East Meets West: Multiple Perspectives on Trauma and Addiction

Transcription

1 East Meets West: Multiple Perspectives on Trauma and Addiction Transforming Trauma : A bridge between East and West Peter A Levine Ph.D. Somatic Experiencing Trauma Institute

2 Trauma is neither a disease nor a disorder, but is rather an injury caused by paralyzing fright, helplessness and loss. By grounding energetic experiences through the containment of bodily sensations, while engaging our innate capacity to self-regulate extreme states of arousal and intense emotions, we can facilitate the transformation of trauma and the integration of embodied spiritual experiences. Together this marriage of East and West, promotes deep and enduring healing. We will also explore how the roots of addiction lie in unresolved trauma, insecure attachment, lack of support, overindulgence and habitual childhood frustration.

3 At the end of this workshop, participants will be able to... understand the importance of embodied awareness as a vehicle for transforming traumatic experience. utilize the intrinsic relationship between trauma and spirituality in therapeutic practice. appreciate the importance of therapy as a step towards a spiritual practice.

4 Vitalism is about Embodiment It is about the living body; the intelligent (self-organizing) life that lives within us

5 The body has its reasons which reason cannot reason Blaise Pascal ( )

6 Once the psyche is a self-regulated system, as an alive body, a regulating counter-reaction develops in the unconscious C.G. Jung, Collected Works VIII

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8 Energetics of Limbic System

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10 Tunnel of NDE

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12 Varieties of conscious states mapped on a perception hallucination continuum of increasing ergotropic arousal (left) and a perception-mediation continuum of increasing trophotropic arousal (right). The loop connecting ecstasy and samadhi represents the rebound from ecstasy to samadhi, which is observed in response to intense ergotropic excitation. The numbers 35 to 7 on the perception-hallucination continuum are Goldstein's coefficient of variation, specifying the decrease in variability of the EEG amplitude with increasing ergotropic arousal. The numbers 26 to 4 on the perception-mediation continuum, on the other hand, refer to those beta, alpha, and theta EEG waves (measured in hertz) that predominate during, but are not specific to, these states.

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14 Shift from Passive Fear to Active Coping in the Brain Basal nucleus Striatum Active Coping Reaction (getting on with life) Fear-Arousing Stimulus Lateral nucleus Amygdala Central nucleus Periaqueductal gray region (immobility) Later hypothalamus (autonomic responses) Paraventricular hypothalamus (HPA responses) Passive Fear Reaction (aroused, stressed, and despondent) Fear-arousing stimuli elicit a constellation of fear responses that include freezing or immobility and activation of autonomic and neuroendocrine responses. These responses can be coupled to otherwise meaningless events through a process of associative learning. Studies of rats over the past 20 years have implicated the amygdala in this process of learning (1, 2). Specifically, the lateral nucleus of the amygdala is where the conditioned stimulus and unconditioned stimulus are integrated. Subsequently, exposure to the fear-arousing conditioned stimulus enters the lateral nucleus, where its meaning is encoded. The lateral nucleus in turn activates the central nucleus of the amygdala, which activates brainstem areas involved in controlling specific components of the fear reaction. Connections with the periaqueductal gray region control the freezing or immobility response, connections with the lateral hypothalamus control autonomic responses, and connections with the paraventricular hypothalamus control endocrine responses of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis. Animals and people involuntarily (passively) express these responses to fear-arousing stimuli. However, through a process of active responding, the flow of information can be diverted to the basal nucleus of the amygdala and from there probably to motor circuits of the striatum, which allows the rat to successfully avoid the fear-arousing event.

15 Dorsal vagus Reticular activating system Ventral vagus

16 Polyvagal Theory A Phylogenetic Hierarchy of Responses Strategies Structure Function VVC SNS DMX Head Communication + Limbs Mobilization + Viscera Immobilization + From Stephen Porges, Ph.D.

17 Hopelessness Vagal or sympathetic Mechanisms?

18 We believe that human victims, like our rats, may well die a parasympathetic rather than a sympathico-adrenal death, as Cannon postulated C.P. Richter (1957)

19 Death Feigning Insights into PTSD Mammals depress SNS and the more modern ventral vagal complex in response to severe threat. Especially in an unescapable situation, the older vagal system originating in the dorsal vagal complex may promote behavioral strategies of sudden prolonged immobility or feigned death. Those who survive may have a dramatically changed neural regulation system witout reliable access to the ventral vagal complex and the social engagement system. This physioological vulnerability may define a vulnerability for PSTD. Hoffer, MA ( 1970). Psyschosomatic Medicine, 32: Porges,SW(1998).Psychoneuroendocrinology, 23: Richter,CP ( 1957) Psychosomatic Medicine,19:

20 Phylogeny of the Neural Regulation of the Heart in Vertebrates Group CHM DVC SNS AD/m VVC Jawless X+ (x +) Fish Cartilaginous Fish X+ X- Bony Fish X+ X- X+ Amphibians X+ X- X+ Reptiles X+ X- X+ X+ Mammals X+ X- X+ X+ X- From Stephen Porges, Ph.D.

21 The person who has had a mystical experience knows that all the symbolic expressions of it are faulty. The symbols don t render the experience, they suggest it. If you haven t had the experience how can you know what it is? Joseph Campbell