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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Thank you again Dr. Buczynski and colleagues for this insightful and educational seminar. I am a volunteer on the national suicide line and several local crisis hotlines. I use some of the techniques you have discussed here to help those who call in who say they are disassociating or deregulating and need help getting integrated. Your techniques are invaluable to us and often work.The quick relief they experience in short conversation is often enough to convince them to go for regular therapy sessions for their trauma. Many have suffered for more than 20 years and didn’t want to admit they were “crazy” and needed therapy. Normalizing this as something that the brain does and something that more than 20% of the population feels is essential for them to get help. Dr. Siegel’s observation that observing the change is rewarding and it is a wonderful time to be alive is true for us on the hotlines. Thank you again for offering these sessions for free.
Are there observable changes in circulating hormones (ACTH for example) in peripheral blood/serum that can be measured with a validated lab test? Also, should patients with severe PTSD struggling with chronic dissociation be managed with endocrine therapy (including off label use)?
As a shamanic practitioner I do a lot of soul retrievals, and at the end provide time in silence for the client to integrate the returned soul portions. I tell them that integration means welcoming the returned soul portions (vital energies) and connecting them with their thoughts, emotions and bodies. I know integration is important, having learned it from Dr. Dan Siegel, but after listening to this session, I think I should emphasize it to my clients even more, so I’m planning to experiment with asking the client, after the integration time, to tell me what effect they think the returned vital energies will have on their habitual thought patters, then ask the same about their emotional reactions to things, and how their body feels and functions. Even if they can’t come up with good answers at that time, they’ll probably be thinking about it in the following days and weeks, and thus continuing with the integrations.
Somatic and mindfulness techniques are pathways that I will continue to expand on and explore. When I was at the site of the World Trade Center during the 9/11 rescue/recovery efforts, my brother (FDNY) was missing and his remains were never recovered. I visited the site numerous times . The first time, a firefighter escorted me in “as far as we could go before the souls of our shoes would melt”. A number of rescue workers came over to connect with me (sister of a responding-now-missing firefighter). One of the most poignant moments was when an apparently young firefighter who was working the pile gave me a big hug and as we looked at the burning pile of rubble said, “This is too much information”. Not long after it hit me that that was the best and most relevant definition of trauma that I had ever heard. In the years since, somatic therapies, integrative practices such as yoga and TaiChi, etc and mindfulness techniques continue to support our 9/11 Community.Thanks to all who are doing this profound and continuing work that is so essential in light of conditions in our world.🙏🏼🕊🌻
Really enjoyed this! I plan to apply this in a session with a client who dissociates all the time in our social engagements. I will use a body map so he can begin integrating his thoughts emotions and body. Asking him to bring a hand on his body to where he feels the emotion, so we are integrating more body movement.
As a MFT/PCC trainee working in CMH and with multiple population but most recently adolescents (TAY), I find most are dealing with trauma and trauma-based issues. What stands out is how trauma effects the “whole” brain and how we need to help clients with brain integration. This is fascinating work and I am committed to becoming a clinician focused on trauma-based work.
I studied for a masters in counseling but old age and illness prevented me from completing. I’m now 80, living with the results of traumatic 24 yr marriage, and living with the son adopted into that trauma who struggles so profoundly with his ptsd. I wish I were younger because I’m sure I would be plunging wholeheartedly into this area of study. Finances prevent me from doing so as well. but I’ll be watching eagerly the rest of the free sessions. thank you!!
The deep importance of mindfulness and how it affects our gene “tendrils” (Ill look up actual word later!). How it is all interconnected with inflammation and illness. Our amazing bodies!!
I am not in the healing professions, but a client. At the start of the free programme I thought I was properly screwed up, with no hope for change; by the end with a sense of release and relief I felt hopeful. I watch these webinars to understand the how, the why it works.
Thank you, these are truly needed insights.
