Full Course Description

Module 1 - Bessel van der Kolk on the Neurobiology and Treatment of Trauma and Attachment

Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, renowned trauma expert and NY Times bestselling author of The Body Keeps the Score, shares the latest research and advancements in brain science, attachment and trauma treatments in this in-depth seminar video.

Based on groundbreaking research and clinical practice, Dr. van der Kolk reveals both the science and art of today’s most effective pathways to healing posttraumatic stress and working with disorganized attachment in complex trauma.

You’ll return to your clinical work with new knowledge of the impact of trauma on the brain and nervous system, along with mind-body treatment approaches that can rewire the trauma response and help your clients reclaim their lives.

Don’t miss this opportunity to advance your practice with the latest trauma treatment research, insight and interventions.

Program Information

Objectives

Appraise the applicability of trauma research in order to ascertain its clinical implications.
Present an overview of the impact of trauma on the various parts of the brain, body and nervous system.
Differentiate the symptomology and treatment of trauma versus working with disorganized attachment in your clinical practice.
Evaluate the use of the DSM-5® in the diagnosis and treatment of trauma-related disorders.
Analyze the effectiveness of psychopharmacology, evidence-based protocols, and body-oriented therapies in the treatment of trauma.
Consider the long-term consequences and comorbidities of adverse childhood experiences and disorganized attachment.
Communicate the frequent challenges for children with complex trauma such as affect dysregulation, impulse control and risk taking.
Articulate ways to restore proper balance between the rational and emotional brains, that can help clients re-establish ownership of their bodies and minds.
Evaluate treatment interventions for disorganized attachment that target emotion regulation and self-leadership.
Assess the effectiveness of EMDR to access, tolerate and process memories in the treatment of distinct trauma.
Explore methods that re-establish connection and synchrony with others to overcome trauma.
Teach clients self-care and self-compassion practices to build self-leadership and an internal locus of control.

Outline

Trauma and Neuroscience

Neurobiology of Traumatic Stress
What Happens in the Mind, Brain and Body
The Anatomy of Survival
The Loss of Self and Instinct of Purpose

Diagnosis and Treatment of Trauma and Attachment Disorders

Disorganized Attachment vs. Traumatic Stress
DSM-5® Implications for assessment, Diagnosis and Treatment
Psychopharmacology, Treatment Protocols & Body-Oriented Interventions

Early Brain Development and Attachment

Interpersonal Neurobiology
Synchrony and Attunement
Disorganized Attachment
Complex Trauma in Children
Developmental Trauma Disorder
Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES) & Long-Term Implications

Pathways to Healing

EMDR
Synchrony & Community
Language
Affect Regulation

Copyright : 16/11/2017

Module 6 - Bessel van der Kolk on the Neurobiology and Treatment of Trauma and Attachment

Copyright : 16/11/2017

Pat Ogden, Ph.D., on Sensorimotor Psychotherapy

Program Information

Objectives

Explore healing trauma through body movement therapies
Communicate important foundational aspects of Sensorimotor Psychotherapy

Outline

Background into Trauma
- Lack of Improvement in Patients
- Change Approach to Improve Therapeutic Outcomes
Body Focus versus Emotions Focus
Movement to Release Trauma
- Experiences to Reveal
Sensations Awareness & Presence and Trauma
Attunement to Client
“The Missing Experience”
Movement Reluctance
The Body Tells the Story
Sensorimotor Psychotherapy
- Addressing Movement and Psychological Beliefs
- Clients Realizing Effects of their Actions
Foundations

Copyright : 30/06/2017

Richard Schwartz, Ph.D., on Internal Family Systems (IFS)

Program Information

Objectives

Demonstrate ways to integrate IFS into your clinical practice.
Differentiate IFS parts and their roles.

Outline

Internal Family Systems Therapy
- The roles in IFS
- The Self
How the Therapist Shows Their Parts
Working with Passive Clients
IFS Role-Play
The IFS Roles
- Managers
- Firefighters
- Protectors
- Exiles
  - Witnessing

Copyright : 04/09/2017

Onno van der Hart, Ph.D., on Treating Dissociative Disorders

Program Information

Objectives

Critique the DSM’s categorization of PTSD as an anxiety disorder versus Dissociative Identity Order.
Explore how the work of Pierre Janet is relevant for current therapy models in evaluating trauma
Critique the nature of evidence-based treatments relative to trauma and the possibility of retraumatizing the client.

