These somatically based therapies for chronic illness are designed to work with the nervous system and are not about will power, “positive thinking,” managing an illness, or healing through life style changes and behavior changes. Many of these things can help, but for many with chronic disease they are insufficient, ineffective or even harmful (updated October 2020).
In this post, you’ll learn a little about the science, benefits of these approaches, and why these therapies include the body and not only the mind.
The subsequent sections will give you lists of some of these approaches and therapies for chronic illness, links to databases to help you find a therapist in your area and ways of working on your own that include videos and online courses.
First are general approaches that offer a good place to start, including when you have no known history of trauma (adversities of all kinds can trigger the cell danger response and nervous system perceptions of threat, including infections, a difficult birth, and minor accidents etc).
The final sections give you specific approaches for working with specific types of trauma such as attachment trauma, multigenerational or childhood trauma, abuse and more.
You can download this entire post and its companion post that presents the best books for working with and understanding trauma, including books for working on your own.
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The forms will appear momentarily. The Post PDF is for this blog post on therapies and the companion post on books I recommend for different categories of adversity. The List is a short summary of these resources.
Introduction to Therapies for Chronic Illness
Trauma and subtle perceptions of threat influence risk for chronic illness and other problems because life experiences interact with our genes to shape long-term health. Therapies for chronic illness and other symptoms work with brain plasticity and these changes in how our genes express themselves can sometimes be reversed (1)Yehuda, R., et al. (2013). “Epigenetic Biomarkers as Predictors and Correlates of Symptom Improvement Following Psychotherapy in Combat Veterans with PTSD.” Front Psychiatry 4: 118.
The approaches support a nervous system that operates from subtle perceptions of threat and are helpful whether or not you have a known history of trauma.
Even though practitioners of somatic approaches are usually psychotherapists, these approaches are specialized ways of working and incorporate a different foundation of training, understanding and skills than regular psychotherapies.
Therapies listed here are somatically based approaches for healing the cell danger response and its effects, which drive autoimmune and over a 100 other chronic diseases (2)Naviaux, R. K. (2014). “Metabolic features of the cell danger response.” Mitochondrion 16: 7-17 (3)Naviaux, R. K., et al. (2016). “Metabolic features of chronic fatigue syndrome.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.
They are about addressing nervous system states of fight, flight, freeze and physiological processes linked to perceptions of threat.
And they are powerful new tools for addressing symptoms of chronic illness while emphasizing these diseases are neither psychological nor “all in your head.”
Benefits
The approaches introduced here can be used in combination with other tools (medical treatment, medication, complementary and alternative health care, diet, mindfulness, meditation, vagal stimulation etc).
They can help you make sense of why one thing works and another does not, why sometimes an approach works for a while and later does not and more.
These therapies for chronic illness can also make other modalities more effective.
And they support healing when nothing else works.
This page gives you a sense of which approaches might be a good fit for you, offer tips on how to find and choose a therapist, and give you insights to help you find other approaches that appeal to you even if they aren’t listed here.
These somatic therapies for chronic illness support healing trauma can
- repair and resolve nervous system survival patterns that change our physiology and increase risk for chronic disease
- reverse epigenetic changes (4)Yehuda, R., et al. (2013). “Epigenetic Biomarkers as Predictors and Correlates of Symptom Improvement Following Psychotherapy in Combat Veterans with PTSD.” Front Psychiatry 4: 118
- cure asthma (5)Madrid, A. (2005). “Helping children with asthma by repairing maternal-infant bonding problems.” American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis 48(3-4): 199-211 and improve (6)Nakazawa, D. J. (2015). Childhood Disrupted: How Your Biography Becomes Your Biology, and How You Can Heal. New York City, Atria Books or cure (7)Wolynn, M. (2016). It Didn’t Start With You: How Inherited Family Trauma Shapes Who We Are and How to End the Cycle, Penguin, (8)Doidge, N. (2015). The Brain’s Way of Healing: Remarkable Discoveries and Recoveries from the Frontiers of Neuroplasticity Viking Adult autoimmune disease, at least for some people, some of the time.
You can read how these approaches are helping make sense of my own chronic illness and gradually recover here. Learn more about the different types of trauma listed below and more in the Essential Guide to Chronic Illness, Trauma, and the Nervous System. And find books for chronic illness recovery, which was once part of this post.
Note that the therapies listed below are not only relevant to chronic illness but also for mental health conditions, chronic pain, addictions and other symptoms because trauma is a risk factor for all of these symptoms.
Exercises for Working on Your Own
This set of exercises by colleague and craniosacral therapist Andrew Cook in the U.K. support our nervous system’s ability to shift gears and orient to a sense of safety, which is part of how we begin to heal the effects of trauma. A similar set of exercises is taught by Steve Hoskinson of Organic Intelligence (see online courses towards the bottom of this post).
These exercises also support the branch of our autonomic nervous system that is able to inhibit fight, flight and freeze (the social nervous system is introduced in this blog post). You can practice versions of these exercises every day (and multiple times a day) as a tool in support of healing. They can be combined with anything else you do and can take just moments once you are familiar with them. They seem simple but are remarkably and deceptively powerful.
You can download Andrew’s 16 page PDF directly from his website. It’s called Positive Body Awareness. The first section explains how trauma and difficult experiences can change where our attention tends to go. This is helpful to understand. The exercises are in the second half of his paper.
Include the Body
Symptoms represent our body’s intelligent attempts to maximize our survival, so this work is not simply about getting rid of symptoms. Rather, it’s about gently helping our nervous systems recognize the trauma is over so they can access more effective coping strategies that already exist in all of us.
Many symptoms are used by the body as a defense mechanism or physiological attempt to keep a lid on things that are or have been overwhelming. This is not because it’s psychosomatic but because symptoms are driven by our nervous systems.
In this kind of work, slower is faster.
You can learn more about the nervous system in chapter 4 of the essential guide and about body-based therapies in The Guide to New Body-Centered Therapies (9)Caldwell, C., Ed. (1997). Getting in Touch: The Guide to New Body-Centered Therapies, Quest and Getting Our Bodies Back (10)Caldwell, C. (1996). Getting Our Bodies Back: Recovery, healing, and transformation through body-centered psychotherapy, Shambhala.
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Links to Find a Therapist
If you have a chronic illness and no obvious history of trauma that you know of, start with therapies that work with general trauma or developmental wounds from childhood.
These general approaches all work with subtle nervous system patterns and perceptions of threat and are an excellent way to start to address symptoms of chronic illness.
If you do have a history of specific types of trauma, you’ll find therapies for different types of trauma in the section that follows and can learn more about each type of trauma in chapter 5 of my essential guide to chronic illness, trauma and the nervous system.
Explore approaches that draw or feel appealing to you.
*Note: If getting out of the house is difficult because of limitations due to your health, or if there is no one in your area to work with, you may be able to find a therapist who works by phone or internet. When treating chronic illness from a body-based perspective there are actually many ways a therapist can pay attention to what is happening in the moment and still be highly attuning, connecting and present.
**Ultimately, the best guidance on how to choose an approach among those listed below comes from listening to yourself – to your heart, your gut, your intuition. What appeals to you? What draws you or excites you or makes the most sense to you? You’ll know more as you listen and follow your impulses.
General Trauma, AIEs, ACEs & APOEs
Stressful events and trauma in the 1 to 2 years before illness can trigger the onset of a chronic illness including autoimmune disease such as type 1 diabetes. I refer to such events as adverse pre-onset experiences (APOEs). Adverse institutional experiences (AIEs) are also a risk factor for chronic disease.
The following chronic illness therapies are appropriate for all kinds of trauma in all age groups, including:
- hospitalizations, medical procedures such as surgery, anesthesia
- accidents
- loss of a parent
- abuse
- adverse childhood experiences (ACEs, see more in the next section)
- and much more
Find a Therapist for General Trauma, AIEs, ACEs+ etc
Somatic Experiencing (SE)
Here’s the somatic experiencing (SE) website, a list of SE practitioners around the world, and more info on SE on wikipedia.
The founder of SE, Peter Levine Ph.D, has two excellent books in addition to the one mentioned above. Both introduce the concept of trauma in a very gentle way as well as how to work with it. These are Waking the Tiger and In an Unspoken Voice. His second book describes how he worked with his own symptoms after an accident.
Sensorimotor Psychotherapy
Here’s the website for sensorimotor psychotherapy and a list of their practitioners around the world.
