Ptsd Is An Injury To The Nervous System

[I Can Do This]

I just came from beginning level training in Somatic Experiencing Trauma therapy. I learned so much about trauma and how to treat it. What I wanted to share with everyone is that I have noticed that many sufferers say things that make it appear they see PTSD as a disease or illness. They seem to believe it is something they must live with, and cannot be cured. It absolutely can be healed - injuries heal, diseases must be cured. I think that even having the correct concept of the problem they are experiencing is very empowering. A disease makes us feel completely helpless - we are not, we just need the right help.

So what I wanted to put out there for discussion about is that the injury we sustain is literally to our nervous system - not the memory itself. The appropriate therapy will teach our nervous system how to regulate itself again. With PTSD, our nervous system is not regulated and this is the cause of our extreme feelings, hyper vigilance, startle reflex and sensitivity. It feels incredibly uncomfortable and out of control - because it is. Often, people are diagnosed with Bi-polar because our extremes ARE the opposite polarities - however, bipolar is often shown not to be the case, once a person is treated for trauma.

We can be healed without going over the trauma - again and again. We can even heal without talking about it at all!! Our nervous system is stuck - and when it becomes regulated again - you are healing and able to live the ups and downs of life again.

Psychology has told us that talking about the problem is the path to healing - it isn't, and the proof is that if it were the case you would have healed the first time you talked about it. This is outmoded science which is being rapidly replaced by modern modalities.

I am excited that true help is available to all of us and that science learns from itself.

 

[intothelight]

I agree fully that PTSD damages the nervous system and treatments that focus on neuroplasticity will facilitate huge gains for those that have PTSD. However, not all injuries heal and return the person to normal; and not all diseases are cured. I have yet to see a scientific study, that has been replicated enough times with a large enough sample population, that proves a certain type of therapy "cures" it.

Personally, I manage pretty well, and quite frankly to keep my PTSD in check, I have a new normal. It isn't so different than managing my cancer as they both are in remission, and the changes I have experienced are not bad. It is different than it was before, but life is just that way some times.

I agree that you can manage without having to go over trauma or talking about it. Some people do not remember and deal with the past by managing its effect on the present. As long as a person is living a fulfilling life and are happy, whether PTSD is cured or managed becomes less important. The important thing is just getting well.

 

[Pencil]

My background has left me with attachment problems - and this has the biggest negative impact on my life. I fully agree that talk therapy is NOT going to change it. It could, in fact, make it worse by constantly drawing attention to it without actually changing anything.

Re PTSD symptoms, I also doubt the efficacy of endlessly talking about it. But, psychotherapy has changed from the therapist as blank screen to the therapist as witness and ally, and the presence of support of another human being has been shown to be the biggest buffer against PTSD - during and after (according to Judith Herman). And so I think the involvement or attitude or ... I can't find the right word for it - of the therapist is cardinal.

 

[I Can Do This]

and the presence of support of another human being has been shown to be the biggest buffer against PTSD - during and after (according to Judith

Absoutely! I agree and this form of therapy operates on the premise that it takes a healthy nervous system to heal a disregulated nervous system. We cannot heal ourselves in isolation. The therapist's job is to cause the client to pendulate or titrate back and forth between the red zone (pain) and the blue zone (calm). It is the pendulation that heals - not figuring out the story!

Those of us with PTSD do not pendulate in the range of resilience - we swing wildly outside that realm (hence bipolar similarity) and generally have no control over it. The therapist works with the client to pendulate in tiny increments - and is the "protector of the client's nervous system" while working together, assuring that the client is not too activated at any point.

It is absolutely fascinating (for a learning geek like me). I knew this therapy was unusual - and I couldn't figure out what was happening in my sessions, but I know the result of it has been my own healing - or restoration of my nervous system. I'm not hyper vigilant anymore, not irritable, not easily startled - though I am not completely healed I feel I am very close to it.

I'm just so excited about these new findings, and this form of therapy because it should bring hope and healing to millions of us.

 

[Pencil]

Absoutely! I agree and this form of therapy operates on the premise that it takes a healthy nervous system to heal a disregulated nervous system. We cannot heal ourselves in isolation.

The therapist works with the client to pendulate in tiny increments - and is the "protector of the client's nervous system"

Hi I Can Do This - this is exactly what I meant, so thank you for finishing my post for me :) - my daughter needed my attention so I stopped abruptly.

All the newer orientations stress the relationship between the therapist and the client. I think the combination of the therapeutic relationship and what you call the 'modern modalities' is important. I wonder how effective the one would be without the other. And this brings me to something I've wondered about often: many members here see therapy as a way to learn 'coping skills', and I wonder if they're not shortchanging themselves. I really am only wondering, and not making a statement. I'm not in therapy, so I don't have experience to back anything I say up.

 

[JustBe]

You also have to be able to trust. That's a huge issue for me.

 

[Lucycat]

And this brings me to something I've wondered about often: many members here see therapy as a way to learn 'coping skills', and I wonder if they're not shortchanging themselves.

I have to agree here. From the beginning T told me I have all the coping skills. What I did not have was a reasonable understanding of how to use them, or even what they are. He actually said it would be insulting to me to try and 'teach' me coping skills when, in effect, I have coped all my life ( until meltdown happened anyway).

He was more interested in educating me about what is happening in the brain and body and why. Learning why I am hypervigilant, for example, immediately reduces its effect on me. I still jump, but it is far less important now that I know it is not some sort of madness.

I am very pleased that I have not had to spend endless hours talking about my trauma. I would not go so far as to say I am totally healed, but I am well on the way ( Thanks to EMDR).

