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How to Heal from Trauma
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Feb 6, 2025
Welcome to Adaptable | Behavior Explained! Healing from such a profound change often takes a long time, and trauma recovery isn’t always pretty, or linear. Your journey may involve obstacles, detours, and delays, along with setbacks and lost ground. You may have no idea where you’re going or how to get there — but that’s OK. Just as trauma can take many different forms, trauma recovery take a multitude of paths. There’s no official roadmap, but keeping these tips in considerations in mind may prove helpful along your way. I'm Kelly O'Horo, Attachment based EMDR Therapist, EMDRIA Consultant, and Advanced Trainer. I'm a mom of 5, Nonna of 5, wife, and a healer. I have the honor of spending my workdays walking along side people while they brave their healing journeys. I try to live with the generous assumption that we're all doing the best we can with what we know. Therapists are teachers for the "life stuff" and "emotional vocabulary" that may not have been learned due to gaps in our care givers capabilities. In the last 15 years I've learned that people are freaking amazing, resilient, and inspiring. Most importantly, we are hardwired for connection and for healing! I hope to bring an authentic, compassionate, and unpolished approach while we explore a variety of topics such as parenting, marriage, relationships, dating, trauma, attachment, adoption, depression, addiction, anxiety, and love! There's a why for all behaviors and an explanation that makes perfect sense as emotion is at the root of it all. -- Links -- https://linktr.ee/kellyohorolpc https://youtu.be/rLnARKekvgo https://www.emdria.org/find-an-emdr-therapist/
View Video Transcript
0:06
hi everyone I'm Kell ooro and this is
0:09
adaptable Behavior explained hi
0:12
everybody thanks for tuning in we are
0:15
going to discuss a conversation that
0:17
hopefully will benefit you um and it's
0:20
about how we can heal from PTSD complex
0:25
PTSD anxiety and depression because
0:27
there are symptoms of unresolved trauma
0:30
and allowing yourself the opportunity to
0:33
heal and maybe no longer even meet
0:37
criteria for these issues that you might
0:39
currently struggle with we're going to
0:41
explore um effective strategies for
0:44
overcoming trauma and we're going to
0:46
focus specifically on bottomup therapies
0:48
and why they are so important uh I
0:51
talked about coping strategies to manage
0:53
symptoms in another episode so if you
0:55
can combine the coping strategies that I
0:58
talked about and get in with a really
1:00
good bottom up therapist then you've got
1:03
really good opportunities to heal from
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from trauma so there is hope if you want
1:09
to hear more about this topic uh please
1:12
make sure that you like this episode or
1:14
share it with someone who might benefit
1:16
and of course please subscribe to the
1:17
channel so that you don't miss any
1:19
future episodes and um we can make sure
1:22
we give you content that you're
1:23
interested in seeing so let's get
1:26
started whether trauma was developed
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from a single event or a prolonged
1:31
exposure to many helpless experiences it
1:34
can deeply affect our mental health and
1:36
our physical well-being unresolved
1:38
trauma can actually make us sick and if
1:40
you want to learn more about that I have
1:42
another show on adverse childhood
1:44
experiences and I have another show on
1:46
how trauma makes us sick so please check
1:48
those out if you want to um dig into
1:50
those topics a little bit more deeply
1:52
but fortunately we can heal and we can
1:54
recover so we're going to take a deeper
1:57
dive into how therapies like EMDR
2:00
somatic experiencing sensory motor
2:02
Psychotherapy and internal family
2:04
systems or ifs can offer Pathways to
2:07
Healing by addressing trauma at its core
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uh we want to understand first why
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bottomup therapies and why are they
2:14
crucial for healing from trauma so
2:17
unlike traditional talk therapy that
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primarily engage in the cognitive brain
2:22
um or top down like therapists
2:24
understand uh bottom up approaches
2:27
recognize that trauma is not just a
2:29
psychological experience but it's a
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physiological experience and Trauma
2:33
memory is stored at a cellular level so
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what happens in our bodies when we
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experience distressing events sometimes
2:41
gets stayed and is stuck on in other
2:44
words we see something that activates
2:45
that memory and we act as if it's still
2:48
happening again and this can happen even
2:51
subtly with someone maybe having a dirty
2:53
look on their face and you have a
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feeling flashback like what did I do and
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is something wrong and maybe that's just
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cuz you had a really critical parent who
3:01
made a judgy face and so you have this
3:03
experience so our bodies store our lived
3:06
experiences For Better or For Worse and
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so when helpless things happen memory
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gets maladaptively encoded sometimes and
3:14
sort of stuck in that on position in our
3:16
body and it can lead to symptoms like
3:18
hypervigilance dissociation chronic pain
3:21
and other disruptive things in our
3:24
bodies so by engaging in the body's
3:26
innate healing mechanisms bottomup
3:28
therapies can help us process and
3:30
release stored traumas and how it lives
3:32
in our bodies and it can lead to more
3:35
profound and Lasting healing so with
3:37
dedication and work we can help the
3:39
brain and body digest information
3:41
information that didn't fully digest and
3:44
it can allow you to return to a sense of
3:47
calm and wholeness with the absence of
3:49
all of these trauma symptoms or a
3:51
drastic reduction in them I I can't even
3:54
tell you how many clients that started
3:56
out with PTSD diagnosis and they don't
3:59
have it anymore because we've resolved
4:01
so much distress in their bodies with
4:03
EMDR therapy and you know many of them
4:06
are down to you know more of just a
4:08
generalized anxiety or or just an
4:10
anxiety state or even not even that
4:12
anymore after you know the work that
4:14
they've been able to accomplish so there
4:16
is hope and one of the most well-known
4:19
bottomup therapies is eye movement
4:20
desensitization and reprocessing or EMDR
4:24
therapy it's actually considered number
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one treatment for trauma according to
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the World Health Organization
4:30
um it was developed by Dr Francine
4:32
Shapiro and it uses bilateral
4:35
stimulation or dual attention stimulus
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um like eye movements or tapping or
4:40
other things that therapists learn how
4:42
to do uh to help people reprocess our
4:44
traumatic memories and by accessing the
4:47
brain's natural information processing
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symt systems EMDR allows clients to
4:52
release the emotional charge of our
4:54
traumatic memories and the Body
4:56
Sensations that are in combination with
4:59
it and it leads to a decreased distress
5:01
and ultimately symptom relief benefits
5:04
for EMDR reprocessing are that it helps
