Mind, Body, And Spirit
Our bodies natural wisdom to heal itself from an experience of overwhelm is incredible. We don’t tell our bodies to prepare, it just knows. It all works together in order for us to survive, to survive repeated traumas or single incident traumas. However, our brain tries to override the wisdom in the body for healing after trauma. Our evolved brains shame us into believing that it’s not ok, to not feel ok. So we shut down and numb out what needs to be felt, what needs to be healed. Healing comes from within ourselves and within the context of connected relationships. We are meant to be connected to ourselves and to others to truly transform our trauma. Somatic Experiencing Therapy Somatic Experiencing is an approach to healing trauma in the context of a therapeutic relationship. This modality takes into account the theory of human Biology and our nervous systems. Integrating the mind, body, and spirit as one. I have an understanding that trauma creates separation from self, and others. Somatic Experiencing focuses on what is positive in ones life, while also creating a greater capacity for that which brings discomfort and struggle. As a therapist, my role is to gently guide my clients into this healing process, not by focusing as much on the story (Content) of the traumatic experience but on what sensations are experienced in the body. As these sensations are integrated, the content or core belief that was formed from that experience will shift, new awareness comes forth and thus a greater capacity to live an enriched more meaningful life. The approach I aim to take is one of integrating areas of greater resource from within you as well as your relationships. It’s not about reliving the trauma, its about providing a framework to assess where a person is “stuck” in the fight, flight, freeze, or collapse responses and provides tools to integrate these physiological states, so one can become unstuck. Body Awareness Somatic Experiencing is a body-awareness approach to trauma. Body-awareness, meaning the felt sense experience within the body. This can be accessed by what is noticed in the body, the sensation that one feels. IE: Hot, cold, pressure, heavy, light, relaxed, soft etc. This Modality was developed by Dr. Peter Levine. Based upon the realization that human beings have an innate ability to overcome the effects of trauma, Somatic Experiencing has transformed the lives of many. SE restores self-regulation, and returns a sense of aliveness, relaxation and wholeness to traumatized individuals who have had these precious gifts taken away. This work has been applied to combat veterans, rape survivors, Holocaust survivors, auto accident and post surgical trauma, chronic pain sufferers, and even to infants after suffering traumatic births. Symptoms of Overwhelm or Traumatic Stress • Heart palpitations, breathing problems, dizziness • Hyper vigilance, being on guard or over alert • Extreme startle response • Hyperactivity • Extreme sensitivity to light, sound or touch • Involuntary behavior: tics, jerking limbs • Anxiety, including chronic low level anxiety • Panic attacks and phobias • Fears and terrors • Flashbacks and intrusive memories or images • Overwhelming emotional responses such as shame, anger, depression • Insomnia, poor sleep, nightmares, night terrors • Psychosomatic illnesses, particularly some headaches, migraines, neck and back problems • Muscle weakness, muscle pain e.g. fibromyalgia, myofacial pain • Digestive problems, e.g. irritable bowel syndrome, spastic colon • Immune system disorders • Skin reactions • Environmental sensitivities • Physical, mental or emotional exhaustion • Mood swings, shame, depression, rage, aggression, lack of self worth, easily irritated • Feelings of helplessness and powerlessness • Mental ‘blankness’ or feeling spaced-out • Amnesia, forgetfulness • Indecisiveness and feelings of overwhelm • Attraction to dangerous situations or people • Addictive behavior: smoking, alcohol dependency, drug abuse • Avoidance behavior: avoiding places, activities, memories, situations or people • Attachment difficulties in nurturing, bonding or committing to others or receiving from others. How Does SE Differ From Other Therapeutic Modalities? Traditional cognitive and emotional based ‘talk’ therapies can be considered as being “top-down” approaches. They focus on insight and emotions first, as well as how to renegotiate the narrative though challenging distorted beliefs. Talking about the trauma can have an adverse effect as the person can be re-traumatized with the flooding of emotions and overwhelm that rises during the process if their nervous system is not able to regulate itself. Somatic Experiencing is a “bottom-up” approach. SE focuses on the brain stem – the reptilian brain and its survival-based functions that are not under conscious or emotional control. Our way of surviving before brains evolved. Access to these instinctual action and arousal systems is through the mode of physical bodily sensations, imagery and motor patterns. In the process of working with the ‘felt sense’ of the body other elements of the trauma experience may arise such as meaning and emotions. Thus cognitions and emotions are included in SE practice but they are secondary from physical sensations through the bottom-up processing. “I have come to the conclusion that human beings are born with an innate capacity to triumph over trauma. I believe not only that trauma is curable, but that the healing process can be a catalyst for profound awakening—a portal opening to emotional and genuine spiritual transformation. I have little doubt that as individuals, families, communities, and even nations, we have the capacity to learn how to heal and prevent much of the damage done by trauma. In so doing, we will significantly increase our ability to achieve both our individual and collective dreams.” ― Peter A. Levine, Healing Trauma: A Pioneering Program for Restoring the Wisdom of Your Body
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2/18/2017 0 Comments The value of Psychotherapy8/16/2016 0 Comments Our Body Tells the StoryAs a Psychotherapist I feel it is my work and calling to truly help people. What a gift and honor to get to hold space for your pain, to create a container in which you can show up with your most vulnerable selves and feel heard, feel accepted, and feel genuine empathy. I have always strived to get to the root of the matter, not just putting bandaids on wounds in hopes to temporality stop the bleeding. I dont want to just address the symptoms but what is underneath the symptoms thats creating the chaos. This curiosity and desire has led me to a modality called Somatic Experiencing. This modality was developed by Peter Levine, Phd. to address the effects of trauma. Levine developed this approach after observing that prey animals, whose lives are routinely threatened in the wild, are able to recover readily by physically releasing the energy they accumulate during stressful events. Humans, on the other hand, often override these natural ways of regulating the nervous system with feelings of shame and pervasive thoughts, judgments, and fears. Somatic Experiencing aims to help people move past the place where they might be “stuck” in processing a traumatic event.
