Do you have PTSD? Find Unique Treatment
Brain Harmony treats PTSD in anyone who has developed trauma from any number of instances, including war & conflict, serious accidents, physical or sexual assault, childhood or domestic abuse, serious health issues, childbirth or loss experiences, death of loved ones, and more. The U.S. Senate officially recognized trauma and PTSD by creating PTSD Day every year on June 27th. We are so grateful that this opens up the opportunity to acknowledge the sacrifices of our service members of the military and first responders, as well as those who have experienced other traumatic events, and address this burdensome issue that affects so many, regardless of the source.
Before we continue, click the image below to hear how Richard was feeling before coming to Brain Harmony. His PTSD, anger, TBI and anxiety was taking over his life.
And it’s not just veterans. At Brain Harmony, we’ve been treating complex trauma and PTSD in both children and adults for many years. There are so many types, levels, and complexities. Frequently PTSD is often accompanied by depression, substance abuse, or one or more other anxiety disorders. When you are suffering, it is valid, you are important but most importantly, you can break the trauma cycle.
Because the causes and symptoms of PTSD are so unique to every person, Brain Harmony offers treatment for PTSD in a unique way, working with the neuroplasticity of the brain, the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS), and specializing it to each individual.
Ours is very different than traditional methods like talk therapy, cognitive therapy, or medication, as those ultimately don’t change the response of the brain and nervous system. Additionally, medication can also cause varying side effects that sometimes become their own issues, sometimes even exacerbating the pain, without addressing the root causes.
Before we go into the details of what makes our Brain Harmony approach so unique, let’s take a look at what PTSD is, how it can affect our lives, and the different ways the body is affected, mentally and physically.
What is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)?
PTSD can develop after exposure to a traumatic event, whether it be a one-time event, or lasting over many years, and can be shocking, scary, life-threatening, and/or dangerous.
Events that may lead to PTSD include, but are not limited to: war, combat, crime, violent personal assaults, natural or human-caused disasters, and other forms of abuse - emotional, verbal, physical or otherwise. PTSD can also be caused by high-stress events like death of a loved one, or a horrible car accident. For first responders and our military, their jobs expose them to chronic trauma by careging for others during their trauma. Unfortunately, exposure to events like these is common, and it’s very natural to feel the effects of it long afterward. (*)
About one half of all U.S. adults will experience at least one traumatic event in their lives and many will suffer the after-effects long after that event has happened. People who experience PTSD may have consistent, frightening memories of the event(s), triggers from non-related events that lead back to the event itself, sleep issues, isolation, or may be easily startled.
And in its most severe forms, PTSD can significantly impair a person's ability to simply function: at work, at home, and socially.
How Do I Know I Have PTSD?
Research says that to be diagnosed with PTSD, an adult must have all of the following for at least 1 month:
• At least one re-experiencing symptom
• At least one avoidance symptom
• At least two arousal and reactivity symptoms
• At least two cognition and mood symptoms
However, just because you haven’t been diagnosed, or if you don’t check off the entire list, you are still able to resolve the dysregulation caused by trauma. If you are experiencing fear or triggering thoughts/actions on a regular basis, you are most likely experiencing the effects of trauma in your life.
Re-experiencing symptoms through triggers can include:
• Flashbacks
• Bad dreams
• Frightening thoughts
Reliving the trauma over and over, including physical symptoms like a racing heart or sweating, establishes a dysfunctional negative loop that can be difficult to break. For some, it can start from the person’s own thoughts and feelings, or through words, smells, objects, or situations.
Consistent arousal and reactivity symptoms include:
• Being easily startled
• Feeling tense, “on edge,” or hypervigilance
• Having difficulty sleeping
• Having angry outbursts
Here, arousal symptoms are usually constant. These symptoms can make the person feel stressed and angry. They may make it hard to do daily tasks, such as sleeping, eating, or concentrating.
Cognition and mood symptoms include:
• Distortion of time and memories of the event rouble remembering key features of the traumatic event
• Negative thoughts about oneself or the world
• Distorted feelings like guilt or blame
• Loss of interest in enjoyable activities
Cognition and mood symptoms can begin or worsen after the traumatic event but are not due to injury or substance use. These symptoms can make the person feel alienated or detached from friends or family members.
