All around us traumatic events are taking place, whether we take notice or not. This special two-part series is especially for the people of Ukraine and other people in war-torn areas.

<p>All around us traumatic events are taking place, whether we take notice or not. This special two-part series is especially for the people of Ukraine and other people in war-torn areas.</p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Beautiful Minds Wellness

The Brain People Podcast 2022

Daniel Binus

Powerful Tools for Healthy Grieving

Amanda Anguish

Becoming the New You: The 4 Stages of Change

K'dee Elsen Crews

Good Therapy: How to Maximize Your Therapy Experience

Attachment Styles: The Key to Understanding Your Relationships

Krystin Henley

Telling the Hard Truth in Your Relationships: Betrayal Trauma Part 1

What to Do When Trust Has Been Broken: Betrayal Trauma Part 2

You’re Looking at the Problem - How Screens Affect Our Brains

A New Epidemic: Teen Suicide

CBT for Kids

The Good Side of Guilt

Staying Mentally and Emotionally Strong During the Chaos of COVID-19

The Role of Boundaries in Mental Health

Mariola Porras

Developing Personal Accountability

Unknown Sides of Narcissism

Dealing with Trauma Part 1

Dealing with Trauma Part 2

Resilience in Stressful Times Part 1

Resilience in Stressful Times Part 2

Karen Nicola

Healthy Grieving and Memorial Day

Victim vs. Victor Mentality

Dissociation

Ten Cognitive Distortions

The ABC’s of CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy)

Optimizing Mental Health in Summer

Root Causes of Mental Illness


Welcome to the Brain People podcast, a show where 4 mental health experts team up to bring you practical tools for overcoming mental health challenges. The Brain People don't replace your doctor or therapist, but we will give you some extra tools to help you on your journey. So join us as we fight mental illness, 1 episode at a time. Welcome to the Brain People podcast. I'm your host, Dr.

Daniel Bynas, and I'm joined today by my co-host. Dr. Katie Elson. And I'm a psychiatrist and Dr. Katie Elson is a licensed psychologist.

And today we have a very special episode that we want to bring to you. And we know there's a lot of people around the world really suffering from trauma, suffering from very difficult situations. And we think especially of those of you in Ukraine and our heart really goes out to those of you that are suffering. And so we're gonna be talking today about dealing with trauma, dealing with very high levels of stress. What can we do practically to deal with those things that are outside of our control, those things that we never wanted in our life and still be able to manage in a healthy way.

So we're gonna dive right into it. And Dr. Katie, I'd love to hear from you as far as when you think about acute stress, when you think about trauma, what kind of responses or symptoms are normal for people to actually experience? Yeah. And I like that you said normal because some of the symptoms that I'll mention, when people are experiencing them, they neatly think that it's abnormal, right?

That they're the only 1. But we know that it's very normal. It's our body's way of actually telling ourselves danger. There's something you're experiencing that is traumatic. So 1 of the first criteria is exposure.

There's the actual exposure. And then as a response to that exposure, it's kind of like your body and your brain go into shock. And part of that shock is you start having intrusive symptoms. A lot of the times those intrusive symptoms are unwanted memories, right? Of let's say that person that you saw that was dead on the side of the road or something happening to a loved 1, those memories that are unwanted start popping up into your mind, intrusive thoughts.

Sometimes that's also in the form of nightmares, So dreams, unwanted dreams. So sometimes during the day, sometimes at night, which people really start feeling plagued, right? I'm trying to avoid these things. I'm trying to not think about them, but they're following me throughout the day. And sometimes even through the form of flashbacks, right?

Now, most people, they think about this when it comes to veterans. But this does happen in other types of trauma as well. And that's when it's, you're actually, you feel as if you're reliving the event and it's even hard to be oriented, right, to your current situation. And we'll talk about a skill that can help particularly with that, but whether it's during daytime memories or nighttime or even feeling as if you're reliving, Intrusive symptoms are 1 of the most common symptoms as a result of trauma. Absolutely, and I know a lot of my patients, you mentioned the shock element, and a lot of my patients that have gone through trauma, they often have this sense of being in this fight or flight state.

And I think that often goes along with that, that shock, like this isn't real, this isn't happening. III can't even make sense of this. And then it goes along with, you know, just almost feeling like you're, you're shaking all the time and you have your adrenaline that's elevated and you feel very on edge and that fight or flight mode that we talk about. Yeah, so that's another key criteria, arousal, right? And that fight or flight, which if you think about it in an acute situation is very, very helpful, right?

Very adaptive. You want your body to be on alert. You want it to have that adrenaline, that cortisol to be rushing through your body to prepare you and to do something to address that danger. But it's especially difficult when it's chronic, right? Ongoing stress to your body.

