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.
What are the targeted interventions for changing neurological responses to trauma? Other than therapeutic breath work, yoga, visualization through guided imagery. I find (EFT) tapping eases the CNS during negative emotional responses to triggers.
I am a new clinician for a public non-profit organization, and I have just been transferred to Indiana for my work and I am disappointed by the debates about part-time work. apparently, being married to a vet, I am entitled to any access and beneficie of what is not always the case for all. yes, I feel privileged about my new situation and yet I am concerned about what this may mean for families.
NPR’s SHANKAR VEDANTAM on his show Hidden Brain interviewed political scientist John Hibbing about his research on the political differences of liberals and conservatives. Hibbing’s research suggests that “our political choices flow from deeply ingrained psychological (and physiological) differences.” One of the ways liberals and conservatives differ is in how they see threats and danger. Conservatives are more likely to get triggered by threat and the response, apparently, can be picked up on a brain scan. From the interview, Hibbing seemed to be saying that response to threat is, at least to some extent, genetic This research makes me curious as to how trauma, even “everyday trauma” may also contribute to our political landscape.
Our couple has a lot of problems overcoming the trauma sprees that my husband suffered after his mother’s serious illness. He is very agitated in his sleep and wakes up in the middle of the night until dawn. He doesn’t want me to help him, although I’m always willing to be there to help him. I feel rejected and incompetent afterwards and I don’t know if I can be useful. In the same way I can’t have a night without cold sweat or thinking for him. I ask him to spend more time with his mother who lives in Jordan. Has been anyone been successful in reestablishing the intimacy after traumas? Thank you everyone for reaching out.
Triggers have beneficial side effects, but when terms and duration all depend on how not to be considered. To overcome the shocks this can cause, I often offer my clients the choice to take responsibility for everyday life (self-care, diet, learning self-control through mediation…)
Triggers can reinvigorate trauma response well after the trauma(s) is no longer routinely eliciting it. How do you convince patients they are making progress when they feel they are slipping backward into earlier PTSD mode? Thank you. MB
Thank you. I saw photos of my ex-husband sitting on his couch on my friend’s phone. I have not seen him in nearly 14 years. His photo was ‘threatening’ to my body. This was Sunday. By Tues I was really high and detached – noticed by my acupuncturist. By Wed my rolfer re-integrated me into my body as I was not in it but lying beside it. I believe this was Level 1 dissociation and I have done this since a small child when I lived with trauma and fear full time. More often then I went to level 2 or beyond. I was not able to discern that his photo could not harm me and reacted as if it could. I am better than I used to be and was fine the next day. I wish I could stop it from happening in the first place as I cannot re-integrate myself without help. J
Thank you for an updated explanation.
Hi, I am a social worker in the US. For the past year I have been working with aging holocaust survivors. I was recently in the mountains of El Salvador with survivors of the genocidal civil war. Their testimonies are incredibly brutal and painful to listen to but many want/need to tell them. In two different rural places people spoke about how the trauma lives in their bodies. As one woman spoke her story, she rubbed her abdomen in a circular direction to move the pain so it doesn’t get stuck while her gruesome story is being told. With children in one area they have them move their bodies as a part of telling their traumatic life content. With minimal Spanish I wasn’t able to have the deeper conversations I wanted to have but I am interested in indigenous perspectives and ‘folk beliefs’ on trauma remediation as they relate to somatic research on trauma and PTSD. The people of ES speak of their (PTSD) symptoms without having knowledge of the label/diagnosis we have adopted in the US.
I would like to know if there are any emerging links between modern research and indigenous practices in trauma. ~Anissa
This is one of my finding : https://search.proquest.com/openview/cc0e6e14f67cc49d5ea771c621188e6e/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=1821032
I couldn’t get the rest without a cost. Very little help here for PTSD. T o add our organization also works with a group of newly migrants from the South America who are literate only in Spanish, or none of the other languages, such as English.
We need techniques for high levels of trauma that will assist in difficult field situations such as migrants who have experienced war and torture and now are on the move, humanitarian workers, etc. We’re exasperated, as there is virtually no capacity for dealing with these issues anywhere, except in the North and the West. International organizations and funders are not sensitive to this. Thus, we need assistance urgently.
Can the brain heal after trauma and after scarring.
