Janina Fisher – Mindfulness and Neuroplasticity in the Treatment of Trauma

Outline

HOW TRAUMATIC EXPERIENCES ARE REMEMBERED

• Results of the brain scan research
• Narrative memory centers are inhibited
• Activated implicit memory: Intense emotions, body sensations, impulses, intrusive images

IMPLICIT AND PROCEDURAL MEMORY SYSTEMS

• How do we know we are remembering without a story?
• State-specific memory and traumatic triggers
• Neuroplasticity and survival under threat

AUTONOMIC NERVOUS SYSTEM AND ADAPTATION TO TRAUMA

• “Neurons that fire together wire together”
• Trauma symptoms: Kindling and sensitization
• “Stuck’ cases
• Treatment-resistant depression
• Shame and self-loathing, numbing and shutdown
• Clients who go from crisis to crisis

MINDFULNESS-BASED TREATMENTS

• The symptoms tell the story better than the story
• Introduction to Sensorimotor
• Psychotherapy
• Video: Working with the body in treatment

MINDFULNESS IN CLINICAL PRACTICE

• Ingredients of mindfulness
• Avoid attachment or aversion
• Implicit and procedural memory

REGULATING TRAUMA-RELATED EMOTIONS, REACTIVITY AND AUTONOMIC AROUSAL

• Cognitive resources
• Somatic resources
• Interpersonal neurobiological resources

PRINCIPLES OF NEUROPLASTIC CHANGE

• Inhibit problematic pattern of response
• Mindfully notice rather than react
• Experiment with new action or reaction
• Practice new pattern until it becomes automatic

NEUROPLASTIC PRINCIPLES TO TALK THERAPY

• Practice, practice, practice!
• Notice, notice, notice the results
• Encode change as it occurs