Their book is called Trauma and the Body.
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing)
EMDR is described on wikipedia; here are lists of practitioners with the EMDR Institute and practitioners with the EMDR International Association.
Brainspotting (BSP)
Brainspotting is described on wikipedia. Here’s a list of BSP practitioners.
I loved Brainspotting but found that, with this approach in particular, I needed to work especially slowly and with small increments of time and issues.
Internal Family Systems (IFS)
Here is the IFS website as well as a list of practitioners
Here is a 1.5 hour video session with singer songwriter Alanis Morissette working with post partum panic attacks and workaholic/overextending patterns facilitated by Richard “Dick” Schwartz, the founder of IFS. It’s 1 hour introducing IFS and working with “parts” and 30 minutes of Q&A (October, 2020).
Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy
Biodynamic Craniosacral Therapy Association of North America has a National School and list of practitioners. One of their influential teacher Franklyn Sills has a detailed website.
For more information see the free downloadable and other books listed in this post.
Memoirs for General Trauma and AIEs
Sexism and General Trauma
The Lady’s Handbook for Her Mysterious Illness: A Memoir by Sarah Ramey. One of the best memoirs I’ve ever read. A set of insights similar to the ones I’ve come to and one that will help you make sense of your illness from the new paradigm that is emerging, one chronic ill person at a time as we each figure it out and come to similar conclusions. Sharing the big picture of how life experiences (not all of them traumatic) influence health with examples from her life. A memoir with deep perspectives gained from the painful journey with chronic illness. A view that sheds light on all of our illnesses, the epidemic of chronic illness, and why they remain so overlooked.
Humorous, hard to put down, witty, told from the big perspective by someone who has found her way, come to an acceptance, sees there is no quick fix, and recognizes from deep experience that doctors don’t have the answers we think (and wish) they had, as she continues to work with all the tools she’s garnered and shares with the reader, even as she is not completely healed.
A book for men as well as women, caregivers and loved ones. Does not focus on trauma. Instead includes examples of how trauma such as accidents, abuse, medical trauma, ACEs and more can be part of a series of events that add up to affect health or that can trigger onset of mild or severe symptoms. Also provides insights into things we think are normal but that shape health too, such as infections, antibiotics, the standard american diet, and much more.
Racism
My Grandmother’s Hands: Racialized Trauma and the Pathway to Mending Our Hearts and Bodies, by
See this article on Mental Health Issues Facing the Black Community, which includes a great list for culturally competent mental health resources and therapists (see if any are specifically trauma-focused in their approaches)
Adverse Childhood Experiences Plus (ACEs+)
Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) refer very specifically to 10 types of trauma that have been extensively studied in a series of studies with more emerging every year.
These 10 types of trauma, listed below, are only a fraction of the different types of trauma that can affect long-term health but are becoming more known around the U.S. and around the world because of the quick, easy-to-take survey and the studies. I therefore refer to such events as ACEs+ (adverse childhood experiences plus).
Many of the effects of these and other traumas have been known for many decades, long before the fist ACE study in 1998, but haven’t started to become more known to some doctors, mental health professionals and in the general population more recently, including with Oprah’s segment on 60 minutes in March 2018.
The 10 types of trauma known as ACEs are:
- Physical abuse (Statistics: 1 in 3.5 Americans have experienced physical abuse)
- Sexual abuse (1 in 5)
- Emotional abuse (1 in 9)
- Physical neglect
- Emotional neglect
- Loss of a parent from divorce or separation (loss for other reasons, including death, were not included in the original ACE study but also increase risk)
- Violent treatment of mother (1 in10)
- Member of household: mental illness (1 in 5)
- Member of household jailed (1 in 30)
- Member of household: substance abuse (1 in 4)
The therapies listed in the previous section are appropriate for healing effects of ACEs and other traumas from childhood. Some therapists specialize in working with specific types of trauma such as sexual abuse, substance abuse, grief and loss, PTSD or depression, etc. Look for a therapist using the list of websites and directories in the section above, Therapies for General Trauma in All Age Groups.
You can learn more about the ACEs research and increased risk for autoimmune and other chronic diseases or in a post with free downloadable ACE fact sheets to use in educating your doctor, listing over 30 chronic diseases such as type 1 & type 2 diabetes, RA, MS, chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, lupus and other effects of ACEs, which include fractures, osteoporosis, mental health conditions such as depression, anxiety, PTSD, giving birth prematurely, violence etc.
You can also download one or both of two ACE fact sheets below (one specifically for chronic illnesses, the other summarizing All effects of ACEs) to educate and inform others, such as your doctor other health care professionals, others with chronic illness, teachers, lawyers, family , friends, colleagues, social workers, and beyond.
Find a Therapist for ACEs & ACEs+ (Search section above)
Books for ACEs+
The Deepest Well, by pediatrician Nadine Burke Harris with stories and science
The ACE fact sheets are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. This means you are welcome to share and use as long as you cite me (Veronique Mead, MD MA at Chronic Illness Trauma Studies) and link to either this blog post or the ACEs Fact Sheet post as the original source.
Memoirs
Childhood Disrupted, by science journalist Donna Jackson Nakazawa with research on stress and toxic stress, her story of improvement from autoimmune diseases and others’ stories
Things Fell Apart, but the Center Held by
Through the Shadowlands, a memoir by mathematician and journalist Julie Rehmeyer, who shares her journey with chronic fatigue syndrome as well as research and studies in mold toxicity; also provides a glimpse of childhood ACEs and developmental / attachment / complex trauma (see next section)
My Beloved World, a memoir by Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor which includes her diagnosis of type 1 diabetes in childhood and provides a poignant example of ACEs and multigenerational trauma
Adverse Childhood Relationship Experiences (ACREs)
Attachment trauma, which I refer to as adverse childhood relationship experiences (ACREs), is one of the most important and under-recognized forms of adversity of all – and one that plays a remarkably strong role in chronic illness. Experiences that fit into this category include some of the most subtle types of trauma and they are often normalized and overlooked. ACREs can be extremely subtle yet shape the way our nervous systems learn to perceive threat and respond to stress throughout most or all of childhoods, when our organs and bodies are developing the most rapidly and are consequently the most affected by our environments and experiences. Here’s an introductory blog post on this topic.
This type of trauma is also known as developmental trauma and complex PTSD. Victor Lee Lewis, a trauma and life coach who uses tapping (EFT or emotional freedom technique), also refers to this type of adversity as attunement trauma. He emphasizes how attunement is as vital to human survival and health as are water, food, and shelter. Dr. Jonice Webb refers to it as CEN or childhood emotional neglect.
Consider approaches for working with ACREs if:
- you felt alone, unseen, or unheard as a child,
- you did not feel a sense of connection or a loving, nurturing, supportive environment in childhood (even if you were well fed and clothed and cared for in material ways),
- you had to take care of your parent(s) or sibling(s) emotionally, physically or in other ways,
- the way to connect with your parent(s) was to suppress your own needs, opinions or feelings,
- there was no one you could talk to and share your deepest feelings when you were growing up,
- there was rarely or never any repair after a parental outburst or verbal attack,
- your relationship with your parents is strained or stressful,
- you have had difficulty in your relationships as an adult (lack of closeness; multiple marriages, separations or divorces …),
- you have strong negative beliefs such as feeling unlovable / unworthy / to blame / overly responsible / a failure / unsafe, …
These examples are indications that early relationships have had some impact on you, whether in a way that was traumatizing or that affected your perception of threat. Learn more about relational trauma in a blog post, “When your ACE score is Zero”.
Find a Therapist for ACREs
Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, IPNB practitioners and Prenatal and Perinatal Therapies (see below) are especially helpful for the healing the effects of experiences such as those described above.
Sensorimotor Psychotherapy
Here’s their website and a list of their practitioners around the world.
Their book is called Trauma and the Body
Interpersonal Neurobiology
IPNB was developed by leaders in the field including Daniel Siegel, Allan Schore, and Louis Cozolino and has a therapist directory. I have not tried this particular approach but am familiar with some of Siegel and Schore’s work. I do not know of many other somatically based approaches for healing complex PTSD..
You can also learn more about IPNB on this site.
Documentary on Attachment Trauma
If you’ve ever wondered what developmental / attachment trauma can look like; whether it may be affecting you; how it influences our ability to be in relationship with ourselves, our families and our children – and whether it can be healed, this film is for you. It will shed light in a gentle, compassionate artful and well paced way.
