Déjà vu

Déjà vu

“I wish I could just understand why I keep ending up here.  I keep doing the same thing over and over.  Same bad relationships, same bad behavior, same words, same story, blah blah blah.”

It’s amazing how many times I hear this in my office.  Upon further exploration, we find out there is a history, and there is a beginning to when the ‘Déjà vu’ began.  Then comes the hard part, trying to make since of how that, way back then, is affecting here and now.   One word…Trauma.

With Trauma, we often think of things like natural disaster, physical assaults, rape, car wrecks, war experiences as traumatic.   And they are, however there are other things that can be traumatic, especially if the timing is right, and there is enough of it, our brain actually experiences it the same as the bigger traumas.  These other experiences are things like chronic criticism from parents, emotional abuse, bullying, chronic minimizing or belittling.  Enough of one or more of these happening in the very precious developmental time of childhood through adolescence and your brain experiences is as traumatic.

Here is how it works: Our brain takes in this information as we are experiencing it, if in the moment when that information comes in;  1) I have information overload (emotionally too much, and or physically too much) 2) I am trapped in the situation with no way to run or fight  3) I don’t have someone telling me it’s ok, I’m safe, it won’t happen again, afterwards,  then the situation gets stuck in the processing phase in my brain.  This means it’s stuck in an active phase of trying to access information to help complete processing.  In active processing phase my brain continues to get activated physically, emotionally, cognitively by anything that reminds me of the original incident.   If on the other hand my brain is not overloaded, has a way to break free of the moment, or feels safe and ok, it is able to complete processing the incident and place it in a part of my brain where it’s just a memory.

Now enough of those incidents getting stuck in the active processing phase and my brain starts getting triggered quite often.  When that happens, I look for things that may be familiar to help calm it down and again make since of what happened to me.  Usually the way the brain does this is by finding similar people, situations, environments that allow me to recreate what happened to make since of it once and for all.

So No…you are not crazy….your brain just has some incidents that are stuck in processing mode.  So what can you do to get it unstuck?  Research tells us the following things can be helpful:

·         Recognize when you are being triggered and bring yourself back to the present moment using the 5 senses (smell, touch, sight, taste, sound)

·         Begin incorporating Mindfulness activities (prayer, meditation, mindfulness) into your daily routine.

·         Get involved in purposeful movement activities (Yoga, Theater, Slower Dance)

·         Consider Psychotherapy (The following links show leading forms of therapy for trauma:

http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/releases/2013/trauma_mental_health_20130806/en/

http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/post-traumatic-stress-disorder-ptsd/index.shtml

·         Consider Medications (talk with a psychiatrist to find what is best for you)

Some helpful links to Resources to help with Trauma:

www.emdr.com

http://www.traumacenter.org/resources/tc_resources.php

Why EMDR Therapy?

Why EMDR Therapy?

“Thank you for giving my daughter back”.  (Tears streaming down her face)

Early on when I was just thinking about a career, I knew who but not what.  I knew I was going to work with individuals who had been traumatized.  At the time, it was specific to children and adolescents who had been abused or neglected and over time morphed into individuals who had experienced childhood abuse.  With the what I used play therapy, Narrative Therapy, Family Therapy, and TF-CBT.  More often than not I found myself bumping up against this block in the therapeutic process.  This block was powerful enough that it would hold us captive and keep us spinning in circles.  It was exhausting.  I started to look for other modalities out there and heard about EMDR from a colleague. 

My initial thoughts? “Really? You just wave your fingers in front of them and they are all better?”

 Let’s be honest, the skeptical side of me really resisted this therapy as valid.  I dug into the literature and read that clinical trial after clinical trial EMDR came out with very favorable results as compared to other more traditional forms of therapy when it came to trauma.  Click here  for access to clinical trials. I decided it was worth a shot and attended part I training.  As I sat through the training I carried intrigue and skepticism with me hand in hand.  In the basic training the clinicians practice what they are learning on one another.  I had some really powerful moments with the clinician I was teamed up with.  I began that weekend thinking through in my head how to begin integrating EMDR therapy more into my practice. 

My clients started responding to the therapy right away and I witnessed dramatic changes in 1-2 sessions, specifically in areas that we had been stuck on for weeks.  I became passionate about EMDR therapy and it’s ability to heal the wounds of trauma.  It’s not always an easy sell to other clinicians or clients, but the results definitely speak for itself.  After watching transformation after transformation happen in my practice I began to open up my client base and work with all ages that had experienced trauma or who struggling with extreme anxieties and panic.  I believed in it so much I invested time and money into becoming certified and now a consultant where I consult on cases for those clinicians seeking to be trained in EMDR therapy. 

That opening statement “Thank you for giving my daughter back”; was from the mother of a 16 year old who had been raped and started withdrawing, spiraling into depression and eating disorders.  She decided to try EMDR therapy after little change had taken place with previous therapies.  Her statement and countless ones like it have pushed me forward to learn more and more about EMDR therapy and how to use it to fit each client’s individual needs.

Click here to watch a short video introducing EMDR and how it works.