The session was helpful particularly the discussion on telomeres and telomerase. As a user of and teacher of mindfulness, I know the impact of this work on my life and my clients.
Very useful and “listener” friendly, using the experts with brief statements, highlighting their knowledge’s core. In the work with refugees, where trauma is common, it is great to be reminded of the potential for healing, not by magic, but by among other things healthy relationships, building safety, etc.
I have a friend who experiences dissociation but is not aware of any trauma in her life. Can dissociation have other causes?
I found it particularly interesting to learn that asking simple questions before a person’s brain has resigned to it’s most primal state, can help to keep the brain “online”. I feel this is an integral step to understand and put into use to avoid meltdowns. I will certainly use this in my relationship with my neurodivergent daughter, but also in my advocacy work and educating others. Thank you for an amazing session today!
Hi, I would really love some links to the research that shows how “being present” is related to the optimal levels of telemerase – what kind of mindfulness practices etc. were used that were most helpful?
Of all the online courses on the neurobiology of trauma I have taken over many years, this one was the most clearly stated and helpful! Thank you!
Excellent. I teach male addicts recovery weekly in a 4 month in-house program. They appreciate learning about the brain and trauma. Janet D.
“What you do with your mind changes your molecules” mindblowing. Fantastic programme. Great and clear research based information and also loved the clinical vignette from Pat Ogden. Thank you from Lisbon
Beautiful and insightful presentation.
Thanks and blessing
I like the reflective questions – made me stop and think about which of the 3 areas I am most comfortable working in, and which not, so I am looking forward to thinking more about this. Thanks
This was so helpful to work with my clients and I will listen again to catch anythingthat I missed.
Have a great day and thank you to all who do what they do to help others.
Carolyn Ulinski LPC
Wow! It was really helpful to hear “how does the brain of trauma, react”. It takes so much shame away from the client. Thank you for this great series! 🙏 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
This is fantastic. I am giving a course to a group of moms at an inner city pediatrics practice and focusing on the brain like this – and you don’t know how relieved they were!!!
could anyone comment on the possible role of medical hypnosis as a tool in the management of trauma and dissociation?
Thanks for this. I am excited to get to the next lecture on attachment. Just maybe for my curiosity, I wondered why there were no reference to the work of your colleague Dr. Gabor Maté and his many writings on Trauma which come very close to what has been presented to us. Thanks again.
I have attended this presentation in the hope to learn more about the impact of trauma on the body. I am a Master of Counselling student in Canada, but someday hope to be able to go back home to Ukraine and work with post-war trauma. I really appreciated the discussion around epigenetics, and the ability to reverse some of the changes that happen in the presence of trauma. This information can give people in therapy hope if used as psycho-education, and give a sense of personal agency that might have been impacted by the trauma.
I personally have healed from inflammatory disease largely through mindfulness training. “Your mind can change your molecules.” I now volunteer at a local school district teaching trauma-informed social and emotional skills to children 5 days a week. I love Ron’s takeaway in the Talk Back session, “This is just what a human brain does when it’s been either not well cared for as a child or exposed to events that were overwhelming.” We can let go of self-blame and stop asking “What’s wrong with me,” but ask instead, “What happened to me” and, I would add, “What happens next?” because knowledge is power.
I love the work you’re doing! In doing similar teaching I have found that people are so relieved to hear about what their brains do in response to trauma, and they are not “bad”!
I deeply appreciate the hard science behind the effects of trauma on the brain. Trauma is becoming a buzz word, which in many ways is great. People are feeling more comfortable sharing that they have experienced trauma or neglect and are not feeling so ashamed to seek out help. I am watching this because I am a survivor of trauma and have struggled with attachment and healthy relationships. Thank you, thank you for bringing the real experts together and supporting therapists to do effective, healing work
Thank you. I thought this was excellent.
I will utilize this in asking my therapist to help me pinpoint how to get past problems created from trauma of neglect and rejection in my upbringing.
