Here’s a group on The Problem, and below are a group on The Solutions.
The Problem:
In “Trauma, Brain & Relationship: Helping Children Heal,” Bruce Perry, M.D., Daniel Siegel M.D., C. Bryan Post and other experts in childhood trauma, and attachment and bonding, show how Attachment Disorder from birth causes brain trauma in this video.
Dr. Ed Tronick shows graphically with his “Still Face Experiment” that babies are born with a massive level of emotions, and require extensive attuning and attention. If so, they calm and grow nicely. Or not. What if we’re an “Or Not” baby? What if we cry but no one comes? Or what if someone comes but can’t attune? That baby learns that there is no comfort, that emotions are terrifying, and the world is a scary place: click for video. That baby often does not develop much of a self. That is really uncomfortable; it’s what’s behind the feeling that “I have a hole in me.”
“The Most Important Years… the Right Brain and Its Importance,” Dr. Allan Schore, Oslo 9-28-14: Babies are born screaming in pain. We’re designed for an adult’s emotional brain to show us “Someone cares, I can relax.” This is how neural networks are actually created in a baby’s brain, says Schore. “We need to know that the Big Person who’s taking care of us, loves us,” says Dr. Henry Cloud; then the baby learns to grow “love inside.” But with infant developmental trauma and attachment disorder, no adult showed us how to calm, so we never did. Infant emotions are still crying painfully deep inside us, says Dr. Schore: (real meat starts at minute 8) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KW-S4cyEFCc
Dr. Bruce Perry, MD, “Born for Love: “Why Empathy is Essential – and Endangered” – Address to The National Council for Behavioral Health Washington, DC, May 4, 2014 – Click for video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6kDeBaJi0M
Insecure attachment and attachment disorder generally are the cause of Developmental Trauma, not vice versa, Dr. Bessel van der Kolk details in his May 10, 2013 speech at Yale (click for video). This may also be the real route of borderline personality disorder, bipolar disorder and ADHD/ADD, he says. He lists DTD’s symptoms as relational and chronic: inability to concentrate or regulate feelings, chronic anger, fear and anxiety; self-loathing; aggression, self-destructive behavior.
What does child trauma do to the brain – and body? Pediatrician Nadine Burke Harris, M.D., tells it like it is on the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study in a ground-breaking September 2014 TED Talk here. She challenges her audience of MDs that this nasty reality stays covered up because trauma is not just for poor kids “in the other zip codes” — it’s for everyone, so a lot of medical and government leaders have their share, and fear to “look within.”
The ACE Study is ongoing research on 17,421 average middle class clients at an average San Diego HMO, who were simply asked if they’d had any bad childhood experiences, physical or emotional. It then compared their childhood story, to whether they developed serious physical medical conditions as adults – and found a shocking correlation. Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) often lead to impaired thinking, unhealthy behavior, disease, disability, and early death. Dr. Vincent Felitti, study co-director, tells the story in this video.
Centers for Disease Control (CDC), “ACE Study DVD Pre-View movie,” 3-minute version: http://www.acesconnection.com/blog/ace-study-co-founders-tell-story-on-dvd-here-s-an-intro
I read Dr. Felitti’s bio on ACEstudy.org, then hit the “get connected” tab. It jumped to ACEsConnection.com. The first thing I saw was a video of a baby in a Polish orphanage that turned my heart inside out (click here & scroll down page). Brace yourself before watching – this is what the physical pain of attachment failure looks like. Left alone for months in the Warsaw facility, Baby Casey did not get the “face time,” physical holding, emotional attunement, or any of the interactions required for an infant’s brain to grow
The Solution is Love. We need to learn that in fact, yes: The Big Person loves me. Then we can grow that love inside us. First, we need to learn to do loving human relationships, with an attachment therapist trained for the job (others are more likely to harm than to help.)
