PTSD – Your Journey to Healing Starts Here

Q & A – What is an emotional flashback?

An emotional flashback is a psychological experience where a person is triggered by a current event or situation that subconsciously reminds them of a traumatic event from their past. During an emotional flashback, the individual may re-experience the intense emotions and sensations associated with the past traumatic event, even though the current situation is not directly related to that event.

Unlike typical flashbacks, which involve vivid memories of past events, emotional flashbacks involve a re-experiencing of the emotions and physical sensations associated with a past traumatic event. This can include feelings of fear, panic, helplessness, or intense sadness, as well as physical symptoms like rapid heartbeat, sweating, or shortness of breath.

Emotional flashbacks are commonly associated with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and complex post-traumatic stress disorder (C-PTSD), which are conditions that can result from experiencing or witnessing traumatic events. Emotional flashbacks can be triggered by a wide range of events or situations, and they can be difficult to manage or control without professional help. Treatment for emotional flashbacks may involve therapy, medication, and other forms of support.

Q & A – what are Internal family systems

Internal Family Systems (IFS) is a type of therapy that is based on the idea that each individual has different “parts” within them, and that these parts can become conflicted or imbalanced, leading to mental health issues such as anxiety, depression, and relationship problems. IFS is a type of therapy that helps individuals understand and work with these internal parts to improve their overall well-being.

In IFS therapy, the therapist helps the individual identify and understand their internal parts and their relationships with one another. These parts may include “protectors” that are designed to keep the individual safe, “managers” that help the individual cope with difficult situations, and “exiles” that carry painful emotions or memories.

The goal of IFS therapy is to help individuals better understand and manage their internal parts in order to reduce internal conflict and improve mental health. This may involve techniques such as mindfulness, guided visualization, and dialogue with internal

©Linda Turner http://parentalalienationpas.com 2023

Q & A – Family systems therapy

Family systems therapy, also known as family therapy, is a type of psychotherapy that focuses on the relationships within a family and how they impact the psychological well-being of each family member. The goal of family systems therapy is to help family members better understand and communicate with each other in order to resolve conflicts and improve relationships.

Family systems therapy is based on the idea that the family is a complex system, and that the behavior of each family member is influenced by the behavior of other family members. In family systems therapy, the therapist works with the entire family, rather than just one individual, to identify and address the underlying issues that are contributing to family conflicts or difficulties.

Family systems therapy may involve a variety of techniques, including:

Structural therapy: Structural therapy involves observing and analyzing the patterns of interaction within a family, and working to modify these patterns in order to improve communication and relationships.
Strategic therapy: Strategic therapy involves developing specific interventions and tasks designed to address the specific issues identified within the family.
Narrative therapy: Narrative therapy involves helping family members reframe their experiences and view them in a more positive and empowering light.
Solution-focused therapy: Solution-focused therapy involves focusing on identifying and implementing solutions to specific problems within the family.

Family systems therapy can be effective in treating a wide range of issues, including communication difficulties, relationship conflicts, behavioral problems in children, and mental health conditions such as depression and anxiety. It’s important to work with a trained family therapist who can help identify the most appropriate approach for your specific needs.

©Linda Turner http://parentalalienationpas.com 2023

Q & A – What is Trauma Typology

Trauma is a complex and multifaceted experience that can take many different forms. Trauma typology is a way of categorizing different types of trauma based on their source, duration, and impact. Here are some common types of trauma:

Acute trauma: This is a single, brief event that causes intense distress, such as a car accident, physical assault, or natural disaster.
Chronic trauma: This is ongoing trauma that occurs repeatedly over a period of time, such as living in a war zone, experiencing ongoing abuse or neglect, or being in a long-term abusive relationship.
Complex trauma: This refers to exposure to multiple or ongoing traumatic events, often beginning in childhood, that have a cumulative impact on an individual’s emotional and psychological wellbeing.
Secondary trauma: This occurs when individuals are exposed to the traumatic experiences of others, such as healthcare providers working with trauma survivors or first responders witnessing traumatic events.
Vicarious trauma: This is a type of secondary trauma that occurs when individuals develop their own trauma-related symptoms as a result of repeatedly hearing about or witnessing traumatic events.
Historical trauma: This refers to the collective trauma experienced by a group of people, such as the intergenerational trauma experienced by Indigenous peoples as a result of colonization and forced assimilation.