I hope to find a therapist helpful for me changing and becoming more whole, productive, secure and consistent as well as less fearful.
God bless you
Thank you for providing a scientific view of trauma, and mentioning that it can be looked at from a non personal viewpoint as this is the impact on the brain of the childhood experiences or traumatic events.
Just fyi – First time I’ve had trouble accessing video! Could be my laptop, but…
Thanks, anyway! Fingers crossed for tomorrow!
I found the concept of integration very useful to think about for clients in general not just in PTSD, but being able to make this linkage to client as you work through therapy and the concerns
As a victim of crime I found this incredibly interesting and helpful. I have complex PTSD resulting from an online relationship fraud that lasted over a year and a half and cost me everything I had including my livelihood. 24/7 contact with this criminal who manipulated and controlled me…my every move. I suffered extreme trauma with all the symptoms. Extreme despair, grief, fear, paralyzation, feeling disconnected, cognitive problems, you name it the list goes on. It was hell. Now it’s been four months since I broke free and I am recovering thanks to support by SCARS (Dr. Tim McGuinness) and my trauma counselor. Thank you for providing this for free. I plan to become an advocate for victims of this type of crime when I’m ready so knowing this information won’t only help me but maybe it will help me help others in the future. Thank you
I’m a retired RN, not a therapist. The area I live in doesn’t have enough therapists, most are not accepting new clients or have long wait lists. Many also list trauma treatment as part of their repertory but I’m not sure if they are using resources like you provided. Thank you for getting them out there.
There are also trauma recovery coaches out there and they tend to be more body based. That might provide some more access for you
Thank you for including mindfulness and other energy medicine techniques in your program as a possibility to help oneself in changing the ways epigenetics influence our lives. This is so empowering. I’ve been working as a yoga teacher and energy medicine practitioner for over 30 years now – including my own healing- witnessing the effects described yet unable to give them ‘status’. The fact that your research is now going towards these phenomenon is as far as I’m concerned, the dawn of the age of aquarius!
I attended the session today to support a particular child who experienced trauma. I hope to use this information on disassociation, neurobiology and attachment styles with his foster parents and legal system to present a case. But I have to realise that this information is so valuable that I can use it for every other human I work with/ live with including myself/
Thank you so much for sharing all this knowledge! We finally address more and more the disorganized attachment in science. This is very encouraging!
Thank you for this webinar!
I am a traumatized person with College Education in Biology and Pharmaceutical experience in Psychotropic drugs marketing ( knowledge in BioPsychatry)
So, I am seeking all resources to understand and learn why I am the way I am. I am using this training to strengthen my healing and possibly help family members seek therapy.
I want to say a huge “thank you” because of this training! And please consider creating similar training for the people who are looking for treatment/therapist.
Thank you for providing such in depth and helpful information. Understanding a client’s presenting dissociation as a lack of integration in the brain and the symptoms of self fragmentation and loss of sense of self which was so well explained by Dr. Ruth Lanius. Understanding that disorganized early attachment is a strong predictor that leads to dissociation is helpful too to educate and reaasure the client to help them let go of their harsh self blame, judgement and shame to pave the way for release and deeper healing. Working with addicted client’s and their families has been rewarding when applying this deeper knowledge. Thank you.
I have tried to educate myself in this field with varying success. It’s a fascinating and ever-expending area of understanding. This is the first time I have heard that dissociation at the time of trauma was the main risk factor for PTSD and the likely link between disorganised attachment and predisposition to dissociation. Clinically it makes sense. I would like (if you have them) some practical examples of how people with extensively fractured social relationships could repair them beyond the therapeutic space. Many thanks for your broadcast.
This is a beautiful gift to all humanity Ruth – so profession and so packed with information. You have shared so much knowledge here very clearly – making complex things totally manageable to understand. I long to get this out into the world through what I will do with the next stages as Im currently training as a therapist – having been a teacher for many years. As all the contributors spoke, I had in mind my daughter who, as an adopted child, came with plenty of anger and now as an adult continues to go from 0 to 60 in a flash! As I get more understanding of trauma’s impact I hope to be able to understand more what she needs to find freedom from her restlessness and anger. Thank you so very much.