The independent film by Ana Joanes is called “Wrestling Ghosts” because this is the biggest and most important gift parents can give to their children: their own work to heal their unresolved trauma from their own past. Wrestling Ghosts follows Kim, her husband and how she learns to reconnect with herself and her two young boys. It focuses on Kim’s experiences that include depression, a yearning to connect more fully with her kids, the influences from her past that make this so difficult, and how she also finds her way to doing something that gives her joy. The documentary is now available to rent.
Books on Attachment
Parenting from the Inside Out (this book will give you an idea of attachment trauma even if you aren’t a parent)
The Complex PTSD Workbook and A Practical Guide: Mind-Body Approaches to Regaining Emotional Control and Becoming Whole By Arielle Schwartz, Ph.D. Two books for healing attachment wounds tends to be a process that needs healing within relationship and can be among the most subtle, pervasive and lifelong processes to work with. If the book is triggering, slow down or work with a therapist if you can.
The Development of the Person: by psychologist Alan Sroufe, primary investigator of the prospective Minnesota Parent-Child study, now over 30 years long and effects of attachment disruptions and wounds
Memoirs
Kitchen Table Wisdom: One of my favorite and most inspiring and healing books, by pediatrician Rachel Naomi Remen. Part personal stories that provide glimpses of the subtleties of complex trauma / attachment trauma and healing in her experiences of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), which was diagnosed in childhood. Integrated with stories from her work as a counselor with cancer patients and physicians with burnout.
Sonata: A Memoir of Pain and the Piano, by Andrea Avery. Diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis at 12 yo in 1989, describes how the whole family was having “transmission problems” at that time (brother with pot, parents in conflict). Wonders about the role of potential life experiences such as being born cesarean and not being breastfed.
Lab Girl: a memoir by research scientist Hope Jahren, Ph.D. who developed bipolar disorder, offering another glimpse of what attachment disruptions in childhood can look like
The Center Cannot Hold: My Journey Through Madness, by Elyn R. Saks. A lawyer at the University of Southern California shares her story about schizophrenia. Gives one a sense of what it was like for her growing up.
Wish You Happy Forever: What China’s Orphans Taught Me About Moving Mountains, an adoptive mother’s story of how she used the science to change how orphans were raised in China and how extensively children can respond remarkably well to a loving, nurturing environment
Adverse Multigenerational Experiences (AMEs)
These particular therapies for chronic illness address the effects of trauma or hardship that occurred in your ancestor’s lives, which can be transmitted epigenetically to affect your health even if you never experienced trauma yourself (11)Yehuda, R., et al. (1998). “Relationship between posttraumatic stress disorder characteristics of Holocaust survivors and their adult offspring.” Am J Psychiatry 155(6): 841-843. Full Text.. This blog post introduces some of my multigenerational history of trauma.
Find a Therapist for AMEs
Family Constellations
Family Constellations is an approach to working with multigenerational trauma developed by German psychotherapist Bert Hellinger, who was forced to serve in the German army during World War II, was captured and made a POW in Belgium, and escaped. His approach often uses a small group format and can also be done individually. I have found this work to be very body based and therefore amazing at accessing information that is outside of your awareness.
Hellinger’s website offers links to find practitioners. His work is also referred to as Hellinger work, Family Constellations or Systemic Constellations.
See Stephan Hausner’s book & documentaries (free 9 minute trailer) and an interview about Family Constellations and what it looks like. This book includes case studies & examples of healing different chronic illnesses and other health conditions.
See also Mark Wolynn, drawing from this approach.
Books on AMEs
Even If IT Costs Me My Life: Systemic Constellations and Serious Illness, by Stephan Hausner (2011). This comprehensive, powerful, easy-to-understand book is the one I recommend most highly. It can help give you insights about origins of your illness, how it’s not your fault, and how disease can represent something for an entire family system rather than being an individual issue. This book includes stories and case studies to demonstrate just how strong the effects of trauma in our parents and grandparents’ lives can be in influencing risk for chronic illness. It also demonstrates how much healing can happen and how this can also sometimes happen very quickly.
It Didn’t Start With You: How Inherited Family Trauma Shapes Who We Are and How to End the Cycle, by Mark Wolyn is a powerful book that includes some of the science, shares stories, and provides guidance and very specific steps for working with the effects of multigenerational trauma. His work draws from Hellinger’s approach (see below).
The Ancestor Syndrome, by offers remarkable information and stories that helped me identify some of my own multigenerational trauma that I hadn’t recognized. As with other trauma work, it is helpful to go slowly and to read it in small doses. You can also read a description of the author’s work in transgenerational psychotherapy (12)Schutzenberger, A. A. (1998). The Ancestor Syndrome: Transgenerational Psychotherapy and the Hidden Links in the Family Tree, Routledge.
Memoirs
My Beloved World, a memoir by Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor which includes her diagnosis of type 1 diabetes in childhood and provides a poignant example of ACEs and multigenerational trauma
Adverse Babyhood Experiences (ABEs)
These approaches work with trauma from the few years before conception, throughout prenatal life, birth, infancy, and very early childhood. Learn more in two blog posts: an introduction to early risk factors in type 1 diabetes followed by more detail and an example of how these therapies work for kids with asthma who have the same risk factors. This will give you insights into how similar approaches can work for adults. Both posts are relevant regardless of the kind of chronic illness you have, since the research is similar for chronic disease and mental health conditions.
Find a Therapist for ABEs
The Association for Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology and Health (APPPAH) holds regular conferences, offers trainings and news updates, and has lots of information on its website including a list of practitioners (their list is being rebuilt and is currently small as of May 2021). You’ll find another list of practitioners on Kate White’s website (it’s also a small list that she plans to grow) and for those who have trained with Myrna Martin.
Many therapists will have a specific focus in this field, such as working primarily with children and families, or working mostly with babies or adults around their prenatal experiences. Many also work with subtle patterns people develop from early relationships with parents and other adult caregivers.
For parents wanting support and information on more attuning and protective practices, see Attachment Parenting International.
Small group birth process work: Myrna Martin supports adults in the process of healing from perinatal events in a small group formats. She brings her experiences as a nurse, child and family therapist, mother of premature babies, and craniosacral therapist to this work. Her birth process workshops include 6 to 8 individuals and take place in supportive, safe settings over 3 or 4 days. I’ve done 7 or more of these workshops as well as a 2.5-year training with Myrna and it has been among the most life transforming for me – both in terms of symptoms of fatigue and back pain, as well as in my relationship life, among other areas. She has a directory of graduates. See also oppportunities for small group birth process workshops with colleague Cherionna Menzam-Sills, who also does other kinds of related work.
Books on ABEs
You can learn more about ABEs in my new blog post and in this free downloadable ebook below. The post includes free downloadable fact sheets and checklists.
The Mother and Child Reunion by Antonio Madrid, Ph.D. (here’s a blog post about it) and Tony’s website with information for healing asthma in children by healing effects of prenatal stress, difficult births and other unrecognized ABEs that affect mothers to repair their nature ability to bond.
Parent Infant Bonding by Marshall Klaus and John Jnell (or the earlier version Maternal Infant Bonding by Marshall Klaus and John Kennell, both pediatricians). I’ve only read Maternal Infant Bonding and found it to be brilliant. The research since then supports what they found.
Spirit Into Form: Exploring Embryological Potential and Prenatal Psychology by Cherionna Menzam-Sills, who has extensive training in ABEs, craniosacral therapy and more. Introduces how life experiences influence our developing selves from conception until after birth. Contains gentle exercises for exploration and healing.
How to Choose a Therapist
Just as it can take time to find a doctor who specializes in your chronic illness, who treats you with respect and who is also knowledgeable and nonjudgmental, it can take time to find a therapist who is a good fit for you.
Give yourself that time.
Interview or simply talk with a few therapists before deciding (many offer a free initial consultation by phone or in person).
