Research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 2015 showed that the most commonly used treatments for PTSD—cognitive processing therapy (CPT) and prolonged exposure therapy (PE) may not be as effective as those in the medical community had hoped.Meanwhile, the number of American military veterans who struggle with PTSD and related co-occurring disorders (e.g. addiction, depression, and anxiety) continues to be a serious national health concern. Some reports show that more than 200,000 Vietnam War veterans still have PTSD and that around 13 percent of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans show signs of the disorder.
While those who receive CPT or PE therapy for PTSD do often show some improvement in their symptoms, most still meet the criteria for a PTSD diagnosis after the treatment period has ended. The reason may lie in the fact that these treatments focus largely on “thinking” part of the brain, and do not treat the underlying symptoms of trauma that are locked into the patient’s limbic system and physiological responses. As Meadows Senior Fellow Bessel van der Kolk says in his seminal work, “The Body Keeps The Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma:” “Psychologists usually try to help people use insight and understanding to manage their behavior. However, neuroscience research shows that very few psychological problems are the result of defects in understanding; most originate in pressures from deeper regions in the brain that drive our perception and attention. When the alarm bell of the emotional brain keeps signaling that you are in danger, no amount of insight will silence it.” Integrating Neurofeedback and Traditional Talk Therapies at The MeadowsDr. van der Kolk’s ongoing research shows that neurofeedback and biofeedback hold the keys to unlocking the parts of the brain where our automatic and unconscious trauma responses are stored. When a person has experienced a lot of prolonged exposure to stress and trauma, as those who have experience in combat often have, their limbic systems become over stimulated and get locked in a perpetual fight, flight, or freeze mode. When the limbic system reaches a critical mass of stress, the prefrontal lobe, where all of our rational thinking and decision-making takes place, gets shut off. Read more
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