Some people with PTSD don’t show any symptoms for weeks or months. (*)
Do children react differently than adults?
Children and teens can have extreme reactions to trauma, but some of their symptoms may not be the same as adults. Symptoms sometimes seen in very young children (less than 6 years old); these symptoms can include:
• Wetting the bed after having learned to use the toilet
• Forgetting how to communicate your thoughts and feelings
• Acting out the scary event during playtime
• Being unusually clingy with a parent or other adult
Older children and teens are more likely to show symptoms similar to those seen in adults. They may also develop disruptive, disrespectful, or destructive behaviors. Older children and teens may feel guilty for not preventing injury or deaths. They may also have thoughts or actions of revenge. (*)
Where Do These Behaviors Come From?
The Autonomic Nervous System (ANS)
Your autonomic nervous system (ANS) is the branch of your nervous system that's responsible for all the processes that are working just below your conscious awareness. For instance, when you eat a meal, you don't have to willfully think about how your body will digest and absorb it or continually focus on taking in oxygen through your lungs all day. These are processes that happen without any conscious input from you, and instead are carried out through the direction of your ANS.
We have recently begun to understand the ANS in an expanded view through the use of the Polyvagal theory, pioneered by Dr Steven Porges. “The autonomic nervous system supports health, growth, and restoration. When the person is under perceived threat, defense mechanisms can promote mobilization required for a fight or flight response or even shut down manifested as depressed sympathetic activation and dorsal vagal influences.
Lets look at these 3 primary “Circuits” of the Ployvagal theory which can help us understand not only how they work together but then how we can influence our ANS responses by blending several circuits
Ventral Vagal
When you feel safe and calm, your ANS supports social engagement and suppresses the fight fight freeze or fawn responses of the dorsal vagal branch. In ventral vagal, your heart rate will slow, breathing becomes deep and relaxed, digestion is engaged, and your sexual response is more accessible.
Sympathetic Mode
When you sense a threat in your environment, your sympathetic mode is engaged. Your body responds by enhancing your heart rate, and breathing, digestive functions, and sexual arousal take the back burner, and you enter what is known as the "fight or flight” response. An important feature of this system through he Polyvagal lense is that this is not an all or nothing switch from calm to fight but instead a small amount of engagement of the sympathetic allows us to mobilize for safe but rough and trouble type of play. This behavior is blending ventral vagal responses with a slight sympathetic contribution.
Dorsal Vagal Activation
Dorsal vagal activation is triggered when the perceived threat moves from “elevated to dangerous" to potentially life-threatening. This defense system creates a shift in your ANS that largely influences organs below your diaphragm. It drops your metabolic rate, immobilizes your body, and shifts you into a state of numbness, shutdown, and collapse. It can be considered the “rip chord,” the exit ramp builds over time through evolution to help us survive the worst of the worst events.
Fight, Flight, Freeze, Or Fawn
With the incorporation of dorsal vagal mode, we can now look at our defense system with more insight. The four evolutionary states brought on by stress or danger include:
Fight
The "fight" response is controlled by the sympathetic nervous system. This is in line with the traditionally understood adaptation for a human to kick their survival instincts into high-gear in the face of danger.
In the fight response, your heart rate will increase, breathing will become heavier, and your blood will move from your internal organs to your limbs so you can fight off your predator and protect yourself. Emotionally, when you're in fight mode, you can be angry, irritated, and rageful. Most can easily identify with this state.
Flight
In the "flight" response, your body will shift into sympathetic mode much the same as "fight." The major difference here is that instead of anger being your driving emotion, fear will take the reins along with worry, anxiety, and sometimes even terror. In flight, you aren't interested in fighting off the danger; you want to avoid and flee the scene.
Freeze (Dorsal vagal activation)
The freeze response is a hybrid between sympathetic mode and dorsal vagal activation. Here, your body is activated by both sympathetic and dorsal vagal mode. While fear is still a driving emotion, the desire to run or fight is overshadowed by a sense of immobilization coming from dorsal vagal activation. It can be somewhat confusing when you see someone in freeze mode because their lack of outward aggression or anxiety may lead you to believe that they are neutral, when in fact, they are simply stunned and numb. Survivors of sexual assault can feel a sense of validation while trying to understand why they did not fight harder, or yell louder for help with the understanding on the hold dorsal cavitation can have on your physical body, preventing you from defedning yourself. This in an important perspective that can open the door to healing from the traumatic event by understanding the strong neurological hold a freeze response can have during a traumatic event.