Some ideas of what to aim for when looking for a therapist include the following:
- has many years of experience in working with trauma
- has completed the full training in their specialty
- has done and / or is still doing personal work with their own issues, trauma, perceptions of threat
- has good boundaries
- feels like someone you can trust and feel safe with (this can take time to figure out but should seem possible at first blush)
- is responsive if you need to talk about your experiences of therapy, such as if you have symptoms or side effects after sessions etc
- is flexible, nonjudgmental and committed to helping you hear your own voice (rather than having all the answers themselves about what you should or shouldn’t do)
- is attuning to you and your needs as well as to your pace, rather than theirs etc
Online Courses & Videos for Working on Your Own
Learning about the role of adverse life events can help make sense of symptoms and give you new tools for working with your health. These are three options and possible steps to take if this information is new to you. If you are familiar with all of it, skip to Step 3.
Step 1: You can learn about the role of adversity, trauma and other environmental stressors in shaping nervous system perceptions of threat through a number of excellent books.
Step 2: If you’d like to go deeper, these 2 women have an understanding of trauma and the nervous system and offer free videos as well as online courses.
I have not taken either course and do not know these authors personally, but have seen how their general topics and approaches include discussions of the nervous system, polyvagal theory and the role of fight, flight, freeze and the social nervous system; provide an introduction to the physiology of stress and trauma, explain how it’s not psychological or all in your head, and much more.
See Irene Lyon, who has a series of free videos on her youtube channel.
See Jessica Schaffer at Nervous System Reset, who offers online courses and resources such as videos.
Other Approaches & Resources
There are many ways of beginning to heal the effects of trauma. Most of them work with the nervous system in some way rather than purely through talking or cognition or will power. Here are tools that I and many others have found helpful, and that for some people are enough to greatly improve, or decrease worsening, or even recover from many different types of chronic illness.
Some people, such as holistic therapist Aoife Brown, have had great success in reducing symptoms using energy healing such as sound, emotional freedom technique (EFT), the Emotion Code and others. As has Ali Kempson, who recovered from chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) using energy medicine. Dan Neuffer also recovered from ME/CFS by working with the nervous system and has both an online program and a book on his journey. His approach does not include insights or approaches for working with polyvagal theory or trauma.
Many people incorporate movement practices such as yoga, tai chi, chi kung and other practices that inherently support nervous system states that help create greater calm and groundedness. I’ve greatly appreciated other tools as well, including art therapy, for example, with someone who is “trauma-informed” and familiar with how trauma can show up in subtle ways as well as who is familiar with working with the nervous system from their modality.
The important thing to note is that symptoms are not always as solid or fixed as we think. And there are many ways of supporting change and bringing more options and ease into our lives. Follow your intuition and look for resources and therapies that feel like a good fit for you.
What’s your experience been?
Have you had any successes with approaches to healing overt or subtle perceptions of threat?
Has any particular approach been helpful for you? Are there any not mentioned above that you’ve found especially helpful (if so, please include them in the comments for others to know about as there are many ways of healing the effects of trauma).
Have you discovered ways to decrease your symptoms or sensitivities to stress and triggers or other chronic illness-related experiences?
I’d love to hear about it.
Learn More
You can learn more about the different types of trauma in this summary of the science post. Or about adverse childhood experiences, attachment / developmental trauma, perinatal risk factors and multigenerational trauma. I also describe the different types of trauma that helped make sense of my chronic illness (ME/CFS) in my personal story.
Here are 11 tools I recommend that also support healing the effects of trauma at any age.
References
As an educator, I went to ACEs training. I had already been diagnosed with ME and I was mind blown that my ACEs score was a 6/10. I also realized that work stress had greatly increased prior to my illness becoming full-blown and debilitating. After the ACEs training and my realization that my childhood traumas were a major contributor to my illness, I had a very bad flare.
In reading a couple of your articles, I realize that I also have intergeneratiinal traumas that may also be contributors (ok, I have to admit they are definitely contributors!)
Thank you so much for listing the resources. I really need to work on my many levels of trauma!
Dear Christine – Research such as the ACEs and the effects of intergenerational trauma is truly jaw dropping sometimes, isn’t it? Thank you so much for sharing your experience and oh my, what a big deal to have a bad flare after getting these insights. There are really wonderful resources out there and I wish you well on this tremendous journey with ME and on your healing journey. Stay in touch, know you are welcome to ask questions and share any insights along the way! Veronique xoxo
Hi Veronique – just wanted to connect, and thank you for your article. I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes, at the age of 38, after a few years of intense non-stop frustration and internal conflict, brought on over a divorce. I am absolutely sure, after many years of personal research, that trauma caused the diabetes.
Interestingly, as a gifted and also highly sensitive person, what constitutes trauma for me, may not necessarily be experienced as trauma to less sensitive people.
I believe gifted individuals, are almost always highly sensitive too, and are therefore at greater risk from trauma, especially in those early years. Coming from what I know now as a dysfunctional family, with abusive father and indulgent mother, it was almost inevitable.
What I do love though, is the wealth of information not only on how trauma causes autoimmune disease, but the amazing tools we have to work with the early trauma, with the possibility that once we truly process and let go of it, perhaps our body can also let go of the illness itself..
Much Love,
Paul x
Dear Paul,
I’m so sorry for your loss. Divorce (and the process leading up to it) can be so very painful.
I find that we each experience life events in unique ways based, probably very significantly, on the experiences we have had in the past and not just on genetic predisposition (which I’m not sure everyone has) and increased too when we are HSPs.
Growing up in a dysfunctional family with abuse is a very significant predisposer to chronic health conditions of many different kinds, as you state.
I, too, am amazed by the powerful tools we have that are so available. It continues to make a huge difference in my own life as I climb out of my 20 years of disabling chronic fatigue. The links have been incredibly subtle and it has taken much time to unwind processes that have been developing for decades – but it is very much happening. Which is humbling, amazing, exciting and rewarding. The possibility of full recovery is a huge motivator for sure, and it seems to be within the realm of possibility for all kinds of chronic diseases, including T1D.
You may have gotten here from my other blog articles on T1D but if not I can point you in directions that add further support for what you have found. I have two blog posts coming up in the next month or two summarizing the research specifically showing that trauma is a significant risk factor for T1D.
Much Love back,
Veronique
Veronique
I applaud your efforts to get all this info out there, Many of us who have really suffered with ME and lost careers friendships really want others to know the wonderful work you are uncovering, For 30 yrs I have searched for a reason but it’s onky in the last 4yrs that I found out about the trauma illness link. I am doing Irene Lyons course but having been stressed so much in utero and right through out my life it’s going to take time to unravel my Nervous System. Sadly I don’t have the years left now to get completely well but I am fascinated by this work and my journey.,…..listening to my body
Nia ??
Dear Nia,
The trauma link is a biggie and not yet well known. I hear wonderful things about Irene Lyon and am so glad you are finding good resources (including that my blog feels helpful!!). I agree that a lot of the triggers & initiators go far back and that it tends to take time, and it’s a path full of gifts and good surprises no matter our age. I wish you good reaping on your journey, however far it takes you!! Veronique
on september 2013 one day suddenly i felt tinglings all over my body ,head full of heaviness,cold,fatigue ,dizziness,forgetfulness,confusion.
i was sleepy always as if i am tired.
at that time,i was there for bank coaching after my graduation completes.
i didnt go to coaching center and simply used to stay in the hostel due to extreme fatigue and dizziness.
so at that time i was having negative feeling that all my friends are goimg to classes but i dont have energy and very sleepy with tiredness.
i went to so many hospitals with this symtops but no one suggested me to take b12 test.
my days were going on like that only….
and one day i went to nuerologist …..i explained my symptoms….doctor suggested to take an MRI TEST ,it came normal…
and then i have vacated the hostel in visakhapatnam, andhrapradesh ,india.
i explained my symptoms to my mother but she has not understood my problem,abd said that you became very lazy now a days….sleeping so many hours than normal…and scolded me that you dont like to study and to get a good job…
in those days i was very sick with my symptoms and my brother and mother scolded me like that…..that time i felt helpless and pity on myself…..
after this i have gained wait because i was eating….and i thought that with b12 defieciency our metabolism also becomes slow…..
thats why i became fat with 60kg…
after that in 2014 june 26,i have joined in another banking coaching cebter,there,tghey used to conduct daily exams and attended to that exams with these symptoms only….which is very difficult at that time with very low energy levels…..
in that hostel also i used to sleep a lot…
after 1 year of coaching i got selected as a probationary officer inbankofbaroda,which includes 9 moths campus training in baroda manipal school of banking after 3 moths of internship at any bankofbaroda branch in india…
so in 2015 i got the job….
