In his holiday classic, A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens tells a moving story of transformation. As the spirits of Past, Present, and Future visit the miserly Ebenezer Scrooge throughout the course of Christmas Eve, we see him learn to embrace a sense of compassion and generosity. After his experience, Scrooge says: I will honor Christmas…

When we’re working with clients who have experienced trauma, targeting the limbic system can make our interventions more effective. But what exactly is limbic system therapy, and why is it so useful in treating trauma? In the video below, Bessel van der Kolk, MD answers these questions and explains why he uses this kind of…

Our clients are best able to cope with stressors and triggers when they’re operating within their window of tolerance. But a traumatic experience can narrow our clients’ window of tolerance, leading to states of either hyper- or hypo-arousal. So we created this infographic as a tool you can share with your clients. It can help…

The window of tolerance is such an important concept when we’re working with trauma and dysregulation. For clients who have experienced trauma, that window often becomes quite narrow. They may space out and dissociate, or get too angry or anxious to focus. Or, they might fluctuate between hyper- and hypo-arousal. When they’re too far outside…

Trauma can have a profound impact on a person’s memory . . . . . . and traumatic memory can affect not only the brain, but also the body and nervous system as well. But conceptualizing how trauma can impact the different types of memory can be challenging, so we created a free tool for…

When it comes to the treatment of trauma, our work often centers on our clients’ feelings and sensations . . . . . . and sometimes, those sensations can present as physical pain. In the video below, Peter Levine, PhD shares a powerful story of how he helped a man trace the source of his…