Thank you very much so interesting . Movements in yoga also helps to Leti it go and to restart again every minute 🙏🏻😉❤️
What is the most effective type of neurofeedback for complex PTSD acquired in infancy?
John
i need help
I would love more information on the benefits of therapeutic bodywork (massage) and yoga in 1. assisting the mind/body resolution of both past traumas and 2. how they benefit us in the present moment. Thanks very much for your insightful and informative contributions.
Reach out to Peter M Bernstein PhD. http://www.bernsteininstitute.com/
I’d like some treatment. The government has cut funding for mental health services in the NHS. They always make some excuse for not helping. I had 2 sessions of emdr which stopped the intrusive thoughts at that time. I was only entitled to 12 – 16 sessions after a wait of 20 months. Psychologist suddenly left and couldn’t get any more treatment as I got upset in the second session.
I can’t read self help books cos my mind shuts down. As it hurts and is triggering to read about trauma and sad things. I’ve still got B.VDK book and I’ve had it for few years and only read a few pages. I don’t know what to do. My life is awful. Complex ptsd. Now government has stopped my low rate disability payment do I can’t see anyone privately, my life has been awful but people laugh at me and make fun of me cos I’m anxious, cut off and strange. Since when did the effects of ptsd became such a laughing matter from people who have had supportive untraumatic lives?!
For the above individual, you sound like you may be a veteran. Please check out a VETCENTER to get some free counseling. Also, if you are near a military installation, there are Military Family Life Counselors on post who could see you for no cost. Also check out the post chaplain as some posts have free faith based counselors on post. If none of these work, check out a charitable organization in your area such as Catholic Charities. May of these have counselors who could see you for no charge. Finally, if you can’t read books, watch videos on utube on mindfulness and meditation to help you control your PTSD symptoms. Best of luck, Elaine
Hi M Y,
I’m an EMDR therapist in the Surrey. It’s worth asking to see another GP and asking to be put on the list for more EMDR sessions or Trauma-Focussed CBT.
Have you tried searching the internet for “low-cost emdr” near where you live?
It’s difficult to get the treatment you need if your financial resources are low, but there might be some charities nearby who offer EMDR.
Good luck.
Lori
My first comment didn’t post properly. What I said was connect with a local church, they may pay for therapy. They did for me. Don’t give up, your worth it!
Dear M Y,
Try looking up Irene Lyon on YouTube. She has many helpful and informative videos up which you can watch for free. It helps to educate yourself about what might be going on in your nervous system, even if you can’t afford in-person treatment at present. You might get some good info to get you started on self-help, too.
If your financial situation ever improves, and you have developmental trauma, I highly recommend Somatic Practice (which Kathy Kain originated), usually offered by a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner (SEP).
Best of luck. Please hang in there.
I had this consistent feeling after my incident. I blamed myself and about how can I not be more conscious about what was happening. Then, I dissociated and I saw myself a victim of fate. I could not sleep at night, and when I sleep I see myself in my dreams as real. I became scared and frightened that I would never recover from those feelings that become very present and makes me feel like being in my own prison. I received the help of the Tibetan monk who showed me how sounds and vibrations can help me to de-stress. It’s very effective. These movements are similar to the yoga movements, like shaking the whole body for five intense minutes, then calmly doing some slower movements before ending with a meditation. I like visualizing a waterfall dropping fresh water down on me and that refreshes me when I meditate at the end of my session. It has a relaxing effect. This has helped me tremendously to take away most of my triggers
How do you treat recurrent flashbacks and incessant insomnia ?
How can you prevent relapse to occur in a trama that has happened over five years ago and that has affected the memory ?
I am a registered nurse and I work night shifts. My youngest adopted child has just turned 15. We have been doing our best to foster a good relationship between parent and child. But I can see him making bad choices at school and her teacher regularly reports that he is missing the classes. He may be contend to come to the school but not to classes. He always makes sure that I take him to the school every day, as I thought that where he would be. I went on the social media and saw pictures of friends and dates with whom and where he spend his time. I avoid to ask him questions because I know that I gets a blunted and distant look and discontentment. I’m afraid of losing my only child. I wish he does support his behavior. I am afraid that he continues to make the wrong choices. How can I help him overcome his risk of injury, as a parent. In the past, when we went hiking and camping, we were caught in a storm when large blocks of rocks rushed down. I do not know how much it could affect him or in any way. Could there be any severe and undiagnosed symptoms that I do;t know about? I don’t have much availabilities during the day for him. Could you help?
