The Neurobiology of Trauma – What’s Going On In the Brain When Someone Experiences Trauma?
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with Bessel van der Kolk, MD;
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with Bessel van der Kolk, MD; Pat Ogden, PhD; Ruth Lanius, MD; PhD Dan Siegel, MD; and Ruth Buczynski, PhD
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Very helpful to hear the latest information about telomeres, inflammation and presence. I am a Rosen Method bodywork practitioner working specifically with the after effects of trauma through the body, mind and emotions. It’s fantastic to be able to educate clients more specifically about symptoms they struggle with and the importance of getting the social engagement system ‘online’. I’m curious as to why oxytocin as a hormone is not talked about more, with regards to the positive effects it has on healing. I hope this will be found in later seminars.
He seguido la sesión con gran interés, muchísimas gracias por brindarme esta gran oportunidad de aprender de tan buenos maestros.
Lo mas importante para trasmitir a mis clientes en sesión es el mostrar los mecanismos de nuestro cuerpo para adaptarse a las distintas situaciones, eso me parece muy útil para normalizar estados que pueden llevar a los clientes a dramatizar y a ver el futuro con una gran desesperanza.
Thanks Ruth for a really useful webinar. I’m seeing a client with PTSD today for CBT/EMDR and have more information about integration to inform my practice.
Thank you. What does the conFound repsonse come from? is that when you are partially and not fully integrated? I assume flicking police with water when you are naked and having a shower comes under that heading, though sadly the poor guy ended up killed. I will be so glad when people stop talking about mental health and start talking about behaviour and society and violence and repsonses in the brain to threat as normal part of whole body health just as much as type 2 diabetes is normal for overweight obese people to get even when htey orignally had a normal pancreas but because it has got exhausted and overwhelmed. I like the analogy because diabetes can be helped by a healthy normal diet.
Valuable information made even more so by stressing the stimulus/response nature of the brain to traumatic events. I plan to use the information in my work with Soldiers many of whom already suffer from PTSD and would be happy to have some positive information. For many of them the outlook can be bleak and to be able to simplify the complexities and offer hope is exciting. I look forward to coming sessions. Thank you and regards, Greg Anderson MD
I already work with EMDR & EFT which both simultaneously affect body, emotions and cognition.
My moment-to-moment awareness of how this work is affecting the client’s brain will help me with case conceptualization and treatment planning. Thank you so much.
Thank you for this first session of the Trauma Series.
There were several areas throughout the discussion that were intriguing. It was helpful to understand the purpose of Trauma Therapy as a means to create brain integration. The example shared of the client who experienced moments of “blow up” and the techniques the therapist utilized to bring those emotions to the presence, therefore moving closer to integration was a great example to explain the therapeutic process. The techniques described in this example have motivated me to learn about ways to help the client cope with trauma.
This session made me hopeful that “you can change the way you live your life”.
Thanks for adding an additional session (9:00 p.m.). I look forward to the next session.
Be well.
This is incredible. I work with people who experience homelessness and severe mental illnesses and this session was so helpful in showing me how to validate our member’s experiences from a neurobiological perspective. Understanding why traumatic responses happen is also helpful in that, again, I can validate our member’s experiences by reassuring them that their brains are just doing brain things. So many people in this particular population are abused on a day-to-day basis by people of all socioeconomic classes and backgrounds, many who intend to help but are stuck in old ways of thinking about mental illness and poverty. I’m looking forward to the next sessions so I can piece even more things together! Learning how to help restore secure attachment is vital to my work, and I can’t wait to have more tools to help people achieve permanent wholeness, no matter how society tears them down.
The nerd in me is so excited to know about the names for different parts of the brain and how they function!
Also if you like my comments, you’re welcome to give me a full-ride scholarship to get my doctorate in clinical neuroscience (I want to specialize in trauma and consciousness!) 😀
Understanding Brain science frees the patient from the irrational burden of shame and guilt that Chronic trauma, Stress and Freeze response including Dissociation/Fragmentation etc. Induce.
The Relief is so visible in their body and face that “it is not their fault “The Self Blame vanishes reducing the human suffering right then and there.
I wish that both Psychiatrists and Family Physicians were not so resistant to the Principle of ‘ACE’
Thank you
PS for these reasons , I find the group therapy of great benefit .