in november 26,2015, i have joined baroda manipal school of banking…for 9 months of training in banglore…,
upto 5 months i used to feel the same symptoms and i saew all my friends around me are energetic but not me…..
after that the symptoms got better…..but i gained the weight…..
fter 9 months of training in banglore and 3 months of internship in visakhapatnam uin a bankofbaroda branch ui went to my home….
and on 15th december 2016 i talked on mobile by keeping it at my right ear,after i removed the phone i wae started feeling my right ear heaviness…
and in january 23,2017 i was posted in mumbai in a bankofbaroda branch…..
my ear was still heavy at that time and i am going to office like that only…..
and after that i wanted to loose my weight….so i was joined the gym….
and i was stopped in april….
but i stopped eating fatty foods and rice and used to take roti…..
and recently in november last week i felt weekness so i went to near by nuerologist and i said the whole story of my symptoms and doctor suggested me to take hemoglobin,b12 tet,thyroid test,elctrolytes….
my hemoglobin level is 10.4 and my b12 level is 107.7
so doctor told me that i am b12 difiecient…esr is 87
and suggested me to take green vegetables,mil and milk products,red meet…
and told me to consult him after 3 weeks…
i am a 25 year old woman and suggest what is the correct diagnosis as i am not ble to enjoy my normal life as tinglings are occuring…..sometimes i feel like i want to end up my life…
i want to be back as i was…. please suggest me…..
Dear Sandhyarani,
I’m so sorry for the many difficult years you have been experiencing. I have not practiced medicine in over 20 years so I cannot offer you advice in that way- although if your tests like B12 and ESR are as abnormal as they sound (it depends on whether they are the same values as here in the USA) then taking Vit B12, even in a supplement form that you take by mouth instead of in a shot, should be very helpful place to start and not just changing what you eat. I understand that you could be feeling very sad with being this sick for so long so hang in there. Go back to see the doctor, or see a different doctor and bring your tests if that feels more appropriate. And talk to someone who can listen and who believes you. When we feel this low, it helps to not be alone and to feel heard and seen. Talk to someone such as A friend? A therapist? A colleague at work? Your boss? A social worker? Someone at a place you go to worship or where you have a spiritual practice? (I’m not sure how it works in India – a monk? a retreat center?). Or even begin to meditate and to give yourself the attention, love, care and listening that you need right now. Believe yourself that something IS wrong. I’m glad you found a doctor who could see that tests were abnormal and give you a place to start. I send you many prayers and much love. You are not alone.
This is a wonderful resource- I think it’s so great that you put it together!
Speaking of wonderful, I may have found something to add to your list. I’ve been exploring Ayurveda (traditional medicine from India)… and recently had a treatment called “Shirodhara” (as part of a “Pancha Karma cleanse) that involved having warm oil being continuously drizzled on my forehead (3rd eye) for 20 minutes. It’s supposed to really settle and deeply heal the nervous system, which is something I’ve been unable to do (via meditation, relaxation techniques, etc) for awhile now. After ten minutes or so, I had pain and twitching in one of my places of chronic pain in my neck… i felt nervous and a bit activated, but let it ride, and it passed. Then slept off a headache that afternoon… and the pain has not come back since (it’s been 2 weeks, after having it daily for several months)! Also I felt a deeper calm and sense of well-being than I’ve felt in years (this only lasted until I began prepping christmas dinner for ten!) I’ve also had more energy since then, which is a real boon. So I’m eager to do it again. I’ll let you know if it holds up over time.
Thanks so much for sharing this great experience Margaret! It’s now officially part of the post by living here in the comments for others to see as well. May it continue to exert its effects.
You should mention primal therapy as an excellent method for traumas. I had a very traumatic childhood and started years ago with primal therapy at The Primal Institute. It is a long process, but there have been improvements all along the way. I don’t know what have done in my life without the help of this therapy, wonderful primal therapists and on my own with the process.
Thanks for bringing up Primal therapy Phil. I’m so glad to hear how helpful it has been for you and to have it on the list here. Like so many of these approaches, it takes time for most of us to heal effects of difficult childhoods and adverse events, especially very early in life.
Thank you so much for doing this important work.
I’ve been disabled with ME/CFS/SEID since a car accident 15 years ago that left me with TBI and three injuries to my spinal column. At the time of the accident, I was doing conference recording with an organization that had contracts with Deepak Chopra, Jon Kabat-Zinn, and Mind & Life Institute, so I was learning from sone of the world’s most sophisticated teachers. I also knew that I was both gifted and highly sensitive, as someone mentioned above.
As I began the work of healing from the trauma of the accident, I started remembering childhood abuse and neglect patterns which I had effectively buried. I used yoga to heal the three back injuries, and eventually became a certified yoga instructor in the tradition of contemplative classical hatha yoga. I, too, believe that slower is faster! And after many years of practice and training, I became certified by the Center for Mindfulness at UMass Medical School to teach Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction, a group of body-centered contemplative practices that I still do daily.
I’ve worked closely with two somatic-based psychotherapists over the years (one retired, so I found another), and have read a rather large stack of books. I’m grateful to have learned of your blog, because while I can report feeling temporarily better from all sorts of approaches I’ve tried and still practice, the worst of my symptoms continue to persist, and in some ways, worsen. Lately, the practice that has become most necessary is reminding myself that “Breathing out, breathing in” is enough, that (as Abraham Joshua Heschel has said), “Just to be is holy.” Still I very much miss my capacities to be active. So I’ll be reading your stories here with great interest.
I’d also suggest adding to your book list above The PTSD Workbook by Arielle Schwartz, Ph.D. Like you, she’s got a Naropa Master’s degree in somatic psychotherapy, and has never stopped learning since then.
May you achieve the healing you seek. May we all. Thank you again for your work.
Dear Jillene,
Welcome!
It’s such a small world – Jon Kabat-Zinn’s book “Full Catastrophe Living” practically fell off the shelf into my hands at a book store, and then somehow made it into my bag after I thought I had left it behind at check out. This happened the week I completed my medical training and was feeling a familiar hunger and longing for a broader approach. And a few weeks ago I watched a youtube video of him giving a talk in the Netherlands that moved me to tears. Mindfulness is my biggest, ongoing, underlying practice. Breathing in, breathing out. Yes.
I also know what you mean about symptoms that continue to worsen or progress. My fatigue is much improved but not completely better yet and I can see, feel and watch the old trauma patterns that still drive it. My food intolerances have been slower to change (and later to begin as well). I am doing another level of trauma work to see how far I can heal these. It all takes the time it takes.
And you are so right -I need to add Arielle’s book to the list! She and I were at Naropa together in the same program just a year or two apart (small world again!). Hers is one of the books I haven’t read (I got full after some years), but trust will be very helpful for many.
Wishing you the healing you seek as well – what a wonderful greeting and message. Warmly, Veronique
My intention to heal illnesses has been modelled on the success I had with resolving complicated computer problems in the I.T. industry.
For over thirty years, I used good logic and a host of troubleshooting skills to find the cause of various computer ills and once found, I was able to permanently fix them.
When I developed Severe Diabetes and the near-death experience that it entailed, this evolved into looking at illnesses through the analogy of going to school and then graduating.
I have experienced some illnesses that I consider to be at the level of junior kindergarten, then high school and finally, university.
At each level of study, there is an expectation that one will graduate to the next level. Graduation is the end result of all studies. If one does poorly in one’s studies, tutoring can be made available. If one does not do well, the opportunity to repeat the grade and do better, can always be taken advantage of.
I have experienced many illnesses. Some were benign, causing pain and suffering that would end in a matter of days.
For example, some of the colds I had, were like being in junior kindergarten whilst others took on the form requiring studies at the university level. Since I completed my learning of this subject, I do not have colds anymore.
This is akin to having graduated and obtained a degree from a university. Unlike university degrees, I have obtained a Ph.D. (actually several) of my own that they never give. When the underlying lessons are learnt, as represented in the form of symptoms, there is no need to repeat the grade.
From the perspective of computer problems, my ability to compare a functioning computer with one that malfunctioned, pointed me in the direction that led me to have numerous successes. Similarly, I became well from my illnesses by being aware of the contrast between being healthy and then becoming sick.
When I recently re-discovered Veronique’s website, I was overjoyed. She has presented complicated and difficult to understand concepts using simple, easy to understand logic and language.
