Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)

Our perception of the present moment (Awareness) in a sense defines what we perceive as consciousness. Perception is essential for our ability to process information from our internal (thoughts and feelings) and external world (People, Places, and Things) and to continually develop our constantly evolving sense of self.

Traumatic memories are linked to arousal and emotion. The individual suffering with PTSD may become ‘stuck’, when even relatively minor life conflicts and stresses seem to bring confusion in mind, body and spirit, interfering with everyday life. Many with PTSD say a sense of unreality pervades their life, a fog like perception which clouds their sense of awareness and the rest of the world, both cognitive and emotional, with numbing, distraction, loss of emotional tone and behavioural dysfunction. The patient may say they feel changed: “I have lost who I once was”.

Our aim is to restore the sense of self, allowing the person to experience the present and develop without the ‘fog’ of PTSD.

Stress Versus Trauma

Prolonged stress and trauma, although they are basically part of the same continuum, differ in a number of ways.

Stress may be defined as any negative stimulus that produces persistent activation of the brain and bodies stress response.
Trauma may be viewed in this light as an extreme form of stress, one that has assumed life-threatening proportions.
Changes in brain chemistry and function associated with the experience of trauma may drive behavioural changes.
Late effects of traumatic stress (PTSD) may have predisposing factors, i.e. responses to stressful events varies widely between individuals depending on past history.

Sources of Trauma

Exposure to combat
Trauma in childhood
Social Trauma
Medical Trauma
Post Trauma (including chronic pain)

Treatment

Understanding the mind/body dysfunctions of the nervous systems of traumatised patients opens the door to many new possibilities for treatment. Using evidence based therapies with fresh insight to illuminate elusive and often complex physical and psychological syndromes we link mental status to biological changes caused by trauma giving powerful tools of recovery. Our holistic therapies with scientifically based positive outcomes for body, brain and mind provide and nurture Empowerment: the ultimate goal of all trauma therapy.

Essential Ingredients for Trauma Therapy

Environment of safety and trust
Cognitive/verbal therapy (CBT, REBT)
Stabilisation through anxiety control skills (HeartMath®)
Education: information about the very valid physiological basis for physical and emotional symptoms is empowering and restores the sense of control needed for recovery.
Increased alpha and higher theta brain wave frequencies (Satori space) to facilitate brainwave coherence. Replicating the brain state and therapeutic effects of skilled meditation inhibits arousal and enhances resiliency to stress.
An ‘experience’ to shift conscious and unconscious thoughts and feelings. The amygdala evaluates the emotional content of incoming sensory stimuli and triggers arousal if those stimuli imply threat. We aim to down-regulate the amygdala by providing a calm, safe, sensory, pleasurable inspiring atmosphere, allowing the individual to access body sensations and memories without a meaning of threat in the present moment of their perception. Healing from past experiences can occur remarkably quickly by creating a positive new experience affirming sense of self, nurturing mind, body and spirit.

Rituals: For centuries rituals have played an enormously important part of the healing process. Non-Western societies have used repetitive behaviours such as drumming, dancing or singing, which modern science knows engages brain centersthat participate in social bonding whilst inhibiting the amygdale (emotional store-house). Research has found therapies such as EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitisation Reprocessing) and EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) which uses repetitive affirmative statements have positive outcomes for the treatment of PTSD.

Studies showthat 61% of men and 51% of women report that they have experienced at least one traumatic event in their lives. Many also report problems with:

Alcohol and other drugs
Sleep disorders/disturbance
Anxiety and panic attacks
Anger/aggression/anti-social behaviour
Recollections/flashbacks/disturbed dreams
Emotional ‘numbing’/disassociation/detachment
Mood swings/less expression of moods (feelings)/depression
Inability to remember important aspects of the trauma
Physical reactions to situations that remind them of the traumatic event
Staying away from people/places/things that remind them of the event
Sense of helplessness/hopelessness
Difficulty concentrating
Exaggerated response to things that startle them/excess awareness (hyper-vigilance)
Sense of guilt about the event (including ”survivor guilt”)
Agitation/excitability/dizziness/fainting/palpitations (heartbeat)
Fever/headache

Gender Differences

Studies show that males tend to have an “external locus of control”, displacing symptoms of trauma externally (aggression/blame); whilst females possess an “internal locus of control”. Anorexia nervosa and bulimia are often self destructive manifestations of trauma re-enactment in traumatised young women.