 

[Deleted member 1860]

And this brings me to something I've wondered about often: many members here see therapy as a way to learn 'coping skills', and I wonder if they're not shortchanging themselves. I really am only wondering, and not making a statement. I'm not in therapy, so I don't have experience to back anything I say up.

Treatment in the USA fails miserably in this regard. Therapists will not teach you coping skills. Well, most of them anyway. And the ones that do give you maybe one new one a week. It really short changes the patient.

I learned 99.9% of my (healthy) coping skills while inpatient in a trauma unit. I thank god they were there for me because I learned so many skills that I've never even seen/heard mentioned anywhere else, not in therapy, not online, and not in books. I get so many snotty "well I'm not bad enough to need a place like THAT" sort of retorts and I just laugh and think "go on with your bad self. Good luck learning all those skills elsewhere"... because the long/short of it is that you won't, or if you do, it will take you years. I learned mine in a matter of a month.

 

[rightkindofme]

I feel extreme skepticism when I hear about This Thing Will Cure You! Err, maybe. Maybe PTSD is primarily a disorder of the nervous system but there is a lot going on there. Like the aforementioned trust issues.

And I "already have all the coping methods?" Really? I have gotten through life by moving every three months or so and meeting and entirely new group of people. I really and truly don't have relationship skills. I don't think that looking from the red thing to the green thing is going to make me suddenly better at being empathetic or being able to determine what exactly are the local cultural norms so that I don't get beat up again.

I understand that I am all freaky and sh!t for wanting to talk about my trauma. I don't believe there is a road forward for me that involves me "never talking about trauma again". I don't think that is even a goal I have.

I want to be allowed to exist. I want to be allowed to talk about my life and my existence. Very few of my stories are pretty. I understand that every one else wishes I would STFU already but I don't seem to be able to. I'll stick with talk therapy/EMDR.

 

[BlackbirdSinging]

I feel extreme skepticism when I hear about This Thing Will Cure You! Err, maybe. Maybe PTSD is primarily a disorder of the nervous system but there is a lot going on there. Like the aforementioned trust issues.

I completely and totally agree 100%.

I understand that I am all freaky and sh!t for wanting to talk about my trauma. I don't believe there is a road forward for me that involves me "never talking about trauma again". I don't think that is even a goal I have.

Again I agree. And for me this is vital. For some sufferers like myself NOT talking was 99.99% of the problem in never learning quite how to process traumatic experiences. I don't think the same treatments work for every person.

I want to be allowed to exist. I want to be allowed to talk about my life and my existence. Very few of my stories are pretty. I understand that every one else wishes I would STFU already but I don't seem to be able to. I'll stick with talk therapy/EMDR.

Once again. I. Agree. I so totally agree.

 

[I Can Do This]

I learned 99.9% of my (healthy) coping skills while inpatient in a trauma unit

Please share them! Start a thread - I would love to know what you have learned.

I feel extreme skepticism when I hear about This Thing Will Cure You!

Skepticism is wise - but please understand I did not say CURE - I said heal. There is a huge distinction between the two. Healing is incorporating the right therapy, understanding of what is going on inside of you, and being kind to yourself or nuturing which we rarely are when we have PTSD. As Lucycat says below:

Learning why I am hypervigilant, for example, immediately reduces its effect on me.

I think it is very common, especially in western psychology to keep talking about the trauma - it is in fact, geared towards talking about the upsetting events almost exclusively. And that is fine if you need to talk it through - what it indictates is that your nervous system hasn't healed enough - YET.

But even those who don't want to talk about it can heal their nervous systems. If you haven't heard of this method before then it is understandable to feel skeptical about it. However, it has a similarity to EMDR in that it reaches to the subconscious brain. I would love to try EMDR out of curiosity but there is no trained therapist in my area.

If you are content with the therapy you are using - then please continue to use it. If however, you feel a curiosity for whatever reason, then I highly recommend checking for a therapist trained in SE in your area.

My whole purpose for my post is simply my excitement over knowing that my nervous system was damaged - I'm not damaged, even though it felt that way for years. Our nervous system can heal - and when that happens, much of these symptoms just fall away. The symptoms are the evidence of damage - but we tend to spend money and time treating the symptom rather than getting to the heart of the problem. That is what Western medicine is all about unfortunately.

 

[Tinyflame]

With the caveat that I am not an appropriate authority on guaging the efficacy of most trauma and ptsd therapy methods in comparison one to the other, or what works for each person specifically, I relate to most if not all the posts.

I wish to exist, or have a bit of a voice, yet I find it hard to talk about things. And yet in some of the talking, or 'spitting it out', I do feel better, at least if there is feedback. Although, as said above, trust is huge. But then again, I've often thought I wonder if ptsd would have occurred if I could have just said something, at the moment. Because when I've even heard something contradictory to my thoughts, or supportive, it's helped immensely- probably prevented a lot. Or (if) there had been someone to say it to. But again, without unbiased and trustworthy feedback I think it would have maybe been detrimental. So it isn't just the saying of it.

However I know that reducing stress helps make triggers etc more manageable (though sometimes all of it overwhelms me, no matter how hard I try). And it actually feels like my nervous system is burnt out. Like a turtle without a shell. (And yet talking about it makes me feel like wanting to go in to a shell). But I also think there has been some results with using the non-dominant side of the brain (ie left hand/ right brain stimulation activities; music, etc).

I am interested in learning more, or trying. Similarly, or in conjunction, I hope SoL can share the coping skills learned. It reminds me of a trauma program I heard about that was very successful, in a group but it did involve talk but did not require telling the specifics of one's trauma.