Healing Trauma & How the Body Keeps the Score | Dr Bessel van der Kolk

Introduction

The introduction provides an overview of the event and introduces the speakers.

• The event is a collaboration between How To Academy and Mind Health 360.

• Dr. Bessel van der Kolk and Benjamin Fry will discuss trauma, its impact on mental health, and how to heal from its effects.

Treating Mental Illness Holistically

Dr. Bessel van der Kolk discusses the importance of treating all factors that impact mental health.

• Traumatic stress affects all areas that impact mental health, including psycho-spiritual, biochemical, and lifestyle factors.

• Healing from mental illness requires treating all these factors holistically.

Dr. Bessel van der Kolk's Expertise

The speaker's background and expertise are introduced.

• Dr. Bessel van der Kolk is one of the world's leading experts on traumatic stress.

• He founded the Trauma Research Foundation and has authored several books on trauma treatment.

• His book "The Body Keeps the Score" has been a New York Times bestseller for over 111 weeks.

Benjamin Fry's Background

Benjamin Fry's background is introduced.

• Benjamin Fry is an accredited psychotherapist, author, and entrepreneur.

• He founded Neural Solutions Chiron Clinics and Get Stable.

• His most recent book "The Invisible Line" explores the detrimental effects of a dysregulated nervous system on mental health.

Understanding Traumatic Stress

The speakers clarify what traumatic stress is compared to psychological stress.

• Traumatic stress differs from psychological stress experienced in everyday life.

• Understanding this difference is crucial in addressing traumatic stress effectively.

Introducing Dr. Bessel van der Kolk

Benjamin Fry introduces Dr. Bessel van der Kolk and shares his personal experience with the speaker's work.

• Benjamin Fry first heard of Dr. Bessel van der Kolk while in treatment for trauma.

• He subsequently got to know the speaker and his work more closely.

• Dr. Bessel van der Kolk has helped Fry set up a clinic in the UK based on his American model.

Telling a New Story

Benjamin Fry discusses how he helps patients understand their mental health issues by reframing their experiences.

• Patients often come with prior mental health diagnoses that may not accurately reflect their experiences.

• Reframing their experiences can help them understand what is really going on.

• Fry uses an analogy of a man running from an invisible lion to illustrate this point.

The Importance of Context

The speakers discuss the importance of understanding context when it comes to mental health issues.

• Understanding context is crucial in determining whether someone has a mental health problem or not.

• Trauma can cause people to run from an invisible lion, but this behavior is not indicative of a mental health problem without proper context.

• People are all running from some invisible lion to varying degrees, and understanding this can help us better address mental health issues.

The Impact of Trauma on Brain Development

In this section, the speaker discusses how trauma can impact brain development and the ability to regulate oneself.

Brain Development and Regulation

• The brain helps us survive by learning how to manage our lives, eat at the right moment, and collaborate with others.

• People learn to regulate themselves through each other. If there's nobody there for you during a traumatic event, it can affect your growth and development.

• The limbic system in the middle of our brain is a map of the brain that is predictive. It learns what actions have certain consequences based on what we've learned.

Effects of Trauma on Personality and Relationships

• When someone experiences trauma, their brain starts getting ready for something terrible to happen. They start spending energy trying to control themselves before they become defensive or shut down.

• This excessive reaction or shutting down can lead to negative self-image and social isolation as people react differently around them.

• Trauma can cause information corruption where expectations take over from reality. This affects relationships because third parties see reactions that are not appropriate for reality leading to difficulty in having relationships.

• Degradation of relationships reinforces the original problem which is that we're not really getting along well with our reality.

Trauma and the Brain

In this section, the speaker discusses how trauma affects the brain and its perception of time.

The Impact of Trauma on the Brain

• Trauma can cause individuals to avoid people, isolate themselves, and turn to drinking.

• Overcoming trauma involves getting a sense of time back on track and focusing on the present moment.

• When traumatized, individuals may struggle to trust themselves or those around them due to their brain's perception of threat.

• The prefrontal cortex is responsible for cognitive thinking but only makes up a small portion of the brain. The majority is in charge of controlling bodily functions.

The Role of the Primitive Brain

• The primitive brain controls basic bodily functions such as breathing, eating, sleeping, and going to the bathroom.

• Trauma can create automatic reactions that come from a map created in the back of our brains as we grow up.

• These automatic reactions can be triggered by certain stimuli even if they are not rational.

Limbic Hijack

• Automatic reactions caused by trauma are sometimes referred to as limbic hijacks.

• These reactions go deeper than just the limbic system; they also involve arousal in the reptilian brainstem.

Mirror Neurons

• Our nervous systems communicate with each other through mirror neurons.

The Power of the Primitive Brain

In this section, Dr. Gabor Maté discusses how the primitive part of our brain gets activated and can cause us to hate others. He explains that we are not just one person but have a lot of activity going on in the posterior part of our brain which is hardwired into the autonomic nervous system.

The Role of the Survival Brain

• The posterior part of our brain is responsible for survival and can override our frontal lobe.

• Signals from the body go to and come from the back of our brain without executive control.

• This survival brain can stimulate a reaction in someone else's posterior brain when trying to relate to them.

Helping the Body Feel Safe

• When we help our body feel safe, it helps calm down our mind as well.

• Bishop Tutu helped people feel calm during a time when South Africa was about to explode by singing, dancing, moving, and praying with them.

• People around the world have traditions in response to terrible events such as moving, singing, and holding each other. However, psychotherapy has never really bought into that.

Conclusion

In this section, Dr. Gabor Maté concludes his discussion on how the primitive part of our brain affects us and how helping our body feel safe can help calm down our mind.

Final Thoughts

• Psychotherapy should consider incorporating physical movements and rhythms to help people feel safe.

• Helping people feel safe physically can help calm down their mind and reduce trauma.