5:08
individuals process distressing memories
5:11
um and and taking those maladaptively
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encoded pieces of information and
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changing them into a more adaptive or
5:18
more beneficial response for today it
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helps us to restructure our cognitive
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thinking so we target negative beliefs
5:25
uh about ourselves and it promotes a
5:28
development of a positive more adaptive
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belief that matches today's
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circumstances more appropriately and it
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helps us to integrate the traumatic
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memories into something that is just
5:39
something that happened where the
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memories were kind of stored fragmented
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but it helps to bring things into a more
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cohesive and less distressing narrative
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and it then lives in the body like um
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not that things aren't sad that it
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happened but it just doesn't live in our
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bodies in the same way as it used to
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it's just a thing that happened um and
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it's no no longer living in in an active
6:01
way so if you want to learn more about
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this type of therapy which happens to be
6:06
my specialty you can check out two of my
6:08
other episodes on EMDR therapy in my
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channel now we're going to talk about
6:12
sematic experiencing which was developed
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by Dr Peter LaVine it focuses on
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renegotiating the body's response to
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trauma so there's a gentle guidance from
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the therapist and mindful awareness
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where clients learn to track and they
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discharge the physical sensation that
6:29
are associated with those traumatic
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experiences and they're able to complete
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the body's instinctual fight flight or
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freeze responses that were thwarted in
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time so people can understand and
6:43
identify where things got stuck in their
6:45
bodies and allow for this for the
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completion of those thwarted responses
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which will release stuck energy and
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restores a sense of safety and
6:54
empowerment for the now in the body so
6:57
benefits of this kind of therapy is we
6:59
can achieve some trauma resolution
7:01
especially from the body perspective it
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aims to release um the traumatic energy
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that's trapped in the body and having an
7:09
awareness of those physical Sensations
7:11
while coupled with with movements really
7:14
is beautiful um it allows for the
7:16
nervous system to to become regulated
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because it focuses on the autonomic
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nervous system and it provokes a s
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promotes a sense of balance in response
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to stress uh there becomes an enhanced
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body awareness which sematic
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experiencing helps people reconnect with
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their Body Sensations where we might
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have been disconnected or dissociated
7:38
from our physical being and helps us
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come back into our body which Fosters a
7:43
greater sense of self-awareness another
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bottom-up therapy that I love and
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endorse is sensory motorcycle therapy
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it's founded by Dr Pat Ogden and this
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therapy integrates sematic techniques
7:56
with traditional talk therapy approaches
7:58
and it helps helps the client to explore
8:01
how the body holds and expresses trauma
8:04
clients can uncover and transform their
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unconscious patterns of relating and
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coping and recognize and name and have
8:11
awareness so through movement breath
8:14
work and certain mindfulness practices
8:17
sensory motor helps people develop a
8:19
greater sense of resilience and
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regulation in the face of adversity so
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it gives us more time from stimulus to
8:26
response to um show up for our our eles
8:29
in ways that are more adaptive than the
8:32
trauma informed reaction that gets stuck
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benefits of this kind of therapy are
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there's a Mind Body integration so we
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focus on the connection between bodily
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Sensations emotions and thoughts which
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can promote integration of those three
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things which is how memory gets stored
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when it's negatively encoded there's
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motor expression so it encourages the
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release of stored trauma through gentle
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body oriented movement that's that's
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Guided by the therapist with the
9:00
collaboration of the client of course
9:02
always client centered um emotional
9:05
regulation where we uh can regulate the
9:09
emotional response by addressing those
9:12
underlying physical or physiological
9:15
components of trauma now we're going to
9:17
discuss internal family systems or ifs
9:20
therapy this therapy was developed by Dr
9:23
Dr uh Richard Schwarz or dick Schwarz
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and this offers a unique perspective on
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healing trauma by explor exploring our
9:31
internal family of subpersonalities and
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we all have them we all have different
9:35
parts of self and so we really dig in
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and learn and deepen our understanding
9:40