The Solutions
First and foremost the solution is Find an Attachment-based Psychotherapist, for which there is no video, but here’s my locator page, then back to videos: http://attachmentdisorderhealing.com/resources/attachment-therapists-directory/
Dr. Daniel J. Siegel uses his “hand model” of the brain to show schools kids, and the rest of us, how we need all three of the brain’s main parts to be working, and to work together. Say the wrist is the spinal cord. Then the palm represents the reptilian brain stem, the thumb is the emotional limbic brain, and the fingers are the thinking frontal cortex. Video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=DD-lfP1FBFk
Neurofeedback, says therapist Sebern Fisher, is a computer program therapists use to train clients to calm their brain waves. The brain is organized from the womb in oscillatory patterns, she says, so we with developmental trauma, early neglect and abuse, have disorganized and dysregulated brains. Our fear circuits dominate. Neurofeedback can calm these erupting circuits and even grow neural connectivity, which helps feel safer and more centered. Here’s my blog on Neurofeedback. Here are her three videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqAlSvaz13I&list=PL36FN-2dCyqUD4trrqpnDvHihi3dAj9Sl
I was moved to tears by Ms. Fisher’s radio interview “Neurofeedback in the Treatment of Developmental Trauma,” as she described how deeply necessary love and attachment are to the creation of a human brain. It’s because we crave the regulation of our nervous system which love can bring, that our brains respond to neurofeedback signals which feel calmer and even loved: http://shrinkrapradio.com/452-neurofeedback-in-the-treatment-of-developmental-trauma-with-sebern-fisher-m-a/
In EMDR, says originator Dr. Francine Shapiro, the therapist moves a finger or two from side to side (or diagonally) before the patient’s eyes. This guides the eyes as in the way eyes move naturally during the Rapid Eye Movement (REM) phase of the sleep cycle, in which we do most our most active dreaming. Dreaming can “process” a lot of trauma – move it from short-term memory banks where it feels like a terrifying flash happening “right now,” into long-term memory banks where we feel it’s past, and we’re “over it. Blog: http://attachmentdisorderhealing.com/what-is-emdr/ Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GUd5hhnkVE
Tapping: I’ve used Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), aka tapping for years (my blogs are here). “The basic technique requires you to focus on the negative emotion at hand: a fear or anxiety, a bad memory, an unresolved problem, or anything that’s bothering you,” says Nick Ortner, author of “The Tapping Solution.” Then, “while maintaining your mental focus on this issue, use your fingertips to tap 5-7 times each on 9 of the body’s (dozens of) acupuncture meridian points.” How to tap video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAclBdj20ZU
Meditation: Dan Siegel details how often we feel lousy because actually our brains are wired wrong from childhood. He’s also shown we can actually heal it and rewire our brains. A fun and heartwarming video which elaborates this theme “How you can change your brain” is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4tR5Ebc4Mw&index=22&list=PL1A32ED7EF5F192F2
How to Meditate & Heal the Brain – Really! Dr. Tara Brach, “Basic Elements of Meditation Practice,” Pt 1 (2/11/2015): “The first class examines our attitude towards practice and gives guidance on posture, establishing an anchor for attention, and learning to concentrate and collect the mind – ‘coming back.’ / ” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVK1d9oz5g4&feature=autoshare “Basic Elements of Meditation Practice,” Pt 2 (2/18/2015) “The second class focuses on the practice of mindfulness – ‘being here,’ and the component qualities of clear recognition and an allowing non-judgmental presence.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBcTat6UZUU&feature=autoshare
Mindfulness meditation has become an increasingly popular way for people to improve their mental and physical health…New research from Carnegie Mellon University shows even brief mindfulness meditation practice – 25 minutes for three consecutive days – alleviates stress. Go here for more: http://medicalxpress.com/news/2014-07-minutes-mindfulness-meditation-alleviates-stress.html
More Audios and Videos on Healing the Brain
“Polyvagal Theory: Trauma from a New Perspective” — Stephen Porges, PhD, inventor of the Polyvagal Theory, shares his insights with Dr. Ruth Buczynski of NICABM on the treatment of trauma. He explains how treating trauma or treating PTSD is not always straightforward; 4 minutes at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKkDAOW2yd4