Yeah, and I like what you're saying there because what I'm hearing is that these acute stress symptoms, if you will, from trauma actually are not only normal, but they can be beneficial. The problem is if we don't handle them properly and they just go on and on and on. And then that's where I often see it actually starting to turn into avoidance, which is 1 of the major criteria that we think about when we think about kind of what we call acute stress turning into post-traumatic stress disorder, is now people go from, okay, I had that shock and that hypervigilance and the intrusive thoughts and all of that to now I'm avoiding things that are actually good for me, like maybe avoiding relationships, avoiding family, avoiding my job or other things that I should be doing. And that's where we all wanna be careful that it doesn't go into this really bad long-term permanent problem, right? Yeah, so not just acute stress, PTSD, but then even complex PTSD, which is very, very problematic.

And with avoidance, it's not just avoidance of these good things. A lot of times they avoid any sort of reminders of the trauma, which you might think, well, of course, that's good. Like I don't want to be reminded of the trauma, but our brain needs to process the trauma. And so if we're avoiding it, we're actually causing a block to the ability for our brain to heal. It's almost as if, you know, if I break my bone, we use this analogy in therapy, which sounds horrible, but if you break it and you avoid going to the doctor, what happens?

Well, then it's gonna get worse. The symptoms are gonna get worse and it's not gonna heal properly. Yeah, and sometimes it heals. And so they're like, I'm okay, but it heals improperly. And so you have ongoing pain.

So I asked them what happens if you come to the doctor after a while, they have to rebreak it. And a lot of times that's actually facing the trauma that you've been avoiding for so long, and it is painful. I'm like, I'm not gonna fool you. It is painful. And so now for people that are in the midst of trauma, it's important to not avoid reminders of it because what you're telling yourself is that it's actually to be something to be afraid of.

And so if I hear a noise and I want to avoid anything that reminds me of that noise, you're saying that other things, you're constantly in danger when you're not. It's important to tell yourself, yes, that noise was associated with that trauma at that time. And that was something for my body to be alert from, but that noise is not the same noise, or that person that reminds me of that person is not the same person. And so the avoidance actually increases our fear instead of reduces the fear. Yeah, So it's basically instead of just going with it and really reinforcing that fear saying, okay, yeah, that happened in that context, but it doesn't mean that that noise or that set sorts of sort of situations always going to cause trauma to me.

So, you know, I think the bottom line for you listeners out there is that number 1, it's important to realize that these emotions, this acute stress reaction is normal and it actually can be adaptive, but it's important what we do in this acute stage. It's very important so that it doesn't develop into a longer-term problem. So what are some of the things that for our listeners, Dr. Katie, we can do when we're talking about dealing with this acute stress sort of reaction so it doesn't come, turn into like a chronic post-traumatic stress disorder or some other sort of problem like that. Yeah, so some of the skills we're gonna be focusing on today really emphasizes, looks at the motions, right?

Because what we just described a lot of arousal, a lot of natural reactions and a lot of internal reactions that if we start avoiding those or suppressing those, that's where it can, it can become chronic and complex. So we're going to be talking about how to deal with those emotions. Now, 1 of the first ones I just wanna mention is just identifying it. That's the first step. Because we feel it, we get afraid, and then we ignore it.

But if we start identifying and saying, what is actually my body telling me? Like my body is my friend, right? God created my body in a way as an alarm system, right? So let me listen to it. If I'm feeling it in my chest, my heart's racing.

I don't need to be afraid of that. I need to just tune into it. So just some people call it tracking. Just track your body. And as you're tracking, notice that just because my heart's racing, doesn't mean that I'm not in control of that.

Right? Doesn't mean that we call it shift and stay. You can shift your attention to another part of your body and realize, okay, my heart's racing, but I'm, I'm okay. I'm not in danger. Right?

So just identifying the motions, identifying the sensations, and sometimes it helps to also be more objective in that description. Instead of like, oh my gosh, my heart's racing, I'm gonna die. Just saying my heart is racing, right? My heart rate is going up. Because then it becomes something I can actually manage then the thoughts in addition to that.

I really like that because I think sometimes we tend to catastrophize and we are like, Oh, my heart rate is increasing or, you know, I'm sweating or something like that. And, and then we were like, Oh, this is really bad. But. Why, who is to say that that's so bad. It's just like, okay, it is what it is.

And if we can kind of accept that and learn to be like, okay, it feels kind of weird, but I'm just, I'm noticing it instead of allowing it to just accelerate and get sucked into that and allow it to escalate my anxiety, just be like, hey, you know what? So what my heart rate is a little bit elevated right now. It's not that big of a deal and kind of manage it that way. I've even done that for myself. I'm like, okay, well it is.

And then that tends to call me versus like, like you said, oh no, my heart rate is increasing. This must mean I'm getting anxious and I'm gonna have a panic attack. Then what are you doing? You're setting the stage for a panic attack, right? Exactly, right?

So kind of divorcing, detaching the actual sensation from the meaning we might be giving it, right? And we could use words of even like, oh, my chest is warm, right? Okay, what is my body communicating to me, right? And in some ways, we just, we talk about it in this way of, befriend your body, right? Don't view your body as the enemy, right?

Our brain and our body are created in a way to alert us. What is it communicating to me and listening? And then knowing that after I listen, another skill I can do is I can self-soothe. So if you think about a kid, a kid's maybe running, falls down, scrapes their knee, and they're crying, right? You have kids, so what's something that a kid immediately does?