How do you treat historical trauma that has gone untreated
What level of trauma has significant impact
Hi, Based on a research that I have found, the proactive practice is basically a holistic intervention that would demand that you work with your client at their basic functions, like from bottom up. Work with the persons, how they feel in their body and mind, before taking them out to the world and probably involve them in the programs that would encourage them to do too some advocacy for what are important to them…I have found for one specific group… hope this helps.
http://www.ihs.gov
(“Historical trauma and unresolved grief : implications for clinical research and practice with indigenous peoples of the Americas”)
My husband is a Vietnam vet. He claims that he doesn’t have PTSD symptoms, that he was able and is able to compartmentalize and rationalize his experiences in such a way that they don’t affect him today. He sleeps well, says he doesn’t have nightmares or flashbacks.
Yet, he is very blunted in his affect and mostly withdrawn and solitary — often withdrawing to an almost addictive degree to online news, online solitaire games, online porn, and the like — and this is where he lives most of the time: in an “escapist” world. He has literally no social life, seeks out and retains no personal friendships, and is very closed and self-protective about his personal feelings and emotions. He almost never discloses anything about his feelings and emotions. He doesn’t “connect” on a genuine personal, intimate level.
It is my thought that my husband does indeed suffer from a form of PTSD. How can I get him help? Our marriage is one of two friends — not one of two people who are intimately connected on a personal level — because I do not really know him. I have connections with my family, my many friends, my patients, and all of those I care for in my life. Yet, I cannot connect with him.
My husband is a Vietnam vet. He claims that he doesn’t have PTSD symptoms, that he was able and is able to compartmentalize and rationalize his experiences in such a way that they don’t affect him today. He sleeps well, says he doesn’t have nightmares or flashbacks.
Yet, he is very blunted in his affect and mostly withdrawn and solitary — often withdrawing to an almost addictive degree to online news, online solitaire games, online porn, and the like — and this is where he lives most of the time: in an “escapist” world. He has literally no social life, seeks out and retains no personal friendships, and is very closed and self-protective about his personal feelings and emotions. He almost never discloses anything about his feelings and emotions. He doesn’t “connect” on a genuine personal, intimate level.
It is my thought that my husband does indeed suffer from a form of PTSD. How can I get him help? Our marriage is one of two friends — not one of two people who are intimately connected on a personal level — because I do not really know him. I have connections with my family, my many friends, my patients, and all of those I care for in my life. Yet, I cannot connect with him.
Can childhood trauma cause mental illnesses..?
Childhood trauma is believed to contribute to but not necessarily cause mental illness. To some degree it may clear a path to depressive disorders, anxiety disorders, personality disorders and even dissociative identity disorder. However, children are strong and many learn coping styles that help build resilience.
To integrate meaning come together with my split personalities take therapy?
Found this interesting, for those who are interested in EMDR.
http://www.researchgate.net/publication/329513584_Somatic_Health_Issues_in_Trauma-Related_Disorders_Effects_on_Psychobiological_Axes_Affecting_Mental_and_Physical_Health_Insights_from_Psychosomatic_Medicine_and_Consultation-Liaison_Psychiatry
Do overexposure to traumas cause IUTs, backtracking and frightening, unstoppable nightmares, unpredictable vigilance that intend to help with avoiding unexpected dangers?
Can the hyper vigilance you discribed ever be cleared from someone that was violently raped several times, before the age of 6? No adult intervention, the rapes and molestation lasted until 16 yr. I have been trained in every therapy out there. The only thing that helped finally at the age of 60 is a medication called prazosin, it stopped the daymares, and the night fright.
Thank you Darlene Hart
How do you treat historical trauma that has gone untreated
What level of trauma has significant impact
I am a successful person, I own my business and I’ve been depressed and had to see a counselor. I have complex PTSD, and general anxiety with some depression. Been between divorces and having any connection with my partners, I’m afaid of living alone and don’t know why I chose this life without my wife of 25 years. We weren’t much sharing about anything but goon with our life with the kids. I was asked why I didnt think they wouldnot listen to me and what makes me think that. I knew my wife is too busy and has no time. Now that I feel I left behind and unfiished business of my own personal life I’ve decided to get off from therapy to save in the cost. I know that Ill be in a point where I’veto be on it to get well. Where can I find good therapist in my state?