It’s important to note that these types of trauma are not mutually exclusive and can overlap in different ways. Understanding the different types of trauma can be helpful in identifying appropriate treatment approaches and supporting individuals in their healing journeys.

©Linda Turner http://parentalalienationpas.com 2023

Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS)

In November 2022, the U.S. nonprofit Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) announced that it had completed a second phase-three trial on MDMA as a treatment for PTSD—a step widely seen as the last hurdle to clear before applying for approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). While the data from that study have yet to be published in a peer-reviewed journal, MAPS says its findings echo the positive results from its first phase-three MDMA trial, published in the journal Nature Medicine in 2021, which found that PTSD patients who took MDMA while also undergoing therapy reported significant improvements in their symptoms 18 weeks after their first dose, compared to those who received a placebo. Rick Doblin, MAPS’ founder and executive director, says his group is preparing to apply for FDA approval based on those data. If all goes well, he says, the drug could be approved as soon as 2024.

www.time.com

Psychedelics May Be Part of U.S. Medicine Sooner Than You Think

It came as a surprise to many when, on Feb. 3, Australian regulators announced that medicines containing the psychedelic substances MDMA and psilocybin can soon be used there to treat post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and treatment-resistant depression, respectively. That decision makes Australia the first country in the world to formally recognize the therapeutic use of psychedelics.

Other countries, including the U.S., may be headed toward a similar outcome, some experts say.

Betrayal Trauma

According to the betrayal trauma theory first proposed by Jennifer Freyd of the University of Oregon, the extent of trauma associated with abuse is often linked to the level of perceived betrayal involved. Due to a fear of confrontation with the abuser and the potential loss of the abuser’s support, abuse victims are far more likely to shut out conscious recall of the abuse, even years later. Various other symptoms associated with betrayal trauma include alexithymia (inability to recognize emotions), depression, anxiety, panic attacks, suicidal behavior, anger, and physical health complaints.

Another common problem linked to the suppression of memories surrounding betrayal trauma is dissociation. Defined by Freyd and her colleagues as, ““the lack of integration of thoughts, feelings, and experiences into the stream of consciousness,” dissociation can range from mild detachment from immediate reality (such as daydreaming) to more severe symptoms including loss of memory, fragmenting of identity, and complex posttraumatic disorder (C-PTSD).

https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/media-spotlight/201406/living-betrayal

Are Hallucinations Related to Betrayal Trauma Exposure?

Betrayal trauma theory proposes that one response to betrayal may be to keep knowledge of the trauma out of conscious awareness. Although this betrayal blindness may be beneficial for survival while the abuse is ongoing because it helps maintain crucial relationships, this distortion of reality can lead to subsequent psychological and behavioral problems. The current article presents three exploratory studies that examine the associations among exposure to betrayal trauma, dissociation, and hallucinations. The first study (N ϭ 397) examined the associations between exposure to medium and high betrayal trauma and dissociation. The second study (N ϭ 199) examined the associations between exposure to low, medium, and high betrayal trauma and hallucinations. The third study (N ϭ 566) examined the associations between medium and high betrayal child and adolescent/adult sexual abuse and hallucinations. Our results suggest that exposure to betrayal trauma increases the likelihood of both dissociation and hallucinations. These findings provide further evidence that the toxic nature of betrayal in traumas has lasting effects on both cognitive and perceptual processes— dissociation and hallucinations— having implications for therapeutic treatment for individuals who have experienced betrayal traumas and related outcomes.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/280776251_Are_Hallucinations_Related_to_Betrayal_Trauma_Exposure_A_Three-Study_Exploration

Why Dreaming May Be Important for Your Health

The research, published in the Journal of Neuroscience, found that people who spent more time in rapid-eye-movement (REM) sleep — the phase when dreaming occurs — had lower fear-related brain activity when they were given mild electric shocks the next day. The findings suggest that getting sufficient REM sleep prior to fearful experiences may make a person less prone to developing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), the authors hypothesize.

https://time.com/4970767/rem-sleep-dreams-health/