Healing the Fragmented Selves of Trauma Survivors

Fisher, Janina

doi:10.4324/9781315886169

Cited by 87 publications

(84 citation statements)

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“…Compartmentalisation allows individuals to live with otherwise irreconcilable conflicts 29. This separation allows athletes to believe they can keep external stressors from influencing performance 26 30–32.…”

Section: Diagnosismentioning

confidence: 99%

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other trauma-related mental disorders in elite athletes: a narrative review

et al. 2019

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This narrative review examines post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other trauma-related disorders—mental health conditions with complex diagnosis and treatment considerations—in elite athletes. Athletes may exhibit greater rates of PTSD (up to 13%–25% in some athlete populations) and other trauma-related disorders relative to the general population. We describe common inciting events leading to symptoms of PTSD in elite athletes, including trauma incurred in sports participation through direct physical injury, secondary/witnessed traumatic events, or abusive dynamics within sports teams. Symptoms of PTSD may significantly impact athletes’ psychosocial and sport-related function through avoidance, hypervigilance and dissociative behaviours, which, in turn, may delay recovery from musculoskeletal injury.While PTSD may be common among elite athletes, recognition by providers who do not routinely screen for trauma-related disorders may be challenging because of the tendency of athletes to mask symptoms of PTSD and other trauma-related disorders. Early identification of athletes suffering from trauma-related symptoms, including those of acute stress disorder, may prevent progression to PTSD, while treatment of athletes already meeting criteria for PTSD may improve life functioning and sports performance outcomes. Current evidence supports increasing awareness of PTSD in athletes and use of screening tools to identify athletes who may benefit from trauma-informed medical or psychotherapeutic interventions.

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Section: Diagnosismentioning

confidence: 99%

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other trauma-related mental disorders in elite athletes: a narrative review

et al. 2019

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“…Traumatised individuals readily access younger self‐states within a CRM session, and initial education may involve an introduction to the mechanisms by which traumatic experience leads to structural dissociation (Van der Hart et al., ). There is often a process of getting to know different parts of the internal system, as in other models (Fisher, ; Schwartz, ). In CRM, the self‐states or parts may be resourced separately, for example, with their own helper animals and their own Special/Sacred Place, although the aim is always towards greater co‐consciousness, internal communication, and co‐operation among parts of the self.…”

Section: Crm For Complex Ptsd: Including the Dissociative Subtypementioning

confidence: 99%

The Comprehensive Resource Model^®: Overview of basic affects in adversity & effective treatment for complex reactions to trauma

Hull

Corrigan

2019

Couns and Psychother Res

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Much of the theoretical focus in post‐traumatic stress disorder has been on the role of the amygdala, the hippocampus and the prefrontal cortex. Crucially, in unresolved traumatic experiences that underlie clinical presentations, this focus misses the brain areas key to the defence responses of fight, flight and freeze—and the associated affects of anger, fear and grief. The periaqueductal gray in the midbrain, with the hypothalamus, is essential for these somatic and emotional responses to traumatic experiences. We argue that when treatment approaches thought to work at the higher brain levels have been ineffective, it is because they have failed to engage the midbrain and hypothalamic sources of the affective responses to the trauma and to the memory of it. Basic affects have been so overwhelming that dissociation, or a similarly protective neurochemical capping mechanism, has prevented full resolution of the affective content of the adversity. Treatment with the Comprehensive Resource Model® (CRM) aims to clear the clinically relevant residues of adverse experiences by resolving the emotional responses accessed through the body memories. When the trauma has led to overwhelming distress, and/or dissociation, there is a necessity for robust resourcing to be in place before the emotional intensity of that distress is accessed. Resourcing needs to be as proximal to the re‐experience as possible to promote complete resolution and in some psychotherapy modalities, the supports provided are somewhat remote from the crucial moments of processing. Therefore, we describe how the CRM seeks to have robustly resourced states present concurrently with traumatised states to avoid overwhelming emotional distress. This allows safe entry into the deepest pain residual from the traumatic event so that it is not overwhelming during processing of the memory, and does not lead to further dissociation, allowing the individual to remain fully present throughout. This “stepping into the affect” can then be so rapidly effective that we also argue that CRM is not an exposure treatment; re‐orientation to the deepest content of the experience resolves the residual distress quickly and permanently through memory reconsolidation. Re‐learning at upper brain levels will then follow from the revoking of the affective power, which has previously driven stimulus/context and response learning in the amygdala, hippocampus and prefrontal cortex.

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“…The symptoms are categorized by the label in the mental health world of "disordered" and may meet the criteria for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) (American Psychiatric Association, 2013, p. 279). However, some mental health professionals, military personnel, and survivors of trauma advocate for changing the conceptualization of PTSD from disorder to injury (PTSI) to reflect the responsive nature of the trauma reaction as opposed to a pathological occurrence (Fisher 2017;Ochberg, 2013). In this article, we propose that many of the "symptoms" identified in current trauma diagnoses could be viewed as evidence of adaptive responses in the face of overwhelming danger, and that the recovery process to work through these traumatic injuries is a heroic journey involving both risk and reward.…”

Section: Backdrop To a Journey Of Trauma Recoverymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Fisher (2017) describes this paradigm shift from a neurobiological lens: "if the brain and body are inherently adaptive, then the legacy of trauma responses must also reflect an attempt at adaptation, rather than evidence of pathology" (p. 1). Prominent PTSD symptoms may be evidence of survival resources that served as invaluable assets within the context of the trauma (Ogden, Minton, & Pain, 2006).…”

Section: Symptomology Through a Different Lensmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Nonetheless, when the child grows into adulthood, the hypervigilant brain, which at one time kept them safe, becomes progressively maladaptive. The pattern of endless scanning of the environment for danger often leads to false positives and results in chronic anxiety and relational difficulties (Fisher, 2017). Individuals stuck in hypervigilance see imminent danger where there is minimal risk.…”

Section: Symptomology Through a Different Lensmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Trauma Recovery: A Heroic Journey

Keck¹,

Compton²,

Schoeneberg³

et al. 2017

HeroSci

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Healing the Fragmented Selves of Trauma Survivors

Cited by 87 publications

References 0 publications

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other trauma-related mental disorders in elite athletes: a narrative review

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other trauma-related mental disorders in elite athletes: a narrative review

The Comprehensive Resource Model^®: Overview of basic affects in adversity & effective treatment for complex reactions to trauma

Trauma Recovery: A Heroic Journey

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Healing the Fragmented Selves of Trauma Survivors

Cited by 87 publications

References 0 publications

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other trauma-related mental disorders in elite athletes: a narrative review

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other trauma-related mental disorders in elite athletes: a narrative review

The Comprehensive Resource Model®: Overview of basic affects in adversity & effective treatment for complex reactions to trauma

Trauma Recovery: A Heroic Journey

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About

The Comprehensive Resource Model^®: Overview of basic affects in adversity & effective treatment for complex reactions to trauma