As we encounter a New Year, many people take this as an opportunity to make new goals and habits to improve their lives.  A recent study indicated that 25% of people included mental health as a facet of their wellbeing that deserves attention.  People with a history of unresolved trauma, however, may find themselves making new resolutions to improve their health and struggling to attain these goals despite their best efforts.  Today we will look at the “why” behind the difficulty in changing.     Contemplating well known terms like “treatment resist ..read more

As we encounter a New Year, many people take this as an opportunity to make new goals and habits to improve their lives.  A recent study indicated that 25% of people included mental health as a facet of their wellbeing that deserves attention.  People with a history of unresolved trauma, however, may find themselves making new resolutions to improve their health and struggling to attain these goals despite their best efforts.  Today we will look at the “why” behind the difficulty in changing.     Contemplating well known terms like “treatment resist ..read more

An EMDR and IFS approach What designates a person’s trauma history as complex? No trauma experience is “easy” or “simple”, but this term refers to prolonged, repeated experiences in interpersonal relationships lasting over time.  Usually originating in childhood, these events are often difficult to escape from, and can include minimization or denial from the primary support system.  Because the brain is still developing in childhood and adolescence, this can lead to greater difficulty coping in relationships and can include: dissociation, somatization, and more ingrained co ..read more

As a trauma therapist, I specialize in the intersection between addiction and trauma.  Trauma is word that not all identify with, especially early in treatment.  Most of us with addiction grew up in homes with the unwritten rule “don’t talk, don’t feel, don’t trust”.  So when bad things happened, they were minimized, denied, or even blamed on us.  We are all born with an internal radar system or “gut feelings” that helps us to identify unhealthy situations.  But when the adults in our lives do not act on these experiences or treat them as unhea ..read more

As a trauma therapist, I specialize in the intersection between addiction and trauma.  Trauma is word that not all identify with, especially early in treatment.  Most of us with addiction grew up in homes with the unwritten rule “don’t talk, don’t feel, don’t trust”.  So when bad things happened, they were minimized, denied, or even blamed on us.  We are all born with an internal radar system or “gut feelings” that helps us to identify unhealthy situations.  But when the adults in our lives do not act on these experiences or treat them as unhea ..read more

Many people who encounter early trauma or addiction have grown up in homes where there were unwritten rules like “don’t talk, don’t feel, don’t trust”.  This family system does not always provide adult role models who are able to openly discuss their feelings and needs, or how to ask for them appropriately.  We learn to either be puzzled by our feelings and not be in touch with them, or distrust them if they were ever questioned by our caregivers or those close to us.  These early experiences shape the way communicate, or lack thereof, in our adult relationsh ..read more

I was first introduced to evidence based Cognitive Behavioral therapy (CBT) in grad school, around the same time I had my first panic attack.  Because the attack occurred in a car, my brain perceived the car as the threat so it generalized” and began to happen every time I got into a car.   My thoughts during these events looked like “I’m going to crash” and “I’m not in control”.  CBT teaches us that our thoughts and behaviors create our feelings.  These catastrophic thoughts I would have in the car actually were generating more cortisol and adrenal ..read more

Do you remember the first three years of your life?  This period that most of us don’t remember actually   is when we learn how to attach to our caregivers and sets the groundwork for our relationships for the remainder of our lives.  Attachment is defined as the deep and enduring emotional bond that connects one person to another across time and space (Ainsworth, 1973; Bowlby, 1969).  During the 1950s when attachment theory was just developing, hospitals caring for babies on neonatal units were concerned about keeping their units sterile.  ..read more

Do you remember the first three years of your life?  This period that most of us don’t remember actually   is when we learn how to attach to our caregivers and sets the groundwork for our relationships for the remainder of our lives.  Attachment is defined as the deep and enduring emotional bond that connects one person to another across time and space (Ainsworth, 1973; Bowlby, 1969).  During the 1950s when attachment theory was just developing, hospitals caring for babies on neonatal units were concerned about keeping their units sterile.  ..read more