Bessel A. van der Kolk’s 29th Annual Trauma Conference-Main Conference Day 1 – Bessel Van der Kolk and Others

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The study of trauma has probably been the single most fertile area in helping to develop a deeper understanding of the relationship among the emotional, cognitive, social and biological forces that shape human development. Starting with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in adults and expanding into early attachment and overwhelming attachment and social experiences in childhood (“Developmental Trauma”), this endeavor has elucidated how certain experiences can “set” psychological expectations and biological selectivity.

When addressing the problems of traumatized people who, in a myriad of ways, continue to react to current experience as a replay of the past, there is a need for therapeutic methods that do not depend exclusively on drugs or cognition. We have learned that most experience is automatically processed on a subcortical level of the brain; i.e., by “unconscious” interpretations that take place outside of conscious awareness. Insight and understanding have only a limited influence on the operation of these subcortical processes, but synchrony, movement and reparative experiences do.

Workshops included in this recording:

• Trauma and Embodied Cognition – Bessel A. van der Kolk, MD
• The Effects of Traumatic Stress on Self-Experience: Balance, Perception & Sensory Integration – Sherain Harricharan, PhD, Elizabeth Warner, PsyD & Ruth Lanius, MD, PhD
• The Psychological Processing of Traumatic Experience: Self-Awareness, Interoception & Memory Processing – How (and How Well) Does EMDR Actually Work? – Ruth Lanius, MD, PhD, Matthew Sanford & Bessel A. van der Kolk, MD
• The Craving Mind: Why We Get Stuck in Habits & How Mindfulness Helps Us Get Unstuck – Judson Brewer, MD, PhD
• Panel Discussion & Questions
• The Emergence of a Polygonal-Informed Therapy: How Music & Voice Contribute to Healing Following Trauma – Stephen W. Porges, PhD
• Internal Family Systems and the Psychotherapy of Self-Leadership: Self and Identity – Richard C. Schwartz, PhD

1. Present an overview of the impact of trauma on the various parts of the brain, body and nervous system.
2. Examine the nature of traumatic stress and evaluate the research of how exposure to extreme stress affects brain function.
3. Explain how EMDR is used for processing traumatic memories as it relates to clinical practice.
4. Explore how habits form, why they can be hard to overcome and the current research that can give clients hope that habits can change.
5. Articulate the foundation of Polyvagal Theory as it relates to the clinical treatment of trauma.
6. Adapt the IFS model into your clinical practice and accelerate healing for clients with PTSD.
7. Identify, specify and clarify the protective parts of clients with trauma histories to help with assessment and treatment planning.

Trauma and Embodied Cognition – Bessel A. van der Kolk, MD

• What Trauma Looks Like

The Effects of Traumatic Stress on Self-Experience: Balance, Perception & Sensory Integration – Sherain Harricharan, PhD & Elizabeth Warner, PsyD

• The Importance of Balance in the Body
• Understanding the Vestibular System and its Relationship with Trauma
• Manifestation of Vestibular Neural Circuitry
• Engagement of the Vestibular System in Healthy Child Development

The Psychological Processing of Traumatic Experience: Self-Awareness, Interoception & Memory Processing – How (and How Well) Does EMDR Actually Work? – Ruth Lanius, MD, PhD, Matthew Sanford & Bessel A. van der Kolk, MD

• EMDR vs Fluoxetine vs Placebo Study Results
• The Foundation to the Sense of Self
• Understanding the Mental Time Traveler
• The Neuroscience of Eye Moments

The Craving Mind: Why We Get Stuck in Habits & How Mindfulness Helps Us Get Unstuck – Judson Brewer, MD, PhD

• Understanding the Mind of Addiction
• Reward and Self
• Mindfulness and Addiction from a Behavioral and Biological Perspective
• The Importance of Awareness
• Case Studies and Video Demonstrations

Panel Discussion & Questions
The Emergence of a Polygonal-Informed Therapy: How Music & Voice Contribute to Healing Following Trauma – Stephen W. Porges, PhD

• An Introduction to Polyvagal Theory
• Power and Importance of Voice, Music and Listening
• Understanding Frequencies and their Impact on Traumatized Persons
• Case Studies and Video Demonstrations

Internal Family Systems and the Psychotherapy of Self-Leadership: Self and Identity – Richard C. Schwartz, PhD

• How Internal Family Systems was Developed
• Introduction to our Multiple Parts and Self
• The 8 C’s of Self-Leadership
• The Two Big Realities of the IFS Model
• The Map of Internal Family Systems
• Understanding the Different Roles of our Parts
• Internal Family Systems used in Clinical Practice