I really enjoyed the discussion on how the “mind” (not just our brain) can impact our physical body. How we perceive, process, and deal with what is happening around us and in our relationships can have a very healthy or unhealthy impact on our overall level of physical wellness. I KNOW my clients can benefit from this insight.
I realize now that it;s ok that I am good at Emotion Processing and other clinicians are good at Cognitive processing. It’s all part of the three part treatment approach.
I love it! Maybe this is why EMDR is so successful, its integrating all of these.
: ) love this!
Kim
Thank you so much, I really enjoyed and valued and appreciated the chance to study and learn from your shared experience as experts in the field of how neurobiology works in relation to trauma.
I am currently studying a preliminary course in mental health in the UK, after having already worked in various areas which have involved mental health care, without any training provided over several decades, so therefore really felt the need for some training, so this course was really exceptional to help me understand so much in one short hour. I’ve been working in youth work, with children with learning disabilities, working with charities working with refugees from overseas who had experienced conflict zones, working with disaffected communities with mental health problems from low income inner city areas suffering from poverty and neglect affected by crime. Dealing with people within various different social communities and understanding how mental health is impacted whether working in a therapeutic or charitable way within the community or working as a therapeutic practitioner or working with creative projects, understanding the basics of how basic caregiving within different family, social or societal forms will affect the integration of the brain, body, and epigenetic response, when dealing with trauma, really is something new I have not considered before, and enlightening to understand. Whether I will take this knowledge forwards working in the therapy involving creative projects, or working with kids from inner city or isolated ethnic communities or working in relationship counselling, I am grateful for the opportunity presented here to learn from yourselves from this masterclass program. Thank you to all of you who I have learned from today, in particular Ruth Buczynski,who I have been following for the last year, who has introduced this program to me initially. Thank you.
Lilia Patterson, UK.
I am a traumatized person who has not found a therapist nor psychologist who understands trauma in a therapeutic way. So, I am seeking all resources to understand and learn why I am the way I am. I am using this training to strengthen my healing. I hope to better my ability to help my adult-children and my grandchildren recover from the trauma I have passed on to them. Since we cannot find help, we will educate ourselves to become the help we seek. That is how I am using the training.
***No, I am NOT pretending to be a counselor nor therapist. I make it clear to my family/friends that I am learning more about why “I am the way I am” and encouraging them to seek the options best suited to helping them in their healing.
I want to say a huge “thank you” because much of this training was all used at a Saprea retreat (previously Younique Foundation) and I found it to be very helpful in surprising ways.
Is there a way to find a qualified therapist or psychologist in my area who understands this trauma healing skill-set?
This knowledge is liberating in the hands of practitioners who are able to find a way to explain to patients that there is a reason behind their psychological state and a route to make things better. The goal is better brain integration. Starting the process of healing the psyche of the individual creates the environment for healing of relationships which leads to more healing growth. Awesome! Thanks for sharing this amazing knowledge.
I look forward to being able to use aspects of neurobiology to reassure clients it is not “their fault,” and to be able to give them some clear and rational explanations of why they feel, or do, the things they do that trouble them. I especially look forward to sharing the information on mindfulness and learning more about this myself. Thank you.
That was a wonderful presentation. I am not a psychologist but have always been interested in learning about myself as a spiritual human being. Practicing mindfulness has been a part of my adaptability. Thank you so much for preparing this seminar. It was great to experience, if only a little, the genius of the presenters. I got a lot out of it and will share my thoughts with my partner as we go through the 12-step program.
Explore the telomeres and how to repair and lengthen them to an appropriate degree per client.
Much appreciated the dissociation and mindfulness was very useful for me