Trauma and Memory: Brain and Body in a Search for the Living Past: A Practical Guide for Understanding and Working with Traumatic Memory

By Peter A. Levine Ph.D. (Author), Bessel A. van der Kolk M.D. (Foreword) (2015)

From Amazon.com: “In Trauma and Memory, bestselling author Dr. Peter Levine (creator of the Somatic Experiencing approach) tackles one of the most difficult and controversial questions of PTSD/trauma therapy: Can we trust our memories? While some argue that traumatic memories are unreliable and not useful, others insist that we absolutely must rely on memory to make sense of past experience. Building on his 45 years of successful treatment of trauma and utilizing case studies from his own practice, Dr. Levine suggests that there are elements of truth in both camps. While acknowledging that memory can be trusted, he argues that the only truly useful memories are those that might initially seem to be the least reliable: memories stored in the body and not necessarily accessible by our conscious mind.

While much work has been done in the field of trauma studies to address “explicit” traumatic memories in the brain (such as intrusive thoughts or flashbacks), much less attention has been paid to how the body itself stores “implicit” memory, and how much of what we think of as “memory” actually comes to us through our (often unconsciously accessed) felt sense. By learning how to better understand this complex interplay of past and present, brain and body, we can adjust our relationship to past trauma and move into a more balanced, relaxed state of being. Written for trauma sufferers as well as mental health care practitioners, Trauma and Memory is a groundbreaking look at how memory is constructed and how influential memories are on our present state of being”.


Is Mindfulness Better Than Medication?

Dr. Tracey Marks, MD, Psychiatrist

April 3, 2019

Mindfulness’s attention to the here and now. It’s being fully present in the moment. You are experiencing the present moment and non-judgmental way. The brain model of depression is hypo-connectivity between the neurons in certain parts of the brain that regulate and process your emotions and a hyper connectivity in the default mode network. In this video I discussed what the default mode network is and how it relates to depression. I also discuss how mindfulness changes these connectivity patterns. Here are the specific structures of that brain that make up the default mode network. The posterior cingulate cortex (PCC; areas 23/31), the precuneus, and the medial frontal cortex (MFC, including areas 24/10-m/32), as well as bilateral inferior parietal and posterior temporal areas around the temporoparietal junction area. Here is how you download the body scan audio. Click this link: http://markspsychiatry.com/mindfulness/ References Matthew A. Killingsworth, Daniel T. Gilbert A Wandering Mind Is an Unhappy Mind. SCIENCE12 NOV 2010 : 932 Defines the structures in the Default Mode Network Yang CC, Barrós-Loscertales A, Pinazo D, et al. State and training effects of mindfulness meditation on brain networks reflect neuronal mechanisms of its antidepressant effect. Neural Plast. 2016;2016:9504642. Farb NA, Anderson AK, Segal ZV. The mindful brain and emotion regulation in mood disorders. Can J Psychiatry. 2012;57(2):70-7. V. A. Taylor, V. Daneault, J. Grant et al., “Impact of meditation training on the default mode network during a restful state,” Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 4–14, 2013. Defines/establishes the default mode network Gusnard DA, Akbudak E, Shulman GL, Raichle ME. Medial prefrontal cortex and self-referential mental activity: relation to a default mode of brain function. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2001;98(7):4259-64. Brown, K. W., West, A. M., Loverich, T. M., & Biegel, G. M. (2011). Assessing adolescent mindfulness: Validation of an Adapted Mindful Attention Awareness Scale in adolescent normative and psychiatric populations. Psychological Assessment, 23(4), 1023-1033 Article about neuroconnectivity as the basis for depression R. H. Kaiser, J. R. Andrews-Hanna, T. D. Wager, and D. A. Pizzagalli, “Large-scale network dysfunction in major depressive disorder: a meta-analysis of resting-state functional connectivity,” JAMA Psychiatry, vol. 72, no. 6, pp. 603–611, 2015. Mindfulness prevents relapse best in people with 3 or more episodes Ma, S. H., & Teasdale, J. D. (2004). Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Depression: Replication and Exploration of Differential Relapse Prevention Effects. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 72(1), 31-40. Disclaimer: All of the information on this channel is for educational purposes and not intended to be specific/personal medical advice from me to you. Watching the videos or getting answers to comments/question, does not establish a doctor-patient relationship. If you have your own doctor, perhaps these videos can help prepare you for your discussion with your doctor. I upload every Wednesday at 9am, and sometimes have extra videos in between. Subscribe to my channel so you don’t miss a video https://goo.gl/DFfT33