Thank you. This was a great enhancement of my knowledge as an SP level 1 trained therapist. Do you have a rate for nonprofit hospital organizations in Canada.
Hi… Great presentation-
Currently I work in an outpatient psych rehab program. I run for groups including stretching in Mindfulness and tobacco reduction. My current role as the program R N, but I’m also an LCSW and a certified yoga teacher.
Viewing this program helped increase my resolve to encourage my clients at every opportunity to start developing a program of mindfulness and self-regulation that works for them. The other piece that struck me is thinking about rigidity as after affects of trauma.
Hiya please can somebody help me with times for New Zealand for both the live sessions and replays? I seem to have missed all! 🙁
I signed up for the conference so that I could view it in my own time. I did not sign up for daily emails! Please delete all the correspondence.
Thank you,
Lauren Evans, MD
Cutting edge information! Thanks!
I am the mother of an Australian Veteran. Thank you for explaining information in a way I could understand as a person who does not work in this field. I understand your primary audience are therapists, counsellors, psychologist, psychiatrists, academics. There are many carers like myself who would appreciate any information on practical things those of us living with someone with PTSD can put into practice on a day to day basis to help. Or if you can suggest affordable resources with good information that can help families. Thanks for the work you do. I have passed on this webinar information to my counsellor and to my son’s psychiatrist.
Thanks for your complimentary session! Most of the theories shared were quite excellent. I was ready to sign up for the gold membership but was sorely disappointed as I listened closely. in particular, I already know without a shred of doubt that we were created human as God’s crowning accomplishment of our beautiful universe. I have been honored to help many people for a dozen years of counseling them through their traumas and turn them to their Creator for mindful prayer. I cannot provide what they need ever minute of each day but of course, He can help them navigate life in the way He intended. To hear your most educated and honorable Canadian physician declare us as having evolved from a reptile was very disconcerting. Don’t assume many people that claim Christianity are walking out their daily calling. I’ve followed Dr. Henry Cloud and John Townsend for decades. I will seek their counsel on CEUs and programs that I can share with others and maintain some dignity. Thank you for your efforts to help hurting people.
Thank you so much once again, it is always so nourishing to learn so much from each conference. All this information helped me personally in my own life and also with my patients. I will never forget once, on one of your webinars, listening to Dr. Bessel Van del Kolk in one of his explanations which enlightened me to understand for the first time that I was not guilty for certain b ehaviours and reacxtions, and to starting to understand how our nerv ious system works. I could then pass on this understanding to my patients and so many people benefited from it. Thank you Ruth B. for giving us this opportunity in our life., I will be forever grateful for it.
Excellent information. Thank you
I am a seasoned clinician and have heard very interesting experiences with dissociative phenomenon. As well, a few years ago I took one of your trauma courses for credit.
I am curious about many things, but as well, particularly, if there is awareness or research about essential and ‘spiritual’ concrete phenomena that are integrated and parallel dissociative experiences.
If so, this would be an area to discuss on many levels, one of those being, integration. Thank you again, Judy
Currently, I am in a trauma collaborative for trauma focus cbt, so I am being trained on the basic functionality of the brain’s response to trauma (prefrontal cortex and the amygdala). This first video provided so much more information, that I am getting a clearer picture of the impact on the total brain. One piece that struck me the most was the information Dr. Dan Siegel provided on changing the constructs of the mind can change the body and relationships. I am now looking at the cognitive triangle in a totally different way. Not only are we challenging unhelpful and helpful thoughts, we are literally changing how the client will engage in their relationships and heal their bodies.
As part of my continued training in “ARC”, I will use the information presented to further educate my client’s parents (I work with children and adolescents) on the processes of treating trauma. I will integrate the information in my sessions to help client learn the reasoning behind their bodily responses and to increase their abilities to use techniques, such as Mindfulness. Thank you for presenting this important information.
I will use these ideas in my undergraduate students in my Philosophy classes not so much in what I am teaching them but in how I am teaching them to mindful when their mind is full (De La Vega) with respect to the content and context of the course material. This also applies to how they use and integrate digital multimedia and technology in their learning as well as their daily activities… Thank you so much! This is so helpful. Looking forward to the series… In the meantime, Be Blessed, not stressed… Invest in and hope for the best and leave the rest to God…Take care!
Couldn’t watch cause browser didn’t support it.
Could you look into greater accessiblity in future?