The Autonomic Nervous system Explained: The Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) which includes the sympathetic nervous system (SNS), the parasympathetic nervous system (PSNS), and the enteric nervous system (ENS) The Nervous system is what is activated during times of real or imagined threat. Also know as our fight, flight, freeze response. This is how we survive threat in the environment. However, the ANS can become dysregulated, particularly when full expression of one’s response to trauma is repressed. As a result, the body continues to respond as if it is under threat. Somatic experiencing contends that negative symptoms of trauma—such as anxiety, hypervigilance, aggression, and shame, result from denying the body the opportunity to fully process the traumatic event. Though many people who experience traumatic events recover completely, for those who do not, unresolved trauma can lead to larger mental and physical health concerns, such as PTSD, sleep problems, mood swings, or immune system problems. Somatic Experiencing aims to restore the body’s ability to self-regulate in order to achieve balance and integrity. How this Works: As Ive explained above, When the nervous system is overwhelmed and cant be fully expressed it becomes dysregulated. The process of SE is slow and gentle so as not to re- traumatize. Through various SE techniques I will help the client find places of safety, whether that be a place in the body that is not activated by the trauma, or a physical place to retreat to in one’s mind. Experiencing the sensations related to the traumatic event in a safe way allows a person to fully process the trauma. Clients also achieve heightened awareness of their physical responses to stress, and this skill can serve them in everyday life. Somatic Experiencing helps people become aware of their bodies’ responses and find new responses that contradict those of helplessness. It works on the principle that trauma happens in the body, and to heal trauma, the body gives us the resources and power to overcome overwhelming experience with resilience. “I have come to the conclusion that human beings are born with an innate capacity to triumph over trauma. I believe not only that trauma is curable, but that the healing process can be a catalyst for profound awakening—a portal opening to emotional and genuine spiritual transformation. I have little doubt that as individuals, families, communities, and even nations, we have the capacity to learn how to heal and prevent much of the damage done by trauma. In so doing, we will significantly increase our ability to achieve both our individual and collective dreams.” ― Peter A. Levine, Healing Trauma: A Pioneering Program for Restoring the Wisdom of Your Body 11/11/2015 0 Comments Post Traumatic Stress Disorder ( PTSD)Veterans day gives us the opportunity to honor those who have and do serve our country. This is also a time of reflection, when we reflect on the consequences of war we find that many former and current military members and their families are greatly impacted by Post war trauma. PTSD is a very serious and debilitating consequence of being in a state of hyper arousal. Researchers have found that Recurring violence habituates survivors to live in fear and sympathetic nervous system arousal. This constant state of nervous system arousal makes people feel that the world is not a safe place. One can see how this belief system makes daily living very unmanageable. Bing in a constant state of survival impacts the whole person, mind, body, and spirit. Therapy can create a journey of healing for those suffering from trauma related disorders. Clients need to feel safe enough with their therapist to describe their humiliation and overwhelm. At the same time, the therapist needs to be nurturing enough to provide the empathy and calm support that is missing in the client's current experience. Seeking support and assistance from a trained professional is an opportunity to find healing and restoration to individuals and families who might be suffering. Steps towards healing: Awareness Acceptance Seek a Therapeutic alliance with a trained therapist. This video below gives a very helpful understanding of the signs and symptoms of PTSD. This video was created by the Veterans Health Administration. 11/1/2015 1 Comment Self CompassionSo often I hear Clients say, " I would never talk to a friend like I talk to myself." maybe thats where the term you are your worst critic came from,? so badgering yourself all day is motivation, or so we are taught. What if there is another way, what if we were compassionate towards ourselves as opposed to critical. When we are compassionate to loved ones or even strangers it seems to be uplifting and helpful for them, and yet we fail to see how this could be helpful for us. We go about our day on auto pilot, which is similar to how our thoughts work. We call this Automatic critical thoughts because think without noticing. Most of the time we are not even fully aware of how critical we are of ourselves. Step back and think about your inner dialogue, maybe even write some thoughts down. Think about how many times you have an automatic thought like, " I should have.... or, I am so Lazy, I can't get anything done" Would you say that to a friend, " you are lazy, you dont get anything done ?" most likely, thats not very helpful or encouraging. Its a good reminder to think about how your automatic self critical thoughts impact you on a day to day. When you can't seem to understand why you are feeling down, or angry, take an inventory of your critical thoughts. What you might notice is how critical thoughts impact your mood. Practicing self compassion is not something you can change over night. Once I help my Clients to implement it, they are amazed at how much more effective they can be.
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AuthorAs a Licensed Clinical Social Worker I am truly interested in individuals and helping them understanding themselves. This is a public blog. Archives
March 2017
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