about how our internal parts have
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learned to function and survive to the
9:44
circumstances around us so as therapists
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we refer to our subpersonality as parts
9:50
of self and an example that you might be
9:52
able to relate to or think of is
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something like when you say well part of
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me wants to go to the movies but the
9:58
other part just wants to stay home and
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like have a rot day and so when we think
10:04
about ourselves in Parts sometimes we
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have um a more complex internal team and
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we might have a part of me wants this
10:12
and a part of me wants that and another
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part of me wants this and so we're
10:16
constantly negotiating that internal
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those internal voices of self and we all
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have this to some degree and depending
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on the complexity of our trauma um so we
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might do that more uh more often or in
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more complicated or protective ways
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depending on what we've gone through and
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some of us have a really involved team
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inside of us that's helping us to
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navigate and negotiate the world so ifs
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helps us to Foster uh compassionate
10:43
curiosity and self uh awareness and it
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helps to have um it help we can help
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people heal those relational wounds and
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we can integrate the fragmented aspects
10:55
of ourselves um through that lens of ifs
10:58
or through that lens of self the essence
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of each of our highest self person uh
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we're able to promote Inner Harmony
11:06
between uh the other parts of our team
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and our you know grownup self and so
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this is actually a really beautiful
11:13
process um as well so benefits of this
11:16
type of therapy is we can't help but
11:19
become more in tune and have an enhance
11:23
self-awareness so we have greater
11:26
understanding about how our team works
11:27
and it helps us to deepen understanding
11:30
of our internal Dynamics how we show up
11:32
in the environment around us and it
11:34
Fosters insight into thoughts feelings
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and behaviors again I hope you're seeing
11:38
a pattern the way traumatic memory is
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informed thoughts feelings and um
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Sensations or behaviors so we have to
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always look at those things if we want
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to have healing from uh traumatic
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experiences so emotional regulation is
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another benefit of ifs where we learn to
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identify and manage our emotions more
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effectively which promotes greater
12:00
stability and resilience and then of
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course integration and wholeness so ifs
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facilitates integration of our
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fragmented aspects of ourselves and it
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promotes a sense of Harmony so now I've
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got my own little disclaimer here as a
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trauma therapist I absolutely love to
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combine several aspects of all of the
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aforementioned modalities I especially
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especially love the sweet marriage
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between EMDR ifs and SE so I love to
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bring all of those um modalities
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together so that I can be really
12:35
intuitively connected to what's
12:37
happening in the moment and it doesn't
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uh disacknowledge that we are such
12:41
complex beings and we need to be
12:43
creative and flexible as therapists and
12:45
we need to trust our intuition so
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bottomup psychotherapies are considered
12:50
necessary to heal trauma because they
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specifically address the physiological
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and sematic aspects of our trauma
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responses which often times are
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overlooked or not fully addressed by
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traditional talk top down talk therapies
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and I want to just talk a little bit
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about why these modalities are so
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important just because you need to be
13:10
informed when choosing the direction
13:12
you're going to take when you heal so
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number one we have to Target the nervous
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system because trauma affects the
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autonomic nervous system which leads to
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that disregulation in our arousal States
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creates the hypervigilance and the
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emotional Rea reactivity bottomup
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Therapies directly Target the nervous
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system to regulate these physiological
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responses to Pro to promote a sense of
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safety and calm so if it's not
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addressing the body it's not going to do
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it we can understand with top- down
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therapy we can learn so very much um in
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talk therapy we can really get a lay of
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the land about the how's and wise that
13:50
we we are reacting the way we are but we
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just can't change it from a state
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specific experience to a full trait