Like her and what she describes on her website, I have also been a student of the various subjects encompassed by “Chronic Illness Trauma Studies.” I have graduated from a lived experience of a whole range of self-diagnosed symptoms that fit under the umbrella of labels such as “Mental illness” and “PTSD.”
In the course of that study, I would like to share my success from having utilized Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART) and Brainspotting with a psychiatrist in Toronto.
In just one session, 90 per cent of my troubles disappeared!
You can find more information at:
http://acceleratedresolutiontherapy.com (Laney Rosenzweig).
http://www.rapidresolutiontherapy.com (Jon Connelly).
The life-changing power of words: Kristin Rivas at TEDxRainier
http://tedxseattle.com/speakers/kristin-rivas/
https://www.nurseeducationtoday.com/article/S0260-6917(16)30068-5/pdf
Practice comparisons between accelerated resolution therapy, eye movement desensitization and reprocessing and cognitive processing therapy with case examples.
Also, I derived a lot of helpful information from Monica Cassani at http://www.beyondmeds.com
and William J. Walsh, PhD, FACN at https://www.walshinstitute.org/nutrient-power.html and my website is designed on the premise of Learning with Intelligence: http://www.truthvisionary.com .
Hi Pritam,
I’m so happy to hear of how much you have healed in yourself. I have not heard of such significant recovery happening in a single session, especially with chronic illness – but am glad to hear of your experience! I’ve taken a look at most of your links and appreciate the wide array of resources you provide, including the bits of your story about healing from type 2 diabetes (as best I can tell this is the kind of diabetes you have recovered from). I have appreciated Monica’s work at Beyond Meds and look forward to listening to Kristin’s Ted Talk. I wish you all the best on this journey!
?Veronique!
My health went downhill when I was in my forties and I have since been diagnosed with lupus. fibromyalgia and chronic cough. Previously, I was a very energetic person and felt that I had done well in spite of a very difficult childhood. Last night, I read about ACE for the first time – my score is six. Maybe, that explains my poor choices and why I’m lying in bed this afternoon and finding it so much effort to summon the energy to get on with the day. Thank you for the insight.
Hi Jan!
Oh – if you’ve just discovered the ACEs you will find that it helps to explain A LOT A LOT A LOT (and that’s it all very real and not in your head). I was very energetic before the onset of my own illness too and my ACE score is zero, meaning that even the very subtle ACEs have a profound impact that is still poorly recognized in medical care. Glad this is helpful and may the learning be useful and supportive!! And if you haven’t found them yet I have two posts on ACEs with big overviews about how it links to chronic illness, and one with downloadable fact sheets you can give your dr. Welcome!!!
I want to thank you for your informational site and the information about Andrew Cooks website. Healing to be what I have never consciously known has been my life long journey and it continues. The information comes to me when I am ready and able to understand it’s use to me or/and others. I have shared your interesting information on my facebook page for my health issues journey. I am sure some others will gain from your honesty and wonderfully written information. Again and sincerly I thank you for making this available.
Regards Lois Langley ?.
Thanks Lois, I’m so glad the information is helpful and that it feels worth sharing. Andrew Cook has a wonderful depth of understanding. I wish you all the best on your continued journey of healing and thank you so much for your kind words.
Hi Veronica
I am wondering if you have been introduced to Havening techniques for depotentiate trauma developed by M.D. Ruden with neuroscience research. I highly recommend book 15 Minutes to Freedom by Harry Pickens. It is highly relevant to ACEs and traumatic experiences that contribute to chronic stress and health conditions.
Thanks so much for mentioning this here Tamarah. I haven’t heard of it and will take a look and it’s good to know about as many options for support and healing as possible.
I have been a long meditator but not entirely found it to be helpful. My Somatic Experiencing therapist addressed how important it is for anyone with a significant trauma history to proceed slowly and carefully with meditation as it can exacerbate symptoms of distress at times. Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness by David Treleaven is such a valuable resource. You can find his work here:
https://books.wwnorton.com/books/detail.aspx?id=4294993480
Additionally, if eating disorders are part of your history – another great resource is from eat2love.com with Registered Dietitian Jenna Hollenstein who applies Buddhist philosophies(paramitas) to mindful awareness and healing around eating.
Blessings on your journey, Pamela
Thanks so much for sharing these resources Pamela. I agree about meditation – I had trouble for years as my less regulated system can have trouble resourcing when slowing down in that way / to that extent. It’s much better now :-) Wishing you all the best on your journey as well!!
4 years ago, i went to amsterdam after 2 years of preparation. I took philosopher’s stone with therapeutic intentions n was able to let go of much of the pain that i was holding onto emotionally from my past, that i didnt need to n wasnt healthy (issues about saying goodbye/hoarding).
In my visuals the pain/hurt was displayed as treasures in a museum of my memory. I smashed all the cases destroyed the figurines n threw the dust n fragments out the window to be carried far away by the wind.
I have consistently felt better since. I no longer live in constant emotional pain
I have also had earlier successes with hypnosis
Hi Kim,
What a lovely intention and practice of compassion and self care. It’s inspiring and encouraging to know just how many tools are out there, isn it? Thanks so much for sharing.
Hi Veronique,
This is a great resource. Thanks for putting up for all to see.
One group process that I found very helpful while I was able to pursue it is CuddleParty (see: http://www.cuddleparty.com). I’ve been struggling with Crohn’s Disease for years and was able to get a facilitator to offer this process once locally. While I attempted to get it available locally, my blood work improved immensely, my energy levels increased and a fistula healed. Unfortunately the facilitator wasn’t able to return and I wasn’t able to find a way to continue to have these events made available locally. So all my symptoms returned with gusto. CuddleParty is a powerful source of oxytocin as well as safe non-sexual affection. I’m hoping to be able to gain access to it again, but will have to move to do it. Thanks for all you do. Cheers, Garth
PS: Gabor Mate in his book “When the Body Says No” (pg. 136) claims that children (who eventually suffered from Ulcerative Colitis) perceived themselves to be responsible for their mother’s emotional suffering. Perhaps this is why CuddleParty worked so well for me. I could get early childhood needs met without having to work so hard for it. There is a men’s Trauma Therapy group in Plymouth Meeting that specifically focuses on cuddles (see: https://www.inquirer.com/health/men-cuddling-group-healing-trauma-mental-health-20190325.html). I’d go in a flash if I lived anywhere near there. Sigh!
HI Garth,
Wow – I just read about the Cuddle Party and what a beautiful, brilliant approach! Safe contact is how humans are designed to grow and thrive, and we need this as part of our early development for our social nervous systems and also throughout our lives.
The fact that your symptoms improved so fully is the only indicator you need to know just how real this link is and how much can be healed and reversed even if triggers happened early in life.
There is indeed much research showing that ABEs, ACEs and ACREs / attachment challenges are risk factors for IBD – and that healing trauma can help with healing (see Stephan Hausner’s book at the bottom of this post on Family Constellations for healing multigenerational trauma, as one example).
I don’t know if it feels doable but wonder if you have considered becoming a facilitator for your area. Just a thought :-)
Thx for posting this!
Thanks Veronique,
I tried becoming a facilitator and eventually succumbed to intense frustration. It was overwhelming trying to drag an entire community in a direction of which they were only lukewarm. Add to that the general mistrust many people have of men when it comes to touch and I was too far out on a limb. I live in a very conservative community. It’s good for seeing the social atmosphere in which I was raised (also very conservative) but not particularly supportive of new directions. Sigh. I’ve continued to heal myself in other ways. Unless some major transformation happens in this community, I’ll have to seek this kind of gathering elsewhere.
Garth – those reasons make complete sense. Continuing to follow what works for you seems to me the most empowered response any of us can take when one direction isn’t working and we have things within our control to help us go in the direction we want. And then we find our communities and tribes in all kinds of places! :-)
Thanks Veronique. The social aspects of healing have been very frustrating for me. Isolation is a major problem. Family is OK to a degree but start talking about childhood trauma and the knives/uncomfortable silences come out! It was interesting for me to read in Nadine Burke-Harris’ book (The Deepest Well) how the rich part of San Fransisco tended to hide their ACEs more strongly than Oakland Bayview because they have more to lose. I get the sense that this dynamic dominates the community where I live and my birth family as well. It’s a tough lonely ad frustrating slog at times. It’s weird to have nice people behave in ways that are so deeply hurtful. I appreciate your support a great deal. Cheers, Garth
Yes to all your comments Garth! Including the light Nadine Burke Harris shines on how hidden ACEs can be by choice and / or because it’s not recognized, such as in people with means. And it’s a real process to find out how to know about this stuff and whether to talk about it with others (such as family members / friends / doctors etc) or not, or how. It’s an ongoing process for me (though it’s getting easier).