Howdy ? Just some few more words to light up your day. I have found that going out and seeing people even when you don’t feel like it can be a relifed. Like the park, the corner of the street, or view scenery.Love and Peace, A
If the brain changes, can you ever get back to who you used to be? Or are some of the effects permanent? I’m referring to memory issues (not remembering conversations u just had, etc); poor balance…falling alot; speech..not able to get your thoughts to come out or stuttering, saying words backwards? I’ve been in DBT classes for 1 1/2 yrs, 2 mindfulness courses and therapy every other week, sometimes weekly. I “lost” who I am and cannot find purpose to be alive. Life seems so monotonaous, pointless and exhausting. My depression is still bad and anxiety is high at times. I saw a neuropsyche who diagnosed me with bipolar, which explains my constant emotional rollercoaster. I isolate alot and prefer to be indoors, mostly in my bedroom most days. Then I get overwhelming guilt for doing so. Will I ever not feel like this and get back to the happy, loving person I used to be and find purpose in my life?
Reply
Hi Tammy, Please find a way to drop the guilt. If you need to stay in your room… that’s ok. When you accept how you are today then you can make a new tomorrow… one step at a time. You may always want to retreat to your room and that’s ok. Start to examine why this makes you feel better? Maybe it’s people around you? Maybe you are tired? You have the answers. Once you understand ‘you’ and how life feels you may make changes that suit you. Life can be brutal but taking care of yourself without guilt is key. Love
I came across this website and became interested in this video.Thank you for sharing. As a retired teacher for 14 years in a public school, where the students are immigrants, i have been interested in the fragile attachments/boundaries that exists in those who have some difficulties to fit in. I would appreciate more discussion on this topic.
Thank you Ruth and Dr Van Der Kolk, I would be interested in learning more about targeted interventions for dealing with trauma and recovered memory and what you would recommend as the most appropriate response for those working with physical therapy. As therapeutic bodywork can unlock suppressed trauma, suggestions on how best to respond/ manage client responses to this raised awareness and accompanying distress would be most helpful. For individuals that have experienced compound trauma and cognitive dissonance due to recurring victimization/multiple traumas, treatment that brings these experiences to the forefront of consciousness can be quite overwhelming….the dangers of ‘lifting the veil…’
I would love to talk to someone who knows about PTSD. What I have learned just in the past year. I suffer from abandonment plus complex PTSD. I disassociate don’t remember much of my life. I have so many different types of survival skills that I have perfected even more in my adult life which I did not need since I was 16 years old. I have every type of anxiety. I am actually terrified to leave my house yet I started my own successful business, I’m a high school dropout, I have dyslexia, I’ve done two full marathons many half marathons and a half Iron Man. I literally over my adult life blocked out my inner child voices which I did not realize we all have. Therapist would treat me with cognitive behavioral therapy and medication which is never done anything for me. It took having to move out of my house living alone to realize how severe my PTSD is. What amazes me is now and I’ve been treating myself mainly with a therapist 45 minutes a week. I literately have voices that tell me I am worthless or all of the things I heard growing up yet there’s a part of me that has the most confidence and will succeed at anything and will do anything. But now that I’m going through a divorce I can’t handle stress which I don’t think I ever have handled stress. I’ve had panic attacks which led to verbal abuse to my wife and kids. I never knew the severity of it because we would not talk about it. I disassociate when I go into panic attacks. I just thought my wife and kids knew that I had adult temper tantrum‘s anyhow. The crazy thing is I actually know how I can be treated but I have scared my family so much that they don’t help me. I am actually very harmless it’s just when I go into a panic attack I raced through every where’s case scenario using horrible language which was used when I was growing up as a kid. When I go into my panic attacks it’s because I think my family doesn’t love me and I revert to the ways I was treated when I was a kid and they don’t understand they think I’m abusing them when all I was doing was asking for help. I actually found that if they intervene right away and just say Shawn you’re having a nightmare let me hug you or tell me I’m safe or tell me to calm down it goes away faster than it comes on. I just want my family. I just want my family to understand how the wiring works in my brain works and they can do and achieve anything no matter how tough their life was. The things I accomplished is amazing considering the childhood I had yet I never realized I was hurting my family. I was just trying to show them you can be anything in a matter what. I believe mental health needs to be talked about because had I not been as embarrassed or scared to talk about it when I was in my 20s things may be different today. so I am trying to voice out as much as I can. I am trying to read about as much information on how the mind and brain works which is tough given that I have a third grade reading level but hey I want to end this life of constant nightmares that just don’t go away and end being stuck in flight or fight. When I hear other people talk about their anxiety or panic attacks I laugh inside my head because since I was eight years old from the time I wake up till the time I go to bed I’ve had those anxiety/panic attacks every day and was never treated for it no medicine for anxiety or panic attacks. Now my wife and all three of my kids have PTSD and are living in flight or flight mode right now and I just want them to get better so they don’t have to have an adult life living in pure fear and terror like I do every single day. So please the more information I can get sooner I can beat this thing I’ve been trying for 25 years.