Outline

DSM and defining PTSD
- The work of Pierre Janet: current contexts
- PTSD as a Dissociative Identity Disorder vs. an Anxiety Disorder
- Implications of seeing trauma as DID
- Understanding people with “parts” - how to become a different therapist.
- ”Befriending self, allowing yourself to know what you know” - Bessel van der Kolk
Dis-association: a non-connection of parts
- The confusion of nomenclature
- Clinical implications involved in the assessment and treating “shutting down” of personality from dealing with DID
Traumatic memories
- The recommencements of actions that happened at the time of the trauma - actions that require completion - Janet
- What does this signify for contemporary therapy.
- Dealing with “knowing when it’s over” in practice
- Facilitating completion of the action: Somatic and Sensorimotor therapy
- Evidence based treatment methods and their limitation for trauma
- Retraumatizing the client
Psychological tension: high and low mental energy & efficiency
- The need to incorporate psychological tension in evaluation process
- Helping the client explore enhancing this tension

Copyright : 20/04/2017

Frank Putnam, MD, on Attachment & Trauma Research

Program Information

Outline

Attachment and States of Change: Trauma Clients from Childhood to Adulthood

Bessel van der Kolk, MD introduces Frank Putnam, MD author of The Way We Are: How States of Mind Influence our Identities, Personality and Potential for Change
Dr. Putnam’s early work and studies in rapid-cycling Bipolar and Dissociative Identity Disorder.
Physiology of DID
State Changes – the transitioning point between the state changes we make as children and adolescents
Attachment and attunement as children
4-generation longitudinal study conclusions of abused and normal children

Early Disrupted Attachments

Disorganized Attachment “Type D” as a pre-cursor of adulthood physiological and psychological illness
The mother’s critical role: early patterns and intervening with a mother’s first child

Childhood Abuse: The Adolescent Female

Cortisol levels
FSH levels
Biological versus behavioral aspects of trauma
Attachment as generational and reverberational qualities
The “Strange Man” study

Development and States of Change

Multiple layering of states
Moving in and out and transitions
Stuck states or slippery states
Neurofeedback

Meta-Cognitive Function & Executive Function

Functions of healthy attachment
Validation: the critical need to “be seen”
Genetics versus Trauma as effecting behavior
Implications for Treatment

The Ohio Home Visit Program Study: Working with Children and Mothers

2,000+ families in the study
Maternal depression
Substance Abuse
Domestic violence
Help mothers with state change
Games, mirroring
Role for therapist
Effectiveness of the study and public health
PCIT: Parent/Child Interaction Therapy

Neuroplasticity

Brain changes
Meditation studies
Hyper-arousal states “burn out” leaving shutting down

Inducing A State of Change

Hypnosis – viable treatment that has fallen off the radar but still successful with trauma processing
Yoga, martial arts create alternative state not fraught with trauma
The stages of stabilization
Intrusive states: not seen in PTSD alone
ACE Study, addiction and maladaptive temporary solutions
Basic training in the military: the classic state change success story
Self-compassion: a required element of Mindfulness

Latest Research and Evidence for Drug-Induced State Change

MDMA: PTSD and combat trauma, initial study results
Psilocybin – Frank’s personal experience in a study

Language, Meaning and Context

Creating a coherent narrative
DSM III to DSM-5
Developing the Dissociative Experience Scale (DES)

Dissociative Identity Disorder: Story of the Scientist and the Study

The cyclical nature of studying trauma and dissociation of time
Lack of literature
Developing the longitudinal robust study
The DES

Discussion on the Brain Functions

Pre-frontal area
Anterior cingulate
Intrusive states

How do you help the client get out of the dissociated state?

Decrease triggers
Create safety
Substitute other behaviors
Self-monitoring: how to build that in the treatment
How to build stronger meta-cognitive functioning
Neurofeedback
Sensory integration: drumming, rhythm

Trans-generational Aspects of Trauma & Abuse

The predatory personality
Results of the longitudinal study over generations
Bethany Brand’s (Towson University) online longitudinal study for client and clinician
The importance of “telling the truth”
Value of the histories the professional asks
How far to dig into the specifics of the trauma

Objectives

Provide a description of the longitudinal study on childhood abuse as designed and conducted by Dr. Frank Putnam.
Summarize the trans-generational aspects of trauma and abuse.
Describe methods of inducing a state of change in the trauma client.
Breakdown the latest research and evidence for drug-induced states of change.
Explain the brain functionality with respect to Dissociative Identity Disorder.
List at least three areas vital to assist the client out of their dissociative state.
Summarize the results of the ACE study.
Explain the relevance of language and meaning making and creating a coherent narrative.

