The Body Keeps the Score

[GiaK]

excellent collection of notes from a friend of mine attending a wonderful conference.
 
Even when trauma is long past, it replays itself in the body through pain, anxiety, depression, illness, digestive issues, and so on. We must help the client learn to tolerate the physiological trauma symptoms while remaining in their bodies – since nearly all PTSD is dissociative in some way...
 
read more:
http://wp.me/p5nnb-aaJ

[GiaK]

Part 2 is now up as well:

 

The Body Keeps the Score (Part Two) — how trauma changes us

http://wp.me/p5nnb-ab7

[mattinsmom]

Thanks for posting this!

[mammaP]

Very enlightening, thanks Gia. 

[Rhiannon]

I love love lurve Bessel Van der Kolk.

[btdt]

For me Prozac use = trauma to my mind + body further use and withdrawal has x that trauma.

[btdt]

"However, the medial prefrontal cortex (and to a lesser extent, the posterior cingulate), which is where we process inner experience or interoception has a direct link to the amygdala and limbic system. This is the only system through which we can access and change our emotional self. This is the power of mindfulness practice, it’s centered in the MPC. Dan Siegel is the current expert in this realm"

http://beyondmeds.com/2013/12/17/the-body-keeps-the-score-part-two-how-trauma-changes-us/

 

Also this part of the brain can be severly affected by ssri/snri use.

Tardive Dyskinesia/Dystonia, Parkinsonism & Akathisia

SSRI & SSNRI antidepressants induced side-effects (Iatrogenic Extrapyramidal Symptoms) are
recognized to be similar to Neuroleptic (anti-psychotic) induced side-effects. These side-effects are known as Tardive Dyskinesia/Dystonia (severe body movement disorder, mostly permanent), Parkinsonism(a sign of future Parkinson's disease) and Akathisia (a Neurological driven severe mania/agitation that can lead to suicidality, suicide attempts, self-harm & suicide). It is well documented in the medical literature that these neuroleptic induced side-effects refer to damage at dopaminergic neurons in the "motor system" of the
"Basal Ganglia", a structure deep in the "Limbic System" of the brain. 1, 2, 3, 4,http://www.emedicine.com/EMERG/topic338.htm (scroll down)

http://www.antidepressantsfacts.com/toxicity-brain-damage.htm

 

There have been reports I have read stating that some people who took ssri/snri drugs have claim abuse and later retracted and said the drugs caused their memories to dysfunction.  I know this is a long and ongoing debate but since this article is in part on trauma and some of the references were to childhood trauma and abuse I thought it might fit here.  

I know for a fact my memory is not great and at times seems to fail me more than other times. 

 

So since false memories have been associated with these drugs a bit about how this actually happens in other brain disorders that have been studied. 

"It was found that participants with frontal lobe damage consistently produced a greater number of confabulations than the controls. 3 of the patients with frontal lobe damage even produced spontaneous false memories frequently while not being tested. In general, the greater the extent of the damage, the more confabulations were produced, and the false memories were most often produced in response to questions testing personal episodic memory and orientation in time. By contrast, none of the patients with damage to other lobes of the brain produced significantly more false memories than the healthy controls.

Another pattern emerged when the test results were grouped according to the site of the lesion: those with damage to the orbital, medial or left lateral regions of the frontal lobes produced significantly more confabulations of personal episodic memory, whereas those with damage to the orbital, medial or right lateral frontal lobes produced more confabulations of orientation in time.

When the data were grouped according to the total number of confabulations, it was found that all the patients who produced significantly more false memories than controls had damage in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, either in the orbital region of in the anterior cingulate gyrus. These “high confabulators” could be distinguished from “low confabulators” on the basis of 6 memory tests and 2 measures of executive functioning.

Thus, confabulation is strongly associated with damage to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex. Memory impairments seem to be necessary for the production of false memories, but executive function is less important. However, although the study localizes confabulation to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, further work will be needed to determine whether it occurs as a result of impairments in memory or executive function, or both. 

If confabulation occurs following damage to the ventromedial cortex, what functions might this part of the brain be involved in? Some researchers have suggested that it normally suppresses memories that are not relevant to the current situation, while others argue that it acts as a monitoring system which normally rejects false memories that don’t “feel right”."

http://scienceblogs.com/neurophilosophy/2008/06/13/anatomy-of-a-false-memory/

I or somebody who is interested could look up how ssri/snri drugs affect this particular bit of the brain that is the source of false memory.  I am sure these drugs affect memory.  

[Webhead21]

This topic includes links to some notes about this:

 

 

 

Trauma is a fact of life. Veterans and their families deal with the painful aftermath of combat; one in five Americans has been molested; one in four grew up with alcoholics; one in three couples have engaged in physical violence. Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, one of the world’s foremost experts on trauma, has spent over three decades working with survivors. In The Body Keeps the Score, he uses recent scientific advances to show how trauma literally reshapes both body and brain, compromising sufferers’ capacities for pleasure, engagement, self-control, and trust. He explores innovative treatments—from neurofeedback and meditation to sports, drama, and yoga—that offer new paths to recovery by activating the brain’s natural neuroplasticity. Based on Dr. van der Kolk’s own research and that of other leading specialists, The Body Keeps the Score exposes the tremendous power of our relationships both to hurt and to heal—and offers new hope for reclaiming lives.

 

 

 

Edited August 21, 2018 by ChessieCat
Added link