I no wat it is. This help me to no what is with me. I dont want to see a therapy. They dont nkow what this is and dont understand me. i feel alone and want to hands on and takl about it whith my friends and not with them.
You are right in my area the therapists are useless I think. It’s not that they’re bad they just don’t know how to handle a CPTSD. I have learned so much in the past year due to a destructive pattern I had when I had to move out of my home. I would go into emotional flashbacks in unfortunately in that state three years ago I was scared and would yell and asked for help which scared my family. I went into therapy and from what I see is they again went back to the current wrong ways of treatment. Anyhow as I continue to recover I am trying to come up with a plan because I believe those of us who suffer from a CPTSD and PTSD through the correct treatment and awareness it can be changed much faster than what my local therapist think. I was scared and would yell and asked for help which scared my family. I went into therapy and from what I see is the again went back to the current wrong ways of treatment. Anyhow as I continue to recover I am trying to come up with a plan because I believe those of us who suffer from a CPTSD and PTSD through the correct treatment and awareness it can be changed much faster than what my local therapist think. Knowledge is power our brain is amazing and we have to remember see PTSD is just our brain protecting us but the problem is it’s protecting us from reality and it just needs to be rewired to know what that reality today is safe and what we went through in our childhood is the past and it’s OK I understand that.
Thaks
This really resonates with me because I have found that not only that is the case but it is also difficult to get everyone on the same page about therapy. My wife and I have been separated for two years. I have suffered from C-PTSD and fir the last two years, my depression is getting more severe. She said she is feeling that no one does understand that she needs to be out at night even if it is not for work. I work at night and come home late. She would be already in bed and the next morning leave for work. Since our separation, I haven’t been in touch with my daughter who felt angry and disappointed that things didn’t work out well. She has no other siblings and very few relatives from where we live. I can’t hardly reach out to my wife who doesn’t answer to my calls. Her bills haven’t been paid she said. I have kept up with my medications to treat my constant headaches, ache and pain in the entire body that happens when I am under stress. I rarely drive around anymore, as I used to, even by myself, as I usually do. I met my wife at a party and as we were introduced we became simply said very soon friends and got married after I invited her to my brother’s wedding. Things seems to follow its course and were so great and now our daughter is 17 and going to college, we are free from our responsibilities but many conflicts remain: about who will care for the housework and the cost of the college. We have made no saving for our child. I have been helped in therapy but my wife insists that she doesn’t want to join nor does she wants our daughter to come to therapy for fear that she will be on medication. I know that you can’t force a person to do anything or to go to therapy, but I would like my daughter to have some support and be well. Can you give me some suggestions?
Hi, I would love to no where to start I am just blank no intrest or emotions no ènergy feel totally different lost empty. I just want to be me n be noin in person I think first of all my memory I would be to try focusing on.
Much appreciated, thanks!
Will you do a video on EMDR? I’d like to know more about that. Thanks.
Will there be a course on neuroplasticity of the brain and trauma?
Can neurofeeback help reduce the symptoms of PTSD? And how ?
I am very far from understanding the tarnished nature of the trauma and being able to understand its effects and how bad this news has on TV can make the problem worse. My question is how far can we get ahead of the attacks and incidents that arise and that stresses us daily.
I’m sorry these triggers are so important in your life that they cause damage. Knowing how to master these distress symptoms caused by past traumas is a real learning experience. The most important thing is that they bring a plus in our life that can seem flat without them. I try to pay more attention to my triggers and make sense of what they represent for me. It can pay to have them. I am so used to their presence that I can now identify and recognize them and act accordingly, and that with more than thirteen years of therapy still in sight.