattern as you said since childhood, so he has to unlearn the pattern, and this can be done, with patience and understanding.
It is great to see how much support you got it from here. But I must say that hyper vigilance could originate from his personality trait or …developmental… age ? ADH ?may be ;(
Hi Ruth and Y’all,
I have done some of your courses and followed the accumulated research. I am a part of a movement of sufferers who sometimes work with professionals, and other 12 step groups. I AM NOT looking for referrals. On the contrary we tend to work with the most motivated of sufferers who come on board under their own steam. This is the only “approach” that appears to work.
However, over time I would like to see some rapprochement between ‘the consumer group’ and the clinicians. Having studied some of the work of the NICABM I would like to think us volunteers can also make discoveries and breakthroughs at group level. For ourselves. And possibly for the world.
Personally I operate to high ethical standards, although the setting is quite different. Reaching out and making connections is what it is all about- at a personal level- and here, in organisational mode.
Thanks all for your work- groundbreaking!
Hi David,
I wonder if a closed Facebook page would work between practioners/volunteers/
carers/survivors of trauma where an Intel discifering of questions and practical
applications raised couldn’t help with statistical information and insight?
I’m out the other side of my trauma yet have yet to see a significant breakthrough
for my son.
Yes… Frances that would be a good option. I am 66 years old and have spent most of my life trying to exit my trauma. Working alongside people like myself has been a great help. I think that working in tandem with the clinicians is the way to go.
The big thing is learning to trust. Just a conversation right there is an advantage. Just having three or four people to start a group- priceless.
What I like a lot too is talking about hobbies, pet, music…and learning to have a relaxed social life- without pressures… creating an atmosphere of friendship is really nice, and helpful.
Our daughter has anxiety. Not as bad as mine at that age… perhaps. But when we are in that state it is terrible, horrible no matter what the circumstance. It does take one to know one.
Heartbreaking.
But I do believe that there is hope- there has to be!
Dear David,
I know for me that I finally came to understand the ramifications of war on the generations
and how that holds memory and gets past on through the generations
and it’s outworking in all sorts of schisms and collective units of thought
and therefore action that rob us of the simplicity of God’s peace.
I have come to acknowledge the Goodness of God to give me His heavenly
counterpart for every negative thing, every negative thought and compilation
of negative memory stored in my body that has expressed itself in anxiety.
It is wonderful to know that He has a fail safe plan to dislodge this from the
collective consciousness as well which is where the trauma took me. So I pray
that the Goodness of God be restored to the hearts and minds of all those here
on these pages in the blessed name if my Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Yes, my dad served in WW2 and both grandfathers in WW1. 11 relations served in both wars- four died and one wounded. But the most wounded in spirit was an uncle who saw battle stations at sea at the age of 16. He ended up killing himself. it was interesting for me recently to here Bessel Van Der Kolk talk about his own father, and his reprieve from the death camps.
Bless you Frances, for speaking out…, and for your covering blessing over those of us all, sharing here.
My Welsh granddad was saved from death because he carried his hymnbook in his tunic pocket. The bullet glanced off the spine of the book and missed his heart.
Quantum University Dr. Joe Dispenza neurofeedback program treats PTSD successfully.
This is all very interesting. Thank you, it is an area with big implications as it brings into the open what is realised subconsciously in many people.
My son, who is now 42 years old, was diagnosed with Leaukaemia at 20 months old. He had six and one half years of chemotherapy and radiation (relapsed in the middle of treatment) This was a very traumatic time for the family, and there were weeks away from home at a major hospital in our state. (Australia)
At present, he has many health isssues including mild intellectual disability as a result of the treatment, but we still have him. He couldn’t understand what was happening to him at the time and has very little recall even now of that time.
Trauma was not talked about
but I can see now that it impacted him (and all of us) greatly.
I am not sure what articles, or books, address this area of trauma in childhood, and would appreciate any suggestions from you.
Bless you for making all this information accessible to people.
I was diagnosed at 25 (a Mom of 3) with PTSD. I felt shameful. It’s never been addressed. I am now a 76 year old recent widow. I am still stuck in that horrible role. However, after just reading many of these comments I have fallen in love with all the people who are like me! I hope I don’t sound ‘nuts’ but it’s true. I have 4 kids & 20 grandchildren, but so often I know ‘they don’t get/understand my behavior.(Frankly, I don’t either) I isolate myself so easily and I mistrust people. I just thought I was abused, I never told anyone what my step-father did to me when I was 6. The beatings, going hungry, never being hugged or talked nice to from the people in charge, Called filthy names since a child on & on. Marrying men who were either sexually addicted or alcoholic. I know I followed a very dark path. For whatever time I have left I will hope and pray for all of you and myself to change the ‘things I can’! And. Stay ‘greatful’ for all the good Good I have in my life.