Category

Education

The Heart’s Intuitive Intelligence

The Heart’s Intuitive Intelligence: A path to personal, social and global coherence

HeartMathInstitute    (7 minutes, 19 seconds)

https://youtu.be/QdneZ4fIIHE

Published on Apr 22, 2013

The Spiritual Heart — is in a way a little like a smart phone, invisibly connecting us to a large network of information. It is through an unseen energy that the heart emits that humans are profoundly connected to all living things. The energy of the heart literally links us to each other. Every person’s heart contributes to a ‘collective field environment.’ This short video explains the importance of this connection and how we each add to this collective energy field. The energetic field of the heart even connects us with the earth itself.

The HeartMath Institute (http://www.heartmath.org) is helping provide a more comprehensive picture of this connection between all living things through a special science-based project called the Global Coherence Initiative (http:///www.heartmath.org/gci.) They hope to help explain the mysteries of this connection between people and the earth…and even the sun.

Scientists at the HeartMath Institute (HMI) have already conducted extensive research on the power of heart, the heart/brain connection, heart intelligence and practical intuition.

Whether personal relationships, social connections, or even the global community – we are all connected through a field of electromagnetic energy. Increasing individual awareness of what we bring to this field environment could be the key to creating a sustainable future, a future that we can be proud to have helped create. To learn more about this research please visit https://www.heartmath.org/about-us/videos/the-hearts-intuitive-intelligence/

Heartmath’s Quick Coherence Technique

Heartmath’s Quick Coherence Technique

Higher Journeys with Alexis Brooks  (3 minutes, 15 seconds)

https://youtu.be/VcjPsEiohoA

Published on Jun 21, 2013

A brief heart-based technique delivered by HeartMath’s Howard Martin to establish heart-brain coherence for well being.

Visit: http://www.heartmath.com for more information about the Quick Coherence Technique

The Importance of Resilience

The Importance of Resilience by HeartMath Institute

HeartMathInstitute  (4 minutes 35 seconds)

https://youtu.be/BU5IZlBlRBc

Published on July 7, 2015

This short video explains a practical resilience model, how it relates to coherence and the how much energy we have each day to do what’s really important in our lives. Learn more at:  https://www.heartmath.org/more

How Meditation, Placebos And Virtual Reality Help Power ‘Mind Over Body’

Science writer Jo Marchant investigated the healing power of the mind for her new book, Cure.

Science writer Jo Marchant investigated the healing power of the mind for her new book, Cure.

Jutta Kuss/Getty Images

How Meditation, Placebos And Virtual Reality Help Power ‘Mind Over Body’

Published January 26, 2016pm

Terry Gross interviews Jo Marchant, PhD, Science Writer

http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/01/26/464372009/how-meditation-placebos-and-virtual-reality-help-power-mind-over-body

Pain, Brain, and Depression: It isn’t all in your head…or in your body

Is pain just all in your head?

Pain, Brain, and Depression: It isn’t all in your head…or in your body

August 3rd, 2010

From National Institute for the Clinical Application of Behavioral Medicine

By Ruth Buczynski, PhD

https://www.nicabm.com/nicabmblog/pain-brain-and-depression-it-isnt-all-in-your-heador-in-your-body/