Another gathering that I’ve found helpful is Death Cafe (see: https://deathcafe.com/what/). I find it refreshing to be around people who aren’t afraid of facing perhaps our greatest fear and break a societal taboo. Perhaps my childhood history (2 unhealed deaths of close family members and a great deal of unhealthy silence around those deaths in my mother’s life before I was 4) makes it particularly helpful, but I suspect it would good for most of us at some level. Cheers, Garth
Yep. I’m slowly learning the ropes (the hard way unfortunately) as to what is safe to express and what isn’t particularly with birth family members. I think part of me is still a child thinking “Surely now that I’m so sick, they’ll be willing to hear the aspects of myself that I’ve hidden from view all my life”. No such luck! It’s amazing to me how much many people fear dropping the illusion that all was rosy in childhood. Sigh! I’m learning to pick my sources of support more carefully. Thanks for being one for me! :-)
It’s such a process indeed! Glad it feels supportive here!
I read Nadine Burke-Harris’ book “The Deepest Well” and was inspired by her efforts to promote awareness of the power of ACEs. I was also intrigued by her description of essential elements to the healing process in adulthood and childhood: “sleep, mental health, healthy relationships, exercise, nutrition and meditation”. I was reassured to know that I was on track with these 6 elements and strengthened in my resolve to address the weak spot (healthy relationships).
More recently I’ve been reading Reginald Ray’s “Touching Enlightenment”. I was fascinated with his understanding of the connection between Western cultural values and a cerebralization of Buddhist meditative practice in the West. His approach to meditation mirrors trauma healing work very closely. It identifies an area of concern I hadn’t foreseen. He talks of our attachment to our identity filtering our bodily sensations to keep the attachment in place. We become fixated on an identity that can get quite outdated with current lived experience. He described a healthier approach: Pay attention to and welcome all bodily sensations and their associated emotions, allow your identity to dissolve and reform updated to accommodate new learnings found through welcoming and fully digesting the new body sensations. It’s like a death and rebirth. He’s added insight into my meditative practice that I haven’t seen so clearly before and is definitely connected to my recovery from Developmental Trauma. My identity is moving from being a mostly unconscious victim of childhood experiences to an alchemist of pain and a supporter of harmonious relations at many levels. It feels good!
Hi Garth – I love Nadine’s book, her stories, and her sense of humor that makes a potentially painful and difficult topic easy to understand. And I love Reggie Ray! What you beautifully describe is how the somatically based trauma therapies work too – the present moment, the importance of nonjudgement and curiosity about the body and sensations (and impulses) etc. So glad to hear of your shift and growth. Here’s to all these wonderful tools that help things shift and feel good!!!
Thanks :-)
I’m a U.K. registered counsellor who recovered from ME/CFS & complex trauma using EFT (mentioned above) and have since trained in an advanced form called Matrix Reimprinting and Matrix Birth Reimprinting. These are perfect for working with ACEs, PTSD, chronic illness, ABEs, and multigenerational trauma. Also gentle, creative and the work is done with the client deliberately distanced from the content which prevents retraumatisation and unnecessary distress during the process. Related books are Heal Your Birth, Heal Your Life by Sharon King, Matrix Reimprinting using EFT by Sasha Allenby and Karl Dawson, and Transform Your Beliefs, Transform Your Life by Kate Marillat and Karl Dawson. For a list of international practitioners please see http://www.matrixreimprinting.com
That’s wonderful to hear that you recovered Jane – I’ve just recently started working with an EFT therapist after hearing so many good things over the years – and I’m really impressed. And thanks so much for sharing your resources!!
Hello, I am curious how EFT can help if I don’t remember much from my childhood emotions situations etc. I think I am in freeze mode so my memories are blocked.
I was doing SE Craniosacral therapy not so long and now I want to start TEB and IFS hoped it can help me come from freeze release emotions and healed my insomnia POTS and CFS
Hi Barbora,
One of the helpful things about somatically based trauma therapies is that you don’t have to remember an event or work with past events in order to support healing. With EFT you can work with where you are in the moment or with what arises in day to day experiences – such as something that made you anxious or scared or irritable, or something that made you feel unsafe or uncomfortable etc – and then tap around that. These kinds of feelings or symptoms tend to be an expression of survival responses and often stem from earlier in our lives. Working on them in the now helps unwind the layers, even when they are from the past. Wishing you well on this journey.
Hi Veronique,
Thank you for this wonderful resource. I was diagnosed with Cfs 10 years ago and have tried so many therapies/diets over the years. I often used to say I felt as if I was stuck/frozen. My symptoms were always at there worst at certain times in my menstrual cycle when estrogen was rising so I found what you said about hormones very interesting. Recently a friend told me about TRE (Trauma realise exercise). I have been doing this technique with guidance for just over a week now and have noticed a considerable shift in my symptoms. I am sleeping deeper and longer, I feel so much calmer and relaxed and I’m slowly and cautiously able to do more. When I do feel tired it has a different quality to it, I tend to have a nap and feel more refreshed. I noticed a lot of thirst since starting this and also strange dreams about difficult periods in my life I felt I had blocked out, to my consiousness. Ultimately I’m left feeling calmer and happier. I feel like I am finally on to something and came on to your site to see if I could add on any other techniques to what I’m doing. Wishing every one continued healing.
Many thanks
Sarah
Hi Sarah,
It’s so interesting how much we understand of our illnesses even when we don’t think we do – such as how you say it felt as if you were “stuck/frozen.”
I’m thrilled for you about your experiences with TRE and thanks for sharing that here. Sleeping better, feeling calmer and happier, more relaxed, waking more refreshed after a nap and even your dreams….which can help us process difficult things …. – those all sound terrific! Wishing you well on this next step of your journey and let me/us know how things go if you want to :-)
I am recovering from the effects of domestic violence and the violence of poverty that I experienced in childhood in Violence Anonymous (VA). I have Complex PTSD and a 9/10 ACE score. VA is a 12-Step recovery program that has a tool called “Processing Triggers”, which can stand alone but is also woven into the 12 Steps that are used in the program. Processing Triggers is investigating the trauma that lies beneath my reactions to people, places & things and neutralizing my reactions and the trauma. By processing triggers as they come up, I am gradually clearing my inner landscape of the maladaptive beliefs that are anchored in my body & mind by traumatic experiences in my past.
I have found many techniques that help me process triggers including TAT (Tapas Acupressure Technique), Reframing, the ABC’s from SMART Recovery (working with 12 common core beliefs), and the Completion Process (by Teal Swan), which is fairly identical to something known as Regression.
The Work by Byron Katie helps me question my beliefs without having to investigate the underlying trauma.
I am finding that my overall level of fear is gradually decreasing as a cumulative effect of processing individual triggers. I’ve been at it for a couple of years and expect it’ll take at least one more before I am no longer walking around in a chronic, if mild, triggered state (based on the experience of my mentor/sponsor in VA).
In addition, I am following Anthony William’s advice in his book Medical Medium for healing PTSD by increasing glucose stores in the brain & creating new positive experiences.
Fibromyalgia manifested for me when I was 8 years old. The chronic pain & intense pain flare-ups decreased dramatically when I cut sugar and heavy starches like grains, legumes and potatoes out of my diet. Dairy & alcohol were long gone by then, and caffeine was never part of my diet. Stress can also cause pain flareups, so I have adjusted my lifestyle to reduce stress. Learning to recognize my limits and pace myself has been key.
Chronic fatigue had been a mild part of fibromyalgia for me until 20 years ago, when I was 24 years old and it took center stage in my life. Nothing I’ve tried has made a significant dent in the fatigue, which is accompanied by thick brain fog. Due to the fatigue I can only work 2 days per week right now, and sometimes I can’t work at all for a whole year at a time. The most I have comfortably ever been able to work is 16 hours per week.
I recently stopped eating meat, did a 28-Day fat free raw food cleanse, and converted semi-permanently to a low fat nearly all raw food diet in order to lighten the load on my digestive system so my body has more energy to fight the Epstein Barr Virus (EBV) that I believe is responsible for my state of chronic fatigue.
