EMDR has been used worldwide over the past decade as an empirically validated trauma treatment. During that time, it has become clear that it is possible to simultaneously alleviate suffering, help stop the cycle of violence, and address the devastating effects of trans-generational transmission. The clinical implications for simple symptom reduction versus personal growth and resiliency will be explored.
EP09 Topical Panel 08 – Mindfulness, Trauma, Healing and the Spirit – Bessel van der Kolk, Jack Kornfield, Daniel Siegel, and Francine Shapiro
Educational Objective: To compare and contrast clinical and philosophical perspectives of experts.
Dr. Meichenbaum will discuss the “State of the Art” in treating PTSD and use videos to demonstrate how to conduct integrative treatment intervention. He will highlight the value of a Constructive Narrative Perspective. Finally, some 300,000 soldiers are returning from combat with PTSD and comorbid disorders. Dr. Meichenbaum will address their needs and discuss ways to bolster resilience. (see www.warfighterdiaries.com)
The study of psychological trauma has been accompanied by an explosion of knowledge about how experience shapes the central nervous system and the formation of the self. We have learned that most experience is automatically processed on a subcortical level, i.e. by “unconscious” interpretations that take place outside of awareness. Insight and understanding have only a limited influence on the operation of theses subcortical processes. When addressing the problems of traumatized people who, in a myriad of ways, continue to react to current experience as a replay of the past, there is a need for therapeutic methods that do not depend exclusively on understanding and cognition. This workshop surveys current research on how people’s brains, minds and bodies respond to traumatic experiences, and will specifically address the use of affect modulation techniques, EMDR, yoga, theater, and neuro feedback in overcoming various aspects of the destabilization and disintegration caused by trauma.
In this video presentation, Dr. Meichenbaum works with a young woman who is depressed and who has attempted suicide seven times. She has undergone multiple traumas in her life, including rape, suicide by her mother, substance abuse. The case illustrates ways to conduct risk assessment and how to use a constructive narrative treatment approach to identify and bolster the client’s strengths and resilience.
This workshop explores how trauma affects people’s rhythms within themselves and with their surroundings. Trauma changes the way the brain processes information and how the human organism engages with the world. Because of biological systems that are altered in a use-dependent manner traumatized people continue to react in myriad ways to current experience as a replay of the past.
We’ll explore the deluge tidal of information, including a great deal of traumatic information about the fate of Mother Earth, that all of us are confronted with daily. I’ll share the steps of a trauma-to-transcendence cycle that begins with awareness, leads to resilient coping, and then continues to a transcendent response. This cycle always involves action and creates hope.
When people think of trauma they often think of acute dramatic situations, such as a natural disaster or acts of terrorism. Yet, the majority of people who experience trauma experience a more subtle and chronic form that exists within their own family. Beginning with a genogram, Claudia Black, Ph.D., will give a portrait of addiction in the family, offering an overlay of how adverse child experiences, emotional abandonment and blatant violence are all aspects of the trauma.
In the treatment of the effects of trauma, its inherent relationship with spirituality provides a vital link in the therapeutic process. The understanding of a person’s felt, spiritual connection is central to the therapeutic process. If we are unable to access a person’s spirituality, we may find ourselves trapped, as therapists, in areas that are fraught with pitfalls and “tight corners.” The intimate association between trauma and spirituality suggests therapeutic avenues that support the authentic transformation of traumatic experiences. Through the use of didactic material- including brain research, experiential practice incorporating the bodily “felt-sense,” and video material, we will introduce Somatic Experiencing® as a way to reconnect with the deep self. The focus will be on developing practical tools to gracefully enhance the relationship between trauma and spirituality within the therapeutic experience.