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All1Spirit
USA
149 Posts |
 Posted - 04/04/2013 : 12:05:04
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In the past few days I have had the good fortune of speaking and networking with several experts in the field neurophysiology regarding neuroplasticity and the effects crated by adverse childhood experiences...and how we chronically perpetuate them . You can Google Dr. Robert Scaer, Dr. Stephen Levine, Dr. Rick Oldfield and Dr. Allen Musgrave to see their work.
I am still processing the great volume of knowledge I have learned from speaking with these men but I wanted to share this simple wisdom:
Trauma: “Any experience with a perceived negative consequence along with a perceived helplessness”
The more often this happens the more neural pathways are created that cause an excitory over response. The more neural pathways this creates the higher potential for it to be expressed into the body.
These experts state that regressions in memory reinforce these negative pathways. They say part of the treatment is to stay in present day mindfulness to discover our beliefs, behaviors and actions that reinforce these old neuro-pathways.
Revisiting the painful emotions elicits the same biochemical reactions as the first occurrence and reinforces the old patterns.
"Around and Around the Circle We Go....
The Answer Sits In The Middle and Knows..." |
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pspa123
672 Posts |
Posted - 04/04/2013 : 12:46:02
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| Perhaps you should also speak with some experts in the various disciplines within the field of depth psychology who have had successful outcomes with patients, or are you only interested in points of view that conform to your own? |
Edited by - pspa123 on 04/04/2013 12:50:50 |
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All1Spirit
USA
149 Posts |
Posted - 04/04/2013 : 14:04:03
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“Ordinary” Trauma
To understand the meaning of these everyday emergency responses, and to
transform them into opportunities for healing, we first need to rethink our
fundamental assumptions about trauma. I propose that the sources of trauma
are far more complex than the standard DSM-IV definitions. Under Criterion
A, the DSM-IV defines trauma as the result of having “…experienced,
witnessed or been confronted with…actual or threatened death or serious
injury…to self or others.” and, importantly, responding to that event with
“…intense fear, helplessness or horror.”
This definition isn’t wrong; it is simply woefully incomplete. In fact, any
negative life event occurring in a state of relative helplessness—a car
accident, the sudden death of a loved one, a frightening medical procedure, a
significant experience of rejection--can produce the same neurophysiological
changes in the brain as combat, rape or abuse. What makes a negative life
event traumatizing is not the literal life-threatening nature of the event, but
rather 1) the degree of helplessness it engenders and 2) one’s history of prior
trauma.
"Around and Around the Circle We Go....
The Answer Sits In The Middle and Knows..." |
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alix
USA
434 Posts |
Posted - 04/04/2013 : 14:22:41
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What you are saying all1spirit is very close to Brown's Presnce process:
quote:
Fortunately, we don’t need to re-experience, relive, or re-witness all the childhood experiences that were responsible for imprinting our emotional body with these uncomfortable charges. Mentally recapitulating these in great detail is of no value. Many of these experiences re-enter and flow out of our awareness simply as felt-sensations that we can’t seem to pin down to anything we even remember, let alone understand.
Throughout The Presence Process, our intent with respect to mental recapitulation is that we only become mentally aware of the details of suppressed memories if we are meant to garner wisdom from them. And this is only if the wisdom gained from recalling the details of these past experiences facilitates our current emotional development.
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Dr James Alexander
Australia
127 Posts |
Posted - 04/05/2013 : 04:26:32
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Robert Scaer and Stephen Levine have certainly made great contributions to this area. Scaer is a big advocate for EMDR, and Levine utilises an approach which can be viewed as a depth-psychology perspective. Neither suggest that we need to ignore traumas and simply move on. Both suggest dealing with traumas, and their work can be made sense of in light of reconsolidation processes.
James |
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eric watson
USA
601 Posts |
Posted - 04/05/2013 : 05:12:51
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All1Spirit your well on your way to getting the understanding
your just missing the reconsolidation process. You are convinced you don't have to face those past repressions. You'll see your studies are leading you in that direction.
You'll soon see in your studies as you get closer and closer to figuring it out that what Dr. alexander stated is the next step in your journeys. |
Edited by - eric watson on 04/05/2013 05:15:33 |
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alix
USA
434 Posts |
Posted - 04/05/2013 : 10:10:01
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I just looked At Dr.Robert Scaer's web site, traumasoma. There are fabulous articles posted there, very relevant to TMS and memory reconsolidation.
Good video of Robert Scaer and EMDR:
http://youtu.be/xhUTEaNmCJg |
Edited by - alix on 04/05/2013 11:01:24 |
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eric watson
USA
601 Posts |
Posted - 04/05/2013 : 11:24:53
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Thanks alix....
Quote - (Broun's Presence Process)- We become mentally aware of the details of suppressed memories.
if we are meant to garner wisdom from them. And this is only if the wisdom gained from recalling the details of these past experiences facilitates our current emotional development.
Eric)- Broun's presence process is dealing with what we don't want to think about but its there, this is called suppression-
so its dealing with the thought that we run from
either way its still facing , the present issues at hand.