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change and I'll talk a little bit more
13:59
about that we also have to number two we
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have to access our implicit memory so
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trauma memories are often stored in our
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body which makes them difficult to
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access and process through traditional
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talk talk therapy alone bottom-up
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therapies provide techniques to access
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and release implicit memories that are
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stored in the body which can facilitate
14:20
trauma resolution again we don't always
14:23
remember what happened to us but our
14:25
body always does number three we have to
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address some atic symptoms so trauma can
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manifest as physical symptoms like
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chronic pain tension or somatic
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complaints so bottomup therapies focus
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on the somatic experiences which helps
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people identify and release those
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physical manifestations of trauma which
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contribute to our overall well-being and
14:47
our symptom reduction the fourth thing
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we need to recognize is that it promotes
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mindbody integration so bottomup
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therapies are needed because trauma
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disrupts the emotional connection or the
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connection rather between our our mind
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and our body we get a truncated
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experience which can lead to
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dissociation and disconnected from our
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Body Sensations where bottom up
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therapies emphasize the integration of
15:09
our mind and our body so we want to
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connect what happens in here whether we
15:14
know better with what our body is
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telling us which sometimes can't connect
15:18
so we have to really recognize that to
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foster a sense of wholeness and
15:23
coherence in our whole self- experience
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the fifth thing that it does uh that
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they do is creates a sense of safety and
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stability so trauma survivors often
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struggle with feelings of insecurity and
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lack of safety in their environment so
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bottomup therapies prioritize
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establishing a sense of safety and
15:41
stability in our body it provides us
15:44
with a foundation for that further
15:45
healing work we also have to build
15:48
self-regulation skills so trauma can
15:51
impair an individual's ability to
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regulate our emotions even if we know
15:55
better so arousal levels and stress
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responses can be a bit out of whack and
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so in order to get the body to slow down
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and and teach self-regulation skills we
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have to empower individuals to manage
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the physiological reactions and navigate
16:10
challenging situations more effectively
16:13
through the body approaches to help
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self-regulation skills Shore up we have
16:18
to engage nonverbal processes so trauma
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is often stored and expressed through
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nonverbal channels like body language or
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movement or expression or Sensations and
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so we want to make sure that we offer
16:30
nonverbal techniques like movement touch
16:33
breath work to access the process uh and
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and process trauma in ways that go Way
16:38
Beyond verbal communication and we need
16:41
to give safe space for that to be
16:43
experienced we have to respect
16:45
individual pace and boundaries so this
16:47
is not different in talk therapy we
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really need to be honoring of client
16:52
centered approach and bottomup therapies
16:54
really prioritize the individual's pace
16:57
and the boundaries that they need to set
16:59
empowering them in the now to have
17:01
Choice whereas many times in their
17:03
trauma stories they didn't have power so
17:05
everything needs to be via invitation
17:07
like is it okay if we do this if we need
17:09
to slow down and back out and we need to
17:11
address what's coming up that's
17:13
preventing access we have to allow
17:15
trauma survivors choice to engage in the
17:18
healing process at a level that feels
17:20
safe and manageable for for them because
17:22
it's really all about pace so overall
17:26
bottomup psychotherapies complement
17:28
traditional top- down therapy approaches
17:30
by addressing the physiological
17:32
underpinnings of trauma and providing a
17:34
holistic embodied method for healing uh
17:38
they offer trauma survivors a pathway to
17:40
reconnect with themselves regulate their
17:42
nervous systems and ultimately reclaim a
17:44
sense of agency and well-being so to
17:47
wrap up bottomup therapies offer
17:50
powerful tools for healing from trauma
17:53
by addressing the roots in the body and
17:55
the mind whether through EMDR sematic
17:58
experiencing sensory motor Psychotherapy
18:01
or internal family systems you can
18:04
reclaim your life and rewrite your
18:06
Narrative of your story of resilience
18:08
and of strength thank you so much for
18:11
joining us today I know this was a meaty
18:13
topic and you can dig into other
18:15
episodes if you want more details but we
18:17
hope that it's shed light on the
18:19
transformative potential of bottomup
18:21
therapies and the the hope that you can
18:25
heal from whatever ails you when it
18:26
comes to your mental health uh struggles
18:29
whether it's PTSD complex PTSD or
18:32
anxiety or depression or any other
18:34
somatic things that you're dealing with
18:36
remember that healing is possible and
18:38
you're not alone on your journey so I
18:41
hope that you find the things that you
18:43
need to take good care of yourself uh so
18:47
until next time don't forget to lead
18:49
with love it'll never steer you
18:52
[Music]
18:57
wrong
19:00
[Music]
19:09
you
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