I was very impressed with how the webinar was broken down and I especially am interested in helping my clients learn about integration! I think they are stuck in their dissociation or some form of fight, flight or freeze and they never make it past that spot. This would give them hope that we can look at their brain differently and help them look at not just emotions and thoughts but the body too!
I recently retired as a school teacher, and having read many books on trauma and watched some of these videos, I wish I had chosen to be a counselor/therapist instead of a high school teacher. Fascinating and ever more relevant and necessary . . too late and too old now..
Questions: I’m in an on-line support group for sexual abuse survivors. So many survivors in this group go thru, sometimes dozens of therapists, bf finding one that understands them. I’m a retired psychotherapist having worked in this field for 35 years. If there’s so much more information on trauma, how is this happening to so many survivors. How are schools training trauma therapists now? How can clients know when they first walk in the door hoping that the therapist can help, but don’t. I can certainly explain what I’ve learned about the functioning of the brain, what’s the best way to treat trauma, etc. How can I help members of this group know what to ask to ascertain if the therapist is knowledgeable and can help them?
Thank you.
Todays lecture tied together many ideas I had about trauma. I learned about adding the body to my already present focus on thoughts and emotions. I learned that psychotherapy does change the brain, something I have been telling my patients. What was new was the discussion about disassociation which occurs during trauma, and continues to affect the brain long after. The idea of insecure attachment will help me address patients who are unable to have healthy attachments in the present. I especially was motivated to do more mindfulness myself, though I teach it to my patients. I look forward to future discussions. Thank you so much for making this learning possible.
Thank you so much for making this available. I watched the first session as a free session but was convinced I needed the gold subscription so I could watch it again. I think our understanding of what is happening neurbiologically is critical for all of us who serve individuals who have experienced trauma.
Thank you again.
In my practice, I do a lot of CBT body calm techniques for both anxiety and trauma work. I had heard Dr. Siegel talk about telomeres before but I had honestly forgotten! Having a more complete “why” behind those techniques is like gold to me. Thank you so much.
Also the explanation of the freeze response as the competition between PSNS and SNS flooding simultaneously was very enlightening.
I have been studying MBraining lately, (the idea that the cerebellum, heart and stomach each function as a differently-oriented brain providing crucial but different data.) The relationship between SNS overdrive and the enteric brain is particularly interesting to me.
I’m working toward a group for trauma survivors who struggle with physical fitness. I am convinced that one of the physiological reasons trauma survivors sometimes can’t lose weight no matter their diet and exercise is that the enteric brain has frozen the trauma response in place as a way to make sure the other two brains don’t forget to come back to the trauma experience and see it completely healed. It’s place-marking. The section on the way the body and brain freeze our trauma was very affirming along those lines.
I enjoy the depth of knowledge each presenter offers–exceptional!
I enjoyed the reminder that the brain heals and integrates as
we offer a combination of cognitive information regarding thoughts and core beliefs,
emotional experiences, and somatic awareness. This aligns with the work I do.
I also liked the reminder that not all disassociation is pathological –some of it is just what we do!!
Thank you very much.
Fantastic information! Thank you for allowing me to your Gold Membership
as there is so much info I really need to go back over the session .This will help me to pass
onto my clients great information .Mindfulness within hypnotherapy is a powerful tool .Since I have start these courses with you all ,it has given me more awareness of body posture ,eye contact and simple techniques to pass onto my clients .Plus insight to look beyond the symptoms but only if client allows .
Very interesting to learning neurobiology of trauma and ways we can help to heal.
So interesting how our brains can work so simplistically but are actual very complicated systems within systems ……YOU ALL ARE AMAZING doing research experiments and passing onto others….All to help others! THANK YOU ALL ONCE AGAIN
I was intrigued by the information shared about the impact of trauma on the systems of the body (ie. inflammation) and encouraged by the success Dr. Siegel described in treating clients with dissociative symptoms. These pieces of information will help me in more thoroughly and holistically assessing symptoms of individuals who have experienced trauma and to more confidently offer hope for improvement in quality of life.
So sorry but I cannot access either the video or audio version. Darn cyber gremlins are at it again! Real disappointment :((
Hello to you all from a small town in the Cape Winelands of South Africa 🙂
As a student of psychiatry, and a long-term patient now in recovery I was heartened to see particular parts of the material here presented as it implies a new wave of enlightenment is sweeping through the field of mental health. It is so important that this knowledge become well known to all practitioners worldwide.