See lots of times folks think all were trying to get to is repressions about childhood, im more interested in what it is you don't want to face or that you keep running from and you don't even have to tell me what it is, although getting these thoughts off your chest as some do here with their stories is liberating for them as journaling is liberating for others. I know its of upmost importance to lots of people to not tell the things they went thru as a child and in reconsolidation or journaling you don't have too and if its not your childhood then it might be phases of life in the now or thoughts of the future- either way in the reconsolidation you don't have to tell your therapist the issue all you have to do is know its there and then the therapist can lead you to reconsolidation without you ever having to tell of that 1 big issue. after you learn this process you can go on to break the clutches of despair at the tenicles creating a domino effect and reaching the person to completion and the cure. its almost the same as sarnos facing the anger and anxiety, thinking psychological to reach freedom with a twist. really reconsolidation is for the worst cases and it can be used for the simplest cases also
and if you don't know what the issue is- then it would be good to say to your confidential therapist what the issue is so he can guide you to know what it is.... |
Edited by - eric watson on 04/05/2013 11:31:44 |
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chickenbone
Panama
398 Posts |
Posted - 04/05/2013 : 12:40:41
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Very good Dr. Alexander, Eric and Alix,
I was going to wait awhile to post this, but since this discussion has come up again, I would like post some new developments. Last week, I was extremely bothered by sleep problems to the point of being really frightened. I was experiencing almost crippling levels of anxiety. I was also trying to construct a timeline of some of my worst childhood experiences. I traced this back to a memory of abuse by a babysitter when I was about two and a half. I realized that after that experience and a few others, I went through a period of terrible nightmares and efforts to stay awake all night for fear of wetting the bed. This led to my earliest bout of TMS pain, when shortly thereafter, I would wake up screaming in pain in the middle of the night. This eventually led to being put in the hospital for three weeks so the doctors could try to find out what was wrong with me. They did not find any physical problems. In the next few years, some other unpleasantness happened, like when I was hit by a car, but that is where my problems began. (As an aside, after I was hit by the car, I was so terrified of being put back in the hospital, that I got up and ran from everyone. I was very bruised and had a mild concussion, but nothing was broken. It took practically the whole neighborhood and the police almost 2 hours to find me and get me medical help. I acted like a wounded animal.I was 5)
I was trying to reach a point where I could think rationally about this, but the re-experiencing of the trauma was just too great. Eric was trying to help me with this and offered (bless his heart) to talk to me about it. He suggested that I use his method of "comforting the inner child" to hopefully begin the healing process (reconsolidation). He told me exactly how to do it, what to imagine, etc. The first time I tried it, I became extremely upset and didn't think I could do it without being face to face with a therapist. (I am still planning to get some EMDR therapy). Then I got the idea to combine Eric's method with EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique). I had had such good results with EFT recently for more minor issues. So I did Eric's routine again and when I became emotionally upset, I confronted the feelings with EFT. I couldn't believe how well this worked after just running through the EFT 2 times. I used the "emotional upset from remembering the toilet training abuse" in my setup statement. The EFT reduced the emotional impact dramatically. I have since run through this 2 more times using different setup statements, but all related to the traumatic feelings left over from the abuse. Now, I can practically remember these incidents from my childhood almost without the emotional sting that I have experienced all my life whenever I thought of them. (In fact , most of the time, they stayed repressed and simply not available to my conscious mind.) When I think of all the therapy I had, I can't help but realize that every therapist thought I had repressed childhood trauma and tried to get at it. It was during these times that these memories were the most repressed because they were so upsetting and I would not get upset (loose control) in front of anyone. I can see it now so clearly. I never spoke to anyone about this. It was not that I was doing this deliberately, I was really consciously trying to help myself and be honest with the therapist. These memories were simply not available to my conscious mind at the time, probably because I feared loosing control mentally. That has always been one of my greatest fears.
I am so grateful to Eric and others of you who have helped me make so much progress. Thank-you Dr. Alexander for your book and encouraging words.
Oh and right after I was successful with the EFT and inner child work, my sleep seems to have come back. |
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eric watson
USA
601 Posts |
Posted - 04/05/2013 : 16:17:05
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I told you - your the winner
bless you |
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alix
USA
434 Posts |
Posted - 04/05/2013 : 20:55:59
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I just downloaded the latest 2012 Robert Scaer book, "8 keys to Brain-Body balance".
It is all about reconsolidation. In fact he has a sub-chapter titled "The essential ingredient: Inhibiting the Amygdala while revisiting the Trauma".
He offers as solutions, EMDR, EFT, SE (Somatic experiencing), and BSP (Brainspotting). It is a very good book that goes over all the concepts we debate here such as mindfulness, the now, EMDR etc... He has several references to chronic pain as a manifestation of trauma. |
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chickenbone
Panama
398 Posts |
Posted - 04/05/2013 : 21:27:42
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Great, Alix, I will order this book also.
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alix
USA
434 Posts |
Posted - 04/05/2013 : 21:43:37
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Thanks chickenbone. there is an interview on shrinkrap radio:
http://shrinkrapradio.com/?s=scaer&searchsubmit=Find
He has a strong interest in chronic pain.
PS: I just finished listening. I highly recommend this podcast to anyone interested in reconsolidation, the effect of meditation (Dr.Scaer is an adept), and of Peter Levin's theories. Dr.Scaer had chronic pain himself which he resolved. All of it is very relevant to what we have been debating on this forum in the last few weeks. |
Edited by - alix on 04/05/2013 23:06:01 |
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Dr James Alexander
Australia
127 Posts |
Posted - 04/06/2013 : 01:27:24
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Chickenbone- its wonderful to hear of your successes! Sounds like you have come up with an excellent combination of strategies, and credit to Eric for guiding you there. I have read Scaer's book (The Trauma Spectrum) and have found it to be an excellent treatment of trauma, probably more for a professional audience. I will now order to the '8 keys..' book, as it sounds like it will illuminate many of the issues we have been discussing lately. His interview on Shrink Rap radio is certainly worth listening to as well. He is also a big fan of Levine's somatic experiencing- many roads leading to Rome!
James |
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