My question is you say trauma. But can that be say from the feeling of from hildhood un loved over certain ways you where treated or physical has in injury to has being hit over the head a number of timestudents. Or in July by a accidenth to the body
Have neuro specialists done MRI, PET or other active Scans of the brains of people who have experienced trauma related experiences, and measured those brain scans against people who have never experienced trauma?
Neuro-bio-feedback & bio-feedback empowers people to re-connect their mind/body after trauma by teaching them how to change their own frequencies (emotional, physical & musculature), when hooked up to these technologies & learn how to bring all frequencies into balance again WITHOUT DRUGS OR SIDE EFFECTS.
Bio-feedback technology is the most powerful tool any person can use, to overcome anything that affects the body/mind & should be covered under medical programs. When the body/mind has come out of balance, and can be significantly helped with feedback technologies.
BUT drug companies WANT to sell drugs that typically only MASK symptoms & don’t cure.
How do I stop the horrendous, recurring nightmares that I’ve been having for the last 10 years. They began after a bullying at work saga but they key into all sorts of childhood abuse and neglect. I had 2 years of EMDR which helped a little but I still suffer these nightmares and attendant insomnia and exhaustion.
Thank you. It’s interesting because I think many interventions address the behavioural and emotional impacts of trauma without knowing exactly how the brain has been changed. We are intuitive with each other. When I am working with a client and they are panicking I can see and feel the activation of their fight-flight response and respond by working with the client, sometimes a child and sometimes adults, to do what I call ‘bringing them back to now” to work with them to find their body in space, to see the room they are in and attach meaning to it and to activate their sense perceptions, ‘what do you see? Feel? Hear right now?” and do movements or breathing, sometimes I do this with the client so it is also a shared experience of being in Now. I have noticed many many times that the person, when they have not tried to ignore their physiological response, but rather get their body and head working together and focusing on the aspect of time (now) it seems to help the person separate past and present and to be ale to tolerate the discomfort of the physiological response to fear by having some feeling of control over it and knowing it will pass. It is tempory – they are not stuck in the past. They are hear now.
Im interested to know how to respond to the trigger that “touches off” inappropriate responses to outside actions which trigger my response. Fight or flight. If I could respond more appropriately I could be more assertive.
I want the shorter answer not watch…again.
HOW can people “heal” the “deep wound” of PTSD when it rears it becomes triggered & takes over – or is this a permanent injury?
How can you MOVE deep traumas HELD & STORED in the body?
I was recently triggered into a FULL PTSD reaction, and realized the very deep injury inside, that is not like any other injury.
I went to my GP & asked to be referred to a Psychiatrist, but GP said it wouldn’t be wise to be opened up again to revisit traumas.
Terry Anderson: Your GP is wrong. Follow your gut about what you need. If you sit with the knowledge that you have a deep injury and you are becoming more aware of it, you will begin to feel helpless to resolve it if you do nothing.
Terry you may also be interested in EMDR therapy for PTSD.
Dear Terry,
Movement really helped me. I dug in the earth and cleaned all the junk out of my back garden, I danced in the rain, went in long bush walks, swam in the sea feeling the water support me. I ate well; sat in the sunshine; took up art classes…anything
that brought some sort of natural release and connection with beauty to restore my senses to their original intent. I did five EMDR sessions which were a pretty powerful movement of release. But if the root fear hasn’t been dealt with it may be difficult to trust the process.
I was also careful not to watch or listen to the news too often or watch any violent movies.
However I also persisted in soaking worship and praise(YouTube videos) to release my connection to the negative in the collective consciousness(which is where I believe the primal cortex opens to in trauma) and enabling me to release ‘the compression of my mind’ (my best way of discribing the internal feeling within my mind). This form has been a sweet and gentle release and has enabled me to regain more of who I am than any other method.
My question has already been asked below: What targeted interventions are helpful for people in trauma experiencing these changes in the traumatised brain?
would like to know more about target intervention and the other question i pose is what happens when a stressor happens and the person has a relapse. How do they bounce from those relapses? Are there tools / strategies to give to clients / people in those situations.
Things like exercise programmes that people enjoy and look forward to can help. What happens though, when they are under other stressors or relapse due to other reasons that we can’t see?
I am also all in favour for writing down 5 positive affirmations, developed with the client, to remind them what is good about themselves. If they can’t come up with any, I ask them what their family or friends would say.We put these in a visible place for them to look at every day.