I spent ten years in and out of inpatient care, and could not be stabilised despite endless rounds of therapy and shifts in medication. After completing a course of Dialectical Behavioural therapy where I learned meditation (and in forming a close bond with my therapist who later guided me through my trauma work) I was able to begin to heal at last. Without this combination of trauma-informed therapy and own pursuit of mindfulness practice, I doubt I would ever have been able to recover.
I have since weaned myself from all my psychiatric medications and I am for the first time in my life in a mutually rewarding and safe relationship after a lifetime of abuse and victimhood.
After this broadcast, I am renewed with hope that over time my health will continue to improve with prolonged mindfulness meditation and that there is truly hope for survivors to recapture their lost lives.
I will part with one request to all who read here:
That trauma causes illnesses related to inflammation is something I wish was more widely understood as I am currently struggling to find care for issues related to systemwide inflammation. I have at times been dismissed by those who would imagine that due to my psychiatric history my pain was somehow a less urgent or important complaint that in other patients. This has led to discrimination in the treatment of my physical disorders.
This physical illness, which we now understand I was predisposed to due to trauma continues, more than any other aspect of my struggle, to disable me long after I am consider psychiatrically stable. I appeal to you all to keep this in mind when sharing yoru knowledge with your peers and patients.
I look forward to a day when no patient in pain has to fight being turned away from receiving medical care on the basis of having previously been in psychiatric care.
Perhaps you could incorporate advice for living with the health impacts of trauma in a later broadcast, and a segment on supporting patients with health issues that are chronic or cause chronic pain?
This to me feels like a part of the journey still neglected. I certainly found that pain and inflammation impacted on my mental health in ways I have never seen discussed in a comprehensive way outside of peer support communities, but addressing those issues improved my general mental health.
I’m grateful to every practitioner here who pursues this knowledge and shares it with other survivors like myself. The more you as practitioners know, the less we as patients will suffer. Thank you to NICAMB for offering this material for free online.
Best wishes to you all!
I signed up for the free webinar today, but neither of your emails had instructions for how to gain access, nor was I alerted by cell. I not great at technology, but I’m not terrible either. I signed up for the 6:30 time. Is there anything I can do to still see it?
Thank you, this was amazing and so very helpful. It fosters my desire to integrate mindfulness with my clients. I work Crisis Intervention and this was/is so amazing. Thank you, thank you.
Attachment issues and how trauma may cause disruption in relationship to self or others was very informative.
Im understanding the scientific to the physical side to heal my trauma. The effects of trauma, I have come to believe is what I see in people everyday. Truly I am amazed only 20% end up in the trauma memory muck. (lucky me). A few years ago I a flash that in my childhood I was exposed to a few emotional events I was too young to deal with …then some nasty PTSD 6 years ago is connected to my adult struggles… and since that realization I have a) cut myself some slack and b) been paddling around to understand it as well as evolve & course correct. :). The explanation of the “Freeze” made 100% sense as I immediately saw one of my freezes in my minds eye. so to answer the question… it definately sheds light on the whole picture. thank you !
Absolutely incredible, accessible, helpful, professional!!! Whew! I can’t give you enough encouragement!
For me, exploring ‘body language’ (defeated postures, rigidities, etc.) is a doorway to explore what is going on inside of a client … to have them sense it, express it, and maybe even begin to make sense of it (integrate).
This has been invaluable. I work with the generational trauma of indigenous people all over the world. There have been tremendous discoveries and advancement in our understanding and treatment of trauma during my 30-year career. I feel like a hungry ghost, wanting more on behalf of the population I serve.
As a practice and in principle, I have not charged money, for two reasons: one stems from a personal, ethical principle; the other respects that indigenous people generally don’t charge or pay money for sacred healing work like this. In order to maintain a pure relationship with myself and them, I haven’t wanted to make it an issue. It’s a different approach, I know.
I’m now living on a monthly subsistence income and the small funds I have left before my check comes next week precludes the possibility of becoming a Gold Member. Otherwise I would love to join you in your work. I do wish that requirements of money as an exchange could be eliminated in general. It adds to the feeling of trauma when one “has” while the other “has not”. I’m very grateful for the opportunity to partake in what you have shared in these free sessions, though. Thank you ??
