Tuesday Letters
From Heather RozenĀ
There's room for science AND hippies, the practical AND the theoretical. I love to toss them together and create new ways of looking at physical and mental well being.
Welcome to the Tuesday Letters where I share my favorite resources and recommendations that I've found most helpful.
I have a favor to ask. If you find these weekly recommendations helpful, I would be so grateful if you could forward the email on to someone who would benefit from it.
Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash
Recommendation:YouTube video onĀ healingĀ trauma
6 Ways To Heal From Trauma Without Medication featuring Bessel van der Kolk, Big Think podcast via YouTube
Last week Dr. Bessel van der Kolk was interviewed on Diary of a CEO (click here for the more recent interview) but instead of making that particular interview this week's recommendation, I pulled Bessel's shorter video from the Tuesday Letters archives.
The information bears repeating because it is full of hope for anyone who has suffered from traumatic events.
In his book and in all of his interviews he does make it clear that with the right resources, all people can heal from trauma.
Although this particular video was made within the context of PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder), I think it's important to know that some of these treatments are also known to have significant impact on anxiety and other mental health conditions.
So if you are prone to anxiety, depression, any kind of mental health condition or even chronic pain, I think this video is worth watching.
Bessel van der Kolk is a psychiatrist and neuroscientist, has been studying trauma for about 50 years, and is known for his book The Body Keeps The Score.
I find him compelling because he so openly challenges the conventional methods for treating PTSD (including many medications) as most of them do not work.
In this video he delves into the different treatments for trauma that are making the most difference in the field of mental health.
He tells us, "The nature of trauma is that something happens to you, your survival brain makes the first interpretation and says, "Is this dangerous or is this safe?"
If your brain is making the determination that you are unsafe, even well after the event happened, then the challenge according to Bessel is, "How do we help people live in bodies that feel fundamentally safe?"
He lists one of the 6 treatments, yoga, as more effective than drugs in a study on PTSD treatment.
It's thought to be in part due to having to become aware of how movements, posture and breath feel and change in the body. This awareness would thereby deepen the relationship with the internal sensory system.
In other words, yoga isn't necessarily treating the trauma, it's treating our relationship to our body.
Another treatment listed that is known to significantly help PTSD (and even cure it) is EMDR (eye movement desensitization and reprocessing). This is a type of psychotherapy that uses eye tracking movements to process distressing events.
One study on combat veterans that were treated with EMDR showed that 77% were free from PTSD after 12 sessions!!
The treatment that he seems most impressed with is psychedelic assisted therapy. He specifically discusses the studies that used 2 therapists and MDMA (a psychedelic drug also known as Ecstasy).
The study showed a substantial drop in PTSD and more importantly showed a drastic improvement in self-awareness and self perception.
After the MDMA sessions, people were able to acknowledge what happened to them and recognize that the event was in the past (this is important to note because PTSD is not "memories" of what happened but the body actually re-living the event.
In other words, the body perceives the event as happening now---the logical and analytical part of the brain goes offline).
He goes on to list and explain the other 3 treatments all which leave a person open to new experiences and allows them to see themselves with compassion vs the self loathing and blame that they often feel.
The treatments are all effective and in some cases curative. But at the end of the day PTSD is complex and there is no one fix for everyone. In fact he ends the video by saying, "Healing from trauma is an experiment".
I am deeply passionate about this subject because the conventional methods are failing and our healthcare system is broken.
The more open discussions we have, the more healing we will see in our communities.
Keep your eye on this guy. He has been paving the way to find real cures for PTSD.
Ā
Heather Rozen is a physical therapist and wellness coach and can be found at www.HeatherRozen.com
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