We can look at ways to “retrain the brain”.I am wondering if it is necessary to work on the trauma directly..Some people do not want to “go back there”. They do not want to talk about that stuff. Do we need to spend time talking about the effect on them and acknowledge that they were not at fault; they were the victim but they do not remain a victim and they can become strong. I am especially thinking about cases of abuse.
I think people need to share traumatic experiences with someone who will listen compassionately, to acknowledge the injuries.
I don’t think it’s wise to keep going over it time & time again as that just re-opens wounds that may not be healed.
Providing information on how trauma affects people is one step toward “empowering” people trapped in cyclical PTSD, by helping them come out of fear/freezing into taking action to MOVE the PTSD along/out of the body mind.
What are targeted interventions?
Would like to see research and ecfective strategy in addressing trauma among persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Working with autism and trauma appears to be an area of oversight in most of the clients I serve
(“If” I suffer from PTSD, I still don’t know, )can I learn to control it? Since 6 months I practice Yoga and mindfulness. I go for a swim in the early morning in open water( Het IJ in Amsterdam) my blood pressure is very high and it’s very difficult to get it lower. I live a healthy life, but there is that constant fear in me. I’ve lost my brother suddenly ( in 2008)when I spoke on the phone with him( massive heart attack) we were talking about death and his last words were ” I’m curious ….” he seemed until that moment completely healthy and happy. Since then everything is related with death in me according to the people I love and to myself. That makes me alert for everything that can happen. So I feel myself constant in a state preparing for the worst….so can I…..and how can I transform my mind and body ( blood pressure) into more peacefull again? thank you. I am talking and working with a psycholoog/ psychotherapeut.
I am sure I know many of the ways to relieve trauma. This is something I have had long experience of from a very early age. Each individual has had different experiences and is a different person. Therefore only an individual case history can reveal what the causes of the trauma may have been and then what solutions there may be to ease the suffering and allow new growth to spring from historical pain.
What about complex ptsd that has been untreated for years and drug and alcohol abuse on top of that? I’m now clean and sober for going on 8 months and feel I need therapy. Who do I see? Childhood trauma, incest counselor, drug and alchohol council? Grew up in violent surroundings, was permiscuis at an early age, abandonment issues. Then my husband was in an accident when I was 4 months pregnant with 3rd child in a coma for 5 years, then my youngest was hit by a car and in a coma for 2 weeks and had to learn how to walk and talk all over again when he was 7. He also suffers from ptsd from that and from being in Afghanistan. I am trying to just let go of past and move on however it has been very difficult moving forward because of the shame and guilt of my less than perfect methods of coping using drugs and alcohol and the guilt and shame of not being a better parent, spouse, friend, relative etc. isolating and zoning out are not working for me anymore. Need help in Troutdale Oregon any suggestions for therapist?
Alita, I’ve had years of counselling with a variety of specialists for many of the traumas you mentioned above. What I learned is I had to forgive those who hurt me to start getting well. No good comes from holding unforgiveness in our bodies/psyches. It’s like poison that damages survivors from the inside out.
Put the crimes back at the feet of the people it belongs to.
I grew up in similar circumstances. I forgave my Father for what he did to all of us, when he was mentally ill, born with FAS, he could never cope with stress, after being molested & bullied himself. He’s 93 & we have a kind understanding supportive relationship, much to the shock of everyone. Forgiving him was the best thing I could ever do for myself.
I eventually forgave the 2 armed robbers who brutally beat & nearly murdered me, but it took 25 years EGADS. I HAD to leg go of the anger & move on, even though I have permanent injuries from that assault, drank very heavily to try to numb out from the pain.
My experience with chronic complex PTSD is as a very deep injury that ignites when triggered, and there’s NOTHING I can do to stop the adrenaline & trauma cycle from running it’s course. I become suicidal, hopeless, in excruciating pain, that feels like it won’t ever stop ~ but eventually it subsides ~ but nearly gets me in the process. I isolate to protect others from me, until I feel better. PTSD is the most difficult injury to live with. I understand why people take their lives when they suffer with it.
I had a brain injury from the armed robbery assault & had to relearn everything all over again at the age of 30, however PTSD feels worse because it seems there is no healing & it affects your entire being.
We live in an odd world, filled with complexities & trauma for some, for others much worse. Things can always be worse.
God be with you & your precious family on your healing journeys.
How do I find a trauma therapist in my area? Dr Bessel makes it so easy to understand how your body has reacted to trauma but how do you change your reaction to your environment? Thanks Dr Bessel for your clear insight on trauma .