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Integrative Re-Solutions and Trauma/Stress
Trauma and attachment breaks create neurological
reactivity within the brain, limiting one’s ability to function. At Brighten
the Brain, we know easy, safe, and fast methods to address unresolved trauma.
Integrative
Re-Solutions provides Long-term, significant, sustainable neurological change
for children and parents who have experienced trauma, secondary trauma and/or
severe attachment breaks. Results last because we work at the neurological
level.
Trauma symptoms are normal physiological responses to an abnormal event.
Traumatic events throw our consistency off-balance internally both neurologically and bio-chemically, and externally through our routines, rhythm, structure, and social interactions. Trauma has an emotional component that can be addressed once the physiological pathways to health are re-routed. Trauma affects our ability to respond effectively. It may be more difficult to cope with the day-to-day, the added stressors of the current trauma along with “old unresolved trauma” stored in the neurology of the body.
Symptoms of Trauma may include:
Physical symptoms - Headaches, Stomach and digestive issues, Pains of unknown origin,
Rapid heart rate, Sleep Issues, Ringing and buzzing in the ears or hearing tapping noises
Body Movements - Unusually high/low energy, Restlessness, the desire to fidget, Depression,
Sweat, heat, cold flashes, Working too quickly or plodding along, Tics, constipation, diarrhea,
Startled by unexpected noise or touch.
Cognitive abilities and memory - Attention span, Concentration, Difficulty staying on task,
Ability to follow instructions or routine to complete work.
Memory - Difficulty recalling details, conversations, expectations, Memorizing simple information,
Short/long term memory loss.
Physical symptoms - Headaches, Stomach and digestive issues, Pains of unknown origin,
Rapid heart rate, Sleep Issues, Ringing and buzzing in the ears or hearing tapping noises
Body Movements - Unusually high/low energy, Restlessness, the desire to fidget, Depression,
Sweat, heat, cold flashes, Working too quickly or plodding along, Tics, constipation, diarrhea,
Startled by unexpected noise or touch.
Cognitive abilities and memory - Attention span, Concentration, Difficulty staying on task,
Ability to follow instructions or routine to complete work.
Memory - Difficulty recalling details, conversations, expectations, Memorizing simple information,
Short/long term memory loss.
Children and adults with severe trauma and attachment disruptions become dys-regulated in their survival behavior/neurology during a triggering event. The reptilian brain in which survival instincts are neurologically triggered creates a biochemical cascade of hormones and a muscular structural reaction in the body memory of a traumatized person. These traumatic experiences that are etched into the brain and central nervous system memory make it difficult to evolve out of fight, flight or freeze behaviors.
Initially, freeze responses: shock, disbelief, denial, disorientation, isolation, detachment, helplessness, and minimizing the event are common. Even the immune system slows down, creating susceptibility to colds and illness. As this lifts, most move into flight symptoms: restlessness, fear, anxiety, vigilance, and attempts to avoid people and things associated with the trauma. Numbing out on technology, substances or rigid patterns of obsessive orderliness also fit in this pattern. This is a normal attempt to try to create order out of the chaos. Most then enter fight which is when we might tap into thoughts of ‘this is not fair’, ‘why me?’ Irritability, restlessness, and outbursts of anger are common here.
Initially, freeze responses: shock, disbelief, denial, disorientation, isolation, detachment, helplessness, and minimizing the event are common. Even the immune system slows down, creating susceptibility to colds and illness. As this lifts, most move into flight symptoms: restlessness, fear, anxiety, vigilance, and attempts to avoid people and things associated with the trauma. Numbing out on technology, substances or rigid patterns of obsessive orderliness also fit in this pattern. This is a normal attempt to try to create order out of the chaos. Most then enter fight which is when we might tap into thoughts of ‘this is not fair’, ‘why me?’ Irritability, restlessness, and outbursts of anger are common here.
Often trauma is cumulative. New trauma will often re-trigger past unresolved trauma.