Fawn (Full dorsal vagal shutdown)
In fawn mode, you are immediately acting to try to avoid any conflict. When the fawn response is activated, you have exited the sympathetic mode and entered complete dorsal vagal shutdown. You are no longer looking for ways to survive (fight or flight) and instead enter a state of physical and emotional collapse.
Unfortunately, the “please and appease” part of ourselves sometimes can keep us in the trauma bond of a family or relationship, despite these extreme and dangerous reactions. Which again leads us to remind you that if you can, we ask you to find a way out of your trauma situations if you are still in them, because this state can persist as long as we are in the presence of those threats. However, if you are not able to leave, or have persistent triggers even when you are not in their presence, you can still build neurological resiliency to shift out of these states with conscious control.
So how do we work with the ANS to consciously push the break on the sympathetic response? More about our Brain Harmony specialized treatments:
We use a Five-Step Plan of Care – listed below - with a therapist who is attuned to your specific combination of conditions.
1. Vagal Regulation
2. Neurological Organization
3. Reflex Integration
4. Therapeutic Activities
5. Self-Care.
While numbers 3-5 are gentle ways you will be incorporating very gentle body movement and care into your plan, 1 & 2 are the steps we’re going to focus on here.
Vagal Regulation is crucial. By reducing stress and calming the nervous system, we’re preparing the brain for deep and lasting change. Vagal regulation is the first step to recovering from trauma. Over decades of clinical experience, we have refined our protocols to include the most powerful and easy-to-use interventions to establish safety within th enervous system with he use of sound, vibration and alpha waves. We don’t rely on a “one-intervention-fits-all” approach. Instead, your occupational therapist will customize the interventions to include multiple modalities and approaches.
Neurological organization uses one or a combination of proven tools to improve brain function. It is literally the process of building the highway of neural connections in the brain and nervous system that can regulate a balanced response from the ANS. The ability for the brain to change based upon the input that it is given is due to the Neuroplasticity of the brain. At Brain Harmony, this ability to model and change the ANS and its response, its the beacon of light and hope that gives us the confidence to say, “Yes, we can reregulate your nervous systems response so that you can heal from the past trauma, and drop the hold it has on your body, mind and quality fo life.”
What are some of these tools and protocols, and can I just buy them myself?
Due to the layers of complexities of each person, Brain Harmony pairs you with a trauma informed therapist who guides you through the intricacies of ANS regulation with the application of several modalities and interventions based upon the needs of your nervous system. Let’s look at several Neuroplasticity tools that we use.
ALPHA-STIM
Alpha-Stim is an FDA-cleared and clinically-proven handheld device created to treat PTSD in combat veterans. This simple but powerful device fits in the palm of your hand and uses cranial electrical stimulation through two electrodes that clip onto your earlobes, restoring balance to your brainwaves to treat anxiety, insomnia and depression, fast. Treatments are painless, easy, and take just 20-40 minutes each day at home.
Since Alpha-Stim is not a drug, there is no risk of addiction or lasting side effects. It is safe for use on people of all ages, from teens to the elderly. When you begin using Alpha-Stim, there is not a risk of withdrawal if you choose to stop. Results with Alpha-Stim are cumulative: the more you use it, the better you’ll feel, and because you are training your brain to produce the Alpha waves themselves, you eventually will need it LESS often. Some people choose to continue with daily treatments, and others find that they can use Alpha-Stim as needed. It’s your choice.
Integrated Listening System (iLs) Focus Unit
The iLs Focus unit is known as the first neuroplastic tool that made more changes in a 60-min session than Carol, founder of Brain Harmony and seasoned therapist, had seen for those in therapy for months and even years. The device is portable and comes with headphones and pre recorded music that uses certain frequencies that target specific parts of the brain. The iLs Focus unit uses vibration as an accelerant to the rewiring process. Used 3-4 days a week for 30-60 minutes at a time. Not only is it calming and easy to add into your regular routine, the level of vibration and sound is adjusted with your therapist weekly or bi-weekly over the phone, so you have a specialist to connect you to the greatest outcomes with the application of the device.