Well, usually they seek for solace. They seek for comfort from mommy or daddy. Yeah, right. And if you think about for, for a kid, even especially the youngest, they'll go. And how does a mom typically soothe a child?

Oh, usually by hugging and kissing and saying, oh, you know, poor baby, you're going to be okay. Yeah. So if you think about it, the mom is using the different senses. So she's saying something, so hearing, right, you're going to be okay. And she often says it in a nice calm tone of voice and that starts soothing the child.

The kid is starting to feel things, right? But that starts soothing the child. She will often use physical touch, right? So touch is important. Often she'll bring them close.

They'll have the sense of smell from mom's scent, right? And sometimes we'll use the bottle or other things as taste, right? So we can see that mothers naturally use the different 5 senses to soothe the child. Now we're all adults, right? We're just bigger children.

Yeah. We still work in the same way. So what about, so are we, do we need to go to our mommies and daddies or can we do this like in a way you, and if maybe we don't have a mommy or daddy available. Yes. So we can, right.

If we do like, you know, have them embrace you, have them, you know, be close to you. That sense of connection is important, but also you can use the same principle for yourself of using the 5 senses in order to soothe yourself in a moment of distress. So we've talked about on episodes before the 54321 exercise, 5 things that you can see, 4 things that you can touch, 3 things you can hear, 2 things that you can smell and 1 thing that you can taste. And that helps you ground yourself in the moment where your emotions are being kind of escalated in that moment, but you can focus on your senses. Now, what this sometimes can be particularly difficult if you think about we're talking to those who are in Ukraine or surrounding regions, if they're looking around or they're hearing things, right?

It's hard to do grounding exercise if you're in the midst of the trauma. And so that's when we recommend what we call resourcing. Resourcing is like a mini mental vacation where you can actually use the 5 senses by imagining a place that brings you peace, calm, and joy. So 1 of the things I know for my clients, it's often thinking about heaven, right? What do I see?

What do I smell? Going through all the 5 senses, and that really intensifies the experience for them than if you're just like, okay, imagine heaven. Right, right. No, I love that. And I was even thinking, you know, as you're talking, yes, heaven, but you know, that could be 1 thing or even imagining like, oh, if God was here with me right now and he is, but if Jesus was here with me, what would that feel like if he was holding me?

What would he say to me right now? And so I think the imagination, like you said, can be extremely powerful. And for some people, even if they are in the midst of it, if you can get a break and go out into nature, right? I mean, for me, that's 1 of the best grounding places to go. And I know studies show that that can tremendously help stress and help with grounding.

So I hope for our listeners that this has helped you get some practical tools. And Dr. Katie, I don't know if there was anything else you wanted to add? Always. But we'll have some more episodes definitely on this.

Yes, we're definitely gonna share some more good information on dealing with trauma. But to recap, I really wanna encourage our listeners that yes, it is normal to have a lot of these feelings and the stress reaction is normal. And that's not the problem. The problem is if we don't deal with it appropriately. So there are really important things that we can do.

We can notice what is happening in our bodies. We can befriend our bodies and say, hey, this isn't bad. This is normal part of the stress response. And it doesn't mean that my emotions and my feelings are going to control me for the rest of my life. It just, you know, it is what it is right now.

And I accept where that is. And then secondly, you know, we, we can practice those self-soothing and grounding techniques where we get present in the moment. And then we can use our imagination in a wonderful way to connect with a God that wants to take care of us and to soothe us and to help us. So thank you for being with us, for joining us, and we are praying for you and may God bless you. Thanks for listening.

To hear more episodes, find us on social media, or support us financially, visit thebrainpeoplepodcast.com.

Series

The Brain People Podcast 2022

Dealing with Trauma Part 1

Description

Parent Series

Sponsor

Recorded

Other Teachings in Series

Powerful Tools for Healthy Grieving

27m

Becoming the New You: The 4 Stages of Change

23m

Good Therapy: How to Maximize Your Therapy Experience

22m

Attachment Styles: The Key to Understanding Your Relationships

27m

Telling the Hard Truth in Your Relationships: Betrayal Trauma Part 1

30m

What to Do When Trust Has Been Broken: Betrayal Trauma Part 2

28m

You’re Looking at the Problem - How Screens Affect Our Brains

29m

A New Epidemic: Teen Suicide

25m

CBT for Kids

23m

The Good Side of Guilt

24m

Staying Mentally and Emotionally Strong During the Chaos of COVID-19

34m

The Role of Boundaries in Mental Health

39m

Developing Personal Accountability

23m

Unknown Sides of Narcissism

29m

Dealing with Trauma Part 1

16m

Dealing with Trauma Part 2

15m

Resilience in Stressful Times Part 1

17m

Resilience in Stressful Times Part 2

22m

Healthy Grieving and Memorial Day

29m

Victim vs. Victor Mentality

29m

Dissociation

32m

Ten Cognitive Distortions

38m

The ABC’s of CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy)

34m

Optimizing Mental Health in Summer

28m

Root Causes of Mental Illness

34m

Sound Doctrine