“The Science of Compassion,” by Stephen Porges, PhD, at the Stanford University conference “Science of Compassion: Origins, Measures, and Interventions.” This was the first large-scale international conference of its kind dedicated to scientific inquiry into compassion; 25 minutes at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYXa_BX2cE8
Dr. Bruce Perry put out a “How Your Brain Works 101,” in his September 2013 webinar for the National Council on Behavioral Health. You know how your car works – don’t you want to know how your brain works? Click for Dr. Perry’s YouTube channel with educational videos in depth: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCf4ZUgIXyxRcUNLuhimA5mA?feature=watch
“A General Theory of Love” by Thomas Lewis MD, Fari Amini, MD, and Richard Lannon, MD, says it’s vital that we value our mammalian attachment system and stay close to other mammals. Love keeps people and societies together, says Dr. Richard Lannon in a set of mp3 interviews by radio host Paula Gordon. He relates the mammalian brain’s limbic system to being alive, to parenting, to being happy, to appreciating beauty and explains why we cannot “think our way” to fulfillment: http://www.paulagordon.com/shows/lannon/mp3/RLannonConv2.mp3
Dr. Lannon says it is good mothering which leads to secure attachment and explains the profound implications of the importance of optimally tuning in to a child. He reviews the profound, central importance of long-term, sustaining support networks for humans. He notes that most social forces currently work in the opposite direction:
http://www.paulagordon.com/shows/lannon/mp3/RLannonConv3.mp3
Dr. Lannon explains why self-help books usually are no help. He distinguishes General Theory of Love from that genre, explaining why we cannot intellectually (neocortex) control our emotions (in the limbic brain.) http://www.paulagordon.com/shows/lannon/mp3/RLannonConv4.mp3
Humans have been given the gift of being a social animal, says Dr. Lannon. He describes humans as open-loop systems, deeply affected by our relationships with other and NOT independent of each other. He expands on, “We create each other.” http://www.paulagordon.com/shows/lannon/mp3/RLannonConv5.mp3
Comedienne Goldie Hawn, alarmed by the jump in stress and violence among children, puts attachment specialists like UCLA’s Dr. Dan Siegel, MD on TV with plastic models of the brain, to wake us all up. Check out this priceless video. “You sent us a brain in the mail !” Anderson Cooper exclaims.
Dr. Dan Siegel also says that we often get sad-wired with attachment trouble as kids while the brain’s forming, due to implicit — body-only — memory created before we reach age 3, before we can think and remember. Two videos by Dan on this topic are here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zovtRq4e2E8&list=PL1A32ED7EF5F192F2
and here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGhZtUrpCuc&index=1&list=PL1A32ED7EF5F192F2
Dr. Siegel actually healed the split-up brain of a 92-year-old lawyer. The gentleman had great cognition, but couldn’t feel anything at all. Check out this video “On Integrating the 2 hemispheres of our brains” at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPjhfUVgvOQ&index=24&list=PL1A32ED7EF5F192F2
This lawyer was taught as a kid to think about facts, but he couldn’t feel a thing. It’s all in the development of our right brain vs our left brain. Click here for Dan’s video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGUEDtGSwW4
Dan Siegel & Friend Explore the Brain: Mindfulness and Neural Integration at TEDx. Dr. Siegel shows more on how mindfulness and meditation can help rewire our brains. Then a school kid walks on camera, and you’ll love what happens next. Click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LiyaSr5aeho
Dan Siegel with Goldie Hawn at TEDMed 2009: The comedienne explains her hunt for the “science of happiness” and how she teamed up with Dr. Dan. Now they make school kids happy by helping them harness their brain power and grow mindfulness. It does turn out to create great joy — and better grades. Click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OdBXGHwNCk&index=19&list=PL1A32ED7EF5F192F2
William Stranger interview Dr. Stephen Porges.
The Polyvagal Theory introduced a new perspective relating autonomic function to behavior that included an appreciation of autonomic nervous system as a “system,” the identification of neural circuits involved in the regulation of autonomic state, and an interpretation of autonomic reactivity as adaptive within the context of the phylogeny of the vertebrate autonomic nervous system; 40 minutes at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tz146HQotY
#090: Adam Carolla and Dr. Stephen Porges September 30, 2013 Podcast – Dr. Stephen Porges returns to The Dr. Drew Podcast and this time we are also joined by special guest Adam Carolla. Dr. Porges and Dr. Drew attempt to investigate Adam’s behavior and identify some patterns; 57 minutes at http://drdrew.com/090-adam-carolla-and-dr-stephen-porges/
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