Whereas talk therapy can go on indefinitely, this protocol only needs to last 4-10 months to make a permanent difference in the way your brain works and reacts to things that used to be triggers. By calming the physiological and emotional state, the door is open for improved communication and more successful therapy, creating deep and lasting change in the brain. This is how we re-wire out of the dysfunctional trauma loop. For many, mediation and yoga can hep their recovery from trauma but need more, something stronger than the negative loop, which is why this tool is our favorite ally in healing unresolved trauma.
Safe and Sound Protocol by Dr. Porges
Understanding trauma through the Polyvagal lens is very exciting to our clients and therapists as we have hope that we can move out of our dysfunctional ANS states that are limiting growth and potential. Dr. Porges created his own listening program specifically designed for vagal regulation by using sound fluencies to reach the vagus nerve. Filtered and gated music delivered through headphones to the vagus nerve is how we provide neurological safety to the body, not by talking to someone and try to convince them they are no longe ruin threat but by soothing the nervous system with sound through the anatomical channels of the ANS system.
Many are stuck in the fight flight freeze or fold response chronically which suppresses our ability to be social and intimate. But beucase of the Polyvagal theory and the SSP as the intervention to regulate the vagus nerve, you can have real hope that you can change your nervous systems response and no longer be a victim to your emotional and physical responses to threats.
A signature aspect of the SSP is awakening the portal of social engagement, so that you can better connect your family and friends. The importance of social engagement, which is crucial for connection and thus safety, calm and non-isolation, can be found here.
In addition to Treatment: How can I help myself?
In addition to working with our Brain Harmony therapists and tools, we recommend vagal regulating activities that you can emphasize as part of your daily self care routine ( link to vagal regulation blog here).
Many find the science of connecting to ventral vagal for improved sleep and regulation, in the Dreampad. These products use a unique technology which send soothing sounds through gentle vibrations to your body, triggering a natural calming response. You can get a Dreampad with a discount here.
To empower you to embrace hope in healing from trauma, check out our many Success Stories and Videos, or see Kirk and Nancy’s success stories below.
We have helped thousands of individuals, on their own and within their family unit. If you would like to learn more about how Brain Harmony balances the nervous system and uses unique tools and protocols for neurological reorganization, schedule a Free Consultation today.
To spread hope in healing from trauma, please pass this along to Veterans and First Responders' friends and family as we have a special offer for them in July that both honors them and connects them to life beyond trauma.
Kirks’ Brain Harmony Story
Growing up with complex trauma, Kirk had extreme difficulties with communication, anxiety, and managing everyday tasks. After discovering Brain Harmony’s protocols, Kirk was excited about the prospect of a program that has actually helped those who were nonverbal their whole lives, begin to speak. He began the Safe and Sound Protocol and soon realized it would allow him to unlock the life he had always imagined for himself.
“Growing up with complex trauma is just beyond any ability to communicate, and especially in the past few months, I’m comfortable enough with myself that I don’t mind another person seeing whatever happens to come up in the course of a conversation, and that would have almost been science fiction to me a couple of years ago.”
Nancy's Brain Harmony Success Story
Nancy had work-induced trauma stemming from her work as a nurse in an intensive care unit during the pandemic. She was struggling with anxiety, brain fog, and depression and was trying to find a non-pharmaceutical route. Nancy found that her brain fog and anxiety were getting in the way of work. She couldn't process her thoughts or get them down on paper, word retrieval was an issue, and she experienced memory loss. On top of it all, she felt depressed and disengaged with life.
Nancy needed help, and she felt that her meds weren't working, so she sought out another type of treatment and found Brain Harmony. After beginning the program, she noticed right away that her anxiety diminished using the Safe and Sound Protocol and Alpha-Stim. She then gradually felt the depression and brain fog begin to lift. She went from not being able to organize her thoughts to fully functioning at work and in life. Brain Harmony not only helped to heal her anxiety, but it lifted her brain fog, diminished her depression, and improved her sleep.