Hello, This is great info that I will let others know about. It’s very practical and easy to understand. I will use today’s ideas to work with people who grew up with a parent with a mental illness. I will more easily connect the ideas to my research entitled “Lives Unseen: Unacknowledged Trauma of Non-Disordered, Competent Adult Children of Parents with a Severe Mental Illness” available at The University of Melbourne, Australia. Today’s session will also inspire me to contribute further to a free e-publication that updates clinicians covering diverse trauma issues, such as as parentification, grief, guilt, shame, etc., which I put on medium.com so thank you so very much! (p.s., I took out the links to my research and articles as the last one I sent did not seem to go through). Again, thanks to all of you for such a terrific resource which I will be sure to spread the news to others.
I thoroughly enjoyed this first video! I am not a clinician, but work to support educators to better understand the needs of all students and provide a trauma informed classroom experience. I am co-author of a new series created to help educators understand the importance of relationships to the teaching and learning experience. The series is published by Nelson Education in Canada and is called The Third Path.
Lastly, my primary reason for registering for these sessions is to help me better understand the long term implications of my own extensive trauma history, dissociation and fragmented sense of self, and how to best recover. I have read books by Dan Seigel, Pat Ogden, Stephen Porges, Bessel Van der Kolk, Peter Levine and others in an effort to better understand my own dissociation and inability to remember experiences or access my emotions in relation to traumatic events. This session was a wonderful addition to these resources and while I do not work in the clinical field, this series helps me to better understand our students and how we can best support their development, in addition to providing me with an enhanced understanding of my self. Thank you!
Terrific. I became a Gold Star subscriber. Perfect for DBT therapists!
Congratulations to you all, because you’ve made a great job in this webinair: profoundly science-based, delightfully thought-provoking and superbly communicated! What struck me the most was Dan Siegel’s definition of therapy purpose as creating more brain integration. I will use that ideia in deepening the work with some of my clients, following the sensorimotor integration work proposed by Pat Ogden. As a matter of fact, we have already noted the body sensations and reactions, but probably didn’t work that as much as we should. I’m excited to test it! Thanks and cheers
Its very enlightening to understand that integration occurs vertically and horizontally in the brain and that the triune brain model is still valid functionally even though its structure is under review. i use EFT tapping to reduce amygdala arousal and my thoughts are that this can effect hippocampus function as well. This may improve vertical integration. I also use EMDR for horizontal Left – Right Brain integration. Todays talk was very helpful in understanding how this works. I also use SUDS levels to connect this with the body. The benefits of mindfulness in this process are now very clear to me. TRhank you for your fantastic presentation. Very helpful and practical.
Having experiences on “both sides of the couch”, i am very much pleased with this introduction. everything explained here aligns very well with the work I am doing, working with the unconscious mind and the body to release the “stuck” or paralysis of trauma. I particularly like the story of the soldier, how using mind-fullness you were able to walk him though his whole experience and keep all parts of the brain active. I have been doing this with clients, but not using the 3 method together all at once. I am going to add the physical component with then next session to amplify the effect of integration. Thank you
The information shared about the freeze response affected me deeply and emotionally, so much so that I felt a deep sense of self-compassion that brought tears to my eyes and an experience of self-acceptance. I felt released from a burden of shame that I don’t think I was aware of carrying about my traumatic experiences, a false sense of responsibility for the experiences and behaviors of others involved. I feel a new sense of freedom. Priceless experience – thank you to all of you from my heart.
Thank you for this extremely informative session today.
I will use the information to underpin my work within Organisational Systems where there is dysfunction such as workplace bullying and other inappropriate behaviours.
Looking forward to the next session ?
I appreciate this first session. I clear knowledge I already had. Can you please suggest book titles on the subject you gave us today, thanks.
I will use the ideas that you shared trying to focus body, thoughts and emotions through mindfulness, adding body motion. I think that trauma in a person, shuts down movement. Completion of certain movements and emotions will release the energy trapped in the body-
I’m going to help my clients discern a threat from something that is not a threat, so they can consciously name when they are safe and can recognize that brain body experience.
Thank you so much, it is great to hear from experts in the field, I would have love to sign up for Gold membership but I am retired and all the work I do in the community is free and volunteer so no income. However, I always take very seriously to keep learning and update. Thank you again