During times of overwhelming stress, children and adults are unable to access the frontal lobe, where cognitive processing, cause-and-effect thinking and emotional integration occur. Stress and unresolved issues become physically hardened in a cumulative manner in our bodies, leading to ongoing physical and mental health issues.
Neurofeedback bypasses the conscious mind and directly “trains” the brain to functional fluidity. As the brain becomes more competent and effective, physical and emotional symptoms resolve.
On a structural level, Neurofeedback helps strengthen the rate and quality of neuro-communication between all areas of the brain. This allows the cognitive mind to engage and make solid, conscious decisions.
Neurofeedback bypasses the conscious mind and directly “trains” the brain to functional fluidity. As the brain becomes more competent and effective, physical and emotional symptoms resolve.
On a structural level, Neurofeedback helps strengthen the rate and quality of neuro-communication between all areas of the brain. This allows the cognitive mind to engage and make solid, conscious decisions.
“Trauma has nothing whatsoever to do with cognition,” says Bessel Van Der Kolk, MD, “It has to do with your body being reset to interpret the world as a dangerous place.” That reset begins in the deep recesses of the brain with its most primitive structures, regions that, he says, no cognitive therapy can access. “It’s not something you can talk yourself out of.”
Integrative
Re-Solutions Case Studies - Trauma
3 ½ year old girl, severe trauma and abuse
Before: Temper tantrums, screaming and kicking often 2 hours a day, Acting out anger on those around, hitting, Naps and nighttime extreme reactions, wake up in rage, Not wanting comfort or to be held
After: Days in row with no outbursts, when they occur they are minimal, Expressing feelings, said, “I am angry.”, Decreased severity of reactions to sleep, Able to ask to be held and for comfort
4 year old, RAD, PTSD, Sleep Disorder
Before: 2.5 hours or longer to get her to sleep, and wakes up 5-6 times nightly, Screaming, kicking, hitting, hair-pulling, pushing and shoving up to 8 hours a day, terror at bath time, very violent could not be comforted
After 3 months: 10 to 30 minutes to get her to sleep, some nights with no wake-ups, easier to get her back to sleep when wakes, no reaction at bath time, when triggered, she is able to work through the incident and tell what she needs, huge increase in her ability to participate in daily routines
After 2 years: Teacher reports she is the most empathetic child in class room, supports peers when they are afraid, significant increase in reparative sleep patterns, advanced academic abilities
3 ½ year old girl, severe trauma and abuse
Before: Temper tantrums, screaming and kicking often 2 hours a day, Acting out anger on those around, hitting, Naps and nighttime extreme reactions, wake up in rage, Not wanting comfort or to be held
After: Days in row with no outbursts, when they occur they are minimal, Expressing feelings, said, “I am angry.”, Decreased severity of reactions to sleep, Able to ask to be held and for comfort
4 year old, RAD, PTSD, Sleep Disorder
Before: 2.5 hours or longer to get her to sleep, and wakes up 5-6 times nightly, Screaming, kicking, hitting, hair-pulling, pushing and shoving up to 8 hours a day, terror at bath time, very violent could not be comforted
After 3 months: 10 to 30 minutes to get her to sleep, some nights with no wake-ups, easier to get her back to sleep when wakes, no reaction at bath time, when triggered, she is able to work through the incident and tell what she needs, huge increase in her ability to participate in daily routines
After 2 years: Teacher reports she is the most empathetic child in class room, supports peers when they are afraid, significant increase in reparative sleep patterns, advanced academic abilities
'Neurofeedback is a powerful treatment for traumatic stress.
- Bessel van der Kolk, MD, Professor of Psychiatry, Boston University Medical School,
Medical Director, The Trauma Center at JRI, Brookline, MA.'
- Bessel van der Kolk, MD, Professor of Psychiatry, Boston University Medical School,
Medical Director, The Trauma Center at JRI, Brookline, MA.'
Research on Neurofeedback and Trauma