Copyright : 31/01/2017

Deany Laliotis, LICSW, on EMDR as a Broad-Based Approach to Change

While EMDR is best known for its treatment of trauma, it has developed into a comprehensive psychotherapy approach that treats a broad spectrum of presenting issues across various clinical populations. This workshop is for practitioners who are interested in learning more about this highly effective, evidence-based approach that can treat a wide range of problems from single traumatic events to relationship problems, self-esteem issues, and complex trauma. You’ll explore how to:

Identify nodal experiences shaping not only clients’ current symptoms, but their lives and identity
Focus on the predominant themes in clients’ lives that underlie their current difficulties
Integrate the adaptive information-processing model of EMDR with whatever model of therapy you’re currently using

Program Information

Outline

Trauma Often Occurs in Childhood

Personal Experiences

Developmental Trauma

Capacities to Resolve Trauma are Overwhelmed

Dissociative Processes

Complex trauma

Affect Dysregulation

Self Esteem

Difficulty in Relationships

Conclusions about the Self

Shifting the Way a Memory is Stored

Images of A Parent’s Denial of Trauma Stored in Brain

Inadequately Processed

Easily Triggered

Lack of Connection Between Information and Feelings

Emotional Hijack

EMDR As Integrative Therapy

Clinical Research

Present is Informed by the Past

State Specific Emotions

Adaptive Information Processing System in Brain

Orienting Response

REM Activity

Brain Processes in Present Time while Reflecting on Negative Experience

Use of Dual Awareness Increases Capacity to Feel More Stable

Creating Appropriate Responses and Exploring Personal Capacities

Focus of Present Experiences and Changing These

Objectives

Determine the implications of nodal experiences as they relate to shaping clients’ current symptoms.
Analyze clinical strategies to identify predominant themes in clients’ lives that underlie their current symptomology.
Integrate the adaptive information-processing model of EMDR with other therapeutic interventions used within a clinical setting.

Ed Tronick, Ph.D, Richard Schwartz, Ph.D., Michael Mithoefer, M.D., and Lou Bergholz on Psychological Trauma: Attachment, Stabilization, Identity and Self-Awareness

Part 1:

Attachment, Meaning Making & Self-Regulation

Ed Tronick PhD

Edward Z. Tronick is a world class researcher and teacher recognized internationally for his work on the neurobehavioral and social emotional development of infants and young children, parenting in the U.S. and other cultures, and infant-parent mental health. Over the course of his career, Dr. Tronick has co-authored and authored more than 150 scientific papers and chapters.

In this session, Dr. Tronick reveals how the dynamics of infant-parent emotional and social interactions impact neurobiological and social-emotional development as well as intra and inter-relationships.

Objectives:

Analyze the nature of normal and abnormal developmental processes that are embedded in the emotional and social exchanges of infants and young children and their caregivers.
Present three key findings Dr. Tronick discovered that help understand the neurobiological and social-emotional development of infants/children.
Determine three factors that can influence meaning-making in the developing infant.
Assess the clinical implications of neglect and/or abuse on meaning-making on their developing self in relation to others.

Part 2:

Ecstasy (MDMA) & Psychedelics: Re-Frame Experience and Change Self-Awareness

Michael Mithoefer MD, and Richard C. Schwartz, PhD

Description:

Like every drug or technology that has therapeutic value, MDMA and psychedelics have potential risks and benefits. Unlike most other drugs under clinical investigation, psychedelics have a complex and controversial history that has delayed dispassionate scientific investigation into its therapeutic use.

In this session, Dr. Michael Mithoefer and Dr. Richard Schwartz discuss recent and current studies on MDMA-assisted psychotherapy to enhance and improve the treatment response for PTSD. Doing MDMA research in a rigorous, scientific way always involves a tension between striving to understand and not needing to understand. The ongoing challenge is to balance the intention not to be attached to any story at all—to be open and receptive to unexpected discoveries when we’re sitting with people in MDMA psychotherapy sessions—with the inescapable and potentially fruitful propensity of the rational mind to weave new discoveries into our evolving understanding of therapeutic methods and mechanisms. Without losing sight of this compelling tension, which is inherent to some degree in any psychotherapy, we will discuss some of the similarities and differences between MDMA-assisted psychotherapy and other approaches to psychotherapy for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

Objectives:

Determine that MDMA-assisted psychotherapy can be an effective treatment for people who do not respond to traditional therapies for PTSD.
Explore the mechanism of MDMA in the brain.

Part 3:

Playing to Heal: Sports as Tools for Stabilization, Identity Development, and Connection
Lou Bergholz

In the emerging field of sports-based stabilization, we explore the ways in which sport can be shaped into a therapeutic modality effective in healing trauma. During this engaging session, Lou will explore the key elements of the sports-based stabilization framework and benefits that structure, competition, skill building, physical movement, interaction and communication have in promoting healing.

Objective:

Communicate the case for sport as a medium for healing and the emerging field of sports-based stabilization.

Program Information

Outline

Attachment, Meaning Making & Self-Regulation

Ed Tronick, PhD

Ecstasy (MDMA) & Psychedelics: Re-Frame Experience and Change Self-Awareness

Michael Mithoefer MD, Richard C. Schwartz, PhD and Frank Putnam, MD

Playing to Heal: Sports as Tools for Stabilization, Identity Development, Competency and Connection

Lou Bergholz