When the time is right, I intend do the 28 Day Cleanse as suggested in the Medical Medium for healing from EBV. Right now I can’t afford the $500-600 worth of supplements that are an integral part of the EBV cleanse & healing process, but I probably need to make more headway in addressing the trauma before investing money in a physical treatment anyway.
I appreciate your blog so much, Veronique, especially because of the polyvagal information. This provided a missing link for me. My own theory about the cause of fibromyalgia (after years of searching for answers) was that it involved the vagus nerve. I suspected yeast & viruses were using my vagus nerve to send signals to my pituitary to keep my system in high alert because they feed off adrenaline when other food sources are low. I didn’t know there were two distinct sides/pathways on the vagus nerve, and I didn’t know about the social nervous system or its role. I only recently discovered freeze mode, so this information was very timely because my system is obviously stuck in freeze mode, and I am gradually coming out of it by processing triggers.
Although I majored in neuroscience at college, I didn’t learn about the vagus nerve or the social nervous system. I don’t think the polyness of the vagus nerve or the parasympathetic nervous system were even known back then (mid to late 90’s). Or maybe I just didn’t get that far. I didn’t finish college due to some of my PTSD symptoms. Over the next several years, I watched many of my friends and some family members graduate and start careers and families, while I was left behind feeling frustrated because I was unable to live up to my potential.
A dozen years later, due to the chronic fatigue, I finally gave up on all of my dreams. This brought me more relief than sadness. I also reached a point where I would have given up on my life if it wasn’t for a little rescue dog that was depending on me for his survival. He was a little angel, and he died a few weeks before I started trauma healing by processing triggers in VA.
I am now starting to dream again.
Dear Iyemi Nuff – lovely stage name you have here!! And thank you for sharing your story and what’s been helping you – it’s another powerful example of how helpful the trauma perspective can be, how many tools exist that can help us, how we don’t always have to know what the underlying trauma is, and how things really CAN change. I’m so glad for the things you’ve found helpful on my blog – polyvagal theory is wonderful and really adds to the big perspective. I’m so happy you had a little angel in your life who helped you in this way – sounds like he served you in a critical way. Hurray Hurray Hurray that you are starting to dream again!! I’m so happy for you! thanks for sharing!! Veronique xoxo
Iyemi Nuff is a fun stage name. I want to remain anonymous in public online media whenever I mention my membership in a specific 12-Step Program, in keeping with the tradition of every 12-Step program to “maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio & films”.
(After I hit “post comment”, I realized it might seem strange to some that I seemingly gave a first and last name when speaking of my involvement in a 12-Step program, so I thought it would be best to either clear that up or just use “Anonymous” as my name.)
Hi Veronique,
I appreciate your ideas: “Go Slow Gently and Include the Body” and “In this kind of work, slower is faster.”
I have a distinct tendency to set myself up for disappointment by jumping ahead of what is realistically possible at this time. I guess it’s an old longing for having what I didn’t get and overriding my level of ease in the moment in order to satisfy that dream.
Perhaps it is also related to my fear and shame of being physically ill and wanting to escape that pain as soon as possible.
Thanks for reminding me.
Cheers,
Garth
Garth – So glad it’s helpful. It keeps being a resource for me too.
I don’t know if this applies, but something in your description makes me think of it – I listened to Stephen Porges give a talk yesterday (at the Collective Trauma summit where it’s probably free for another 24 hours) and got a few more nuances about his polyvagal theory of the nervous system that applies to understanding disease and symptoms.
His work explains how the social nervous system can inhibit fight / flight. What he stated yesterday was that fight/flight can inhibit freeze and that many of us get caught in speeding up or staying busy as an unconscious, physiological attempt to STAY OUT OF FREEZE. What you describe has long been an issue of mine too. It’s a normal trauma response, as you suggest – and there are thus tools to keep chipping away at it, including the process of observing without reacting (as best we can – I’m still working with it myself!).
Thanks. That’s interesting. My recent overwhelms were triggered by attending a local men’s trauma therapy group meeting. I get so wound up and high on safe human company that I don’t want to stop. It sets me up to push for getting more of my needs met than is realistic with this particular group (I don’t think a Men’s Trauma Therapy Cuddle Group like they have in Pennsylvania (see: https://www.inquirer.com/health/men-cuddling-group-healing-trauma-mental-health-20190325.html) is going to happen here!). Perhaps I am desperately trying to stay out of freeze which is the place I’ve been stuck many times. Maybe it’s a reflection of the way I was forced to progress beyond my capacity when I was very young (hence having little compassion for the limitations of the men in this group). Freeze was the only response available to me then. As I slowed down and relaxed my frustration with the limitations of the group, I saw the way I had internalized shame around some of my needs and how I take our cultural values as set in stone. Shame in my understanding is a culturally dependent emotion (Pain of feeling unworthy of Love and Belonging). It begs the question: “To which group of people (and hence culture) do I want to belong? Once I take a stance against the cultural values in which I was raised (I call it our Cro-Magnon culture :-) ) and start embracing my ideas around healthy culture (enlisting my courage), I seemed to calm down. The shame dissolved too. Thanks for the insight.
Cheers,
Garth
That’s a beautiful, poignant example Garth – being in the present moment, noticing what was happening for you, differentiating between the old impulses and the current situation, recognizing shame and its underpinnings, and embracing health as you took a stance against the old way (great term BTW!). Thx for sharing! keep up the great work!
You are most welcome. Thanks for your support. :-)
Hi Veronique,
Here’s another approach to healing Trauma that couples can try (https://www.reuniting.info/node/1734). You have to dig through this page to see it but the first three weeks of Marnia’s Ecstatic Exchanges (see: https://www.reuniting.info/science/ecstatic_exchanges_and_neurochemistry) are non-sexual and promote healing of childhood wounds. I thought you might find it interesting. I found a partner to explore this briefly a number of years ago and was impressed with the results. It’s powerful stuff. Unfortunately, my partner couldn’t handle it and bailed on me after only 3 nights! Sigh! Story of my life. I seem to be destined to work solo a great deal even with my awareness of the benefits of social support.
Cheers,
Garth
Hi Garth, I’m just back from presenting at and attending a pre and perinatal conference – hence the late reply. Awareness and mindfulness are profound tools for healing trauma and your article about how to come into loving physical contact with our partners in gentle, titrated ways makes so much sense. Many of us have experienced trauma from our earliest relationships and this has an often unrecognized – yet well validated and understood in science – impact on our adult relationships. It takes willingness and courage to be with ourselves and our survival patterns that are triggered in relationship, and I wish you continued growth and settling in your system as you implement these things for yourself in such dedicated ways – even when you don’t have a partner. Maybe someday!!
Thanks Veronique! :-)
Hi Dr. The work you have done to create this website and its resources is remarkable. I’m currently training to be a certified health coach, and would really like to help children and families heal from adverse childhood experiences. Now I know I’m not a doctor or therapist, so I was wondering if you may have some insight as to what my scope of abilities would be to help children and their families (I have a background in early childhood education/development) without crossing a line? Thanks and thank you for the wonderful resources.
Hi Carly,
You ask a great question and I don’t know the answer. We / children / families need all the support and help they can get in identifying effects of ACEs and also for healing so it’s terrific that this is an interest of yours with your background. That said, I don’t know the answer and would recommend checking with your certifying body and /or with your state board for psychotherapists. All the best to you in your work and I’m so glad my resources here are helpful!!
Hi, I just want to say I stumbled upon your writing and went down a rabbit hole. I feel so validated and everything is me! I feel like all of these are like a one stop shop of all the info and my beliefs align with all of your writing. I know how my CFS started. With major complex trauma over and over again and always unresolved. You’ve provided a lot of helpful info and appreciate it!
Hi Jessica,
I’m so glad to hear the rabbit hole proved so validating :-) – that is my big hope.
Complex PTSD may be the most under-recognized contributor to risk in general and in our own individual lives because it can be so hard to identify. So glad it was helpful – welcome and thanks for sharing!!
Hi Veronique, many thanks for highlight some of the mental wellbeing therapy options that are available to help people with anxiety, anger, trauma, etc. So important in these difficult days. Some other techniques that my clients have been very happy with include Havening, TFT, BWRT and clinical hypnotherapy. Hope these are of interest. Stay well. Keith.
Hi Keith,
Thanks for sharing – I had not heard of BWRT and it’s great to hear of it now. May you be and stay well too.