trauma
The Problem of Sex Addiction
To be at risk for sex addiction, two psychological preconditions seem to exist during childhood:
Childhood Abuse or Neglect Can Lead to Elevated Stress Response Later in Life
If an individual was abused or neglected during childhood, he or she may have an elevated inflammatory response to stress later in life, according to a new study. The research was led by Linda Carpenter, associate professor of psychiatry and human behavior at Brown University who also treats patients with mood disorders at Butler Hospital.
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Troubled Children Can Increase Parents’ Stress, Even as Adults
Addiction and mental illnesses have been called "family diseases" because these types of behavioral health problems affect the well-being of the entire household. Now, researchers have proven that children who have led poor lifestyles—such as substance abuse, chronic behavioral health issues, problems with the law, or financial troubles— well into adulthood still pose a major threat to their parents’ overall well-being, even if their siblings were more successful in life.
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Trauma’s Effects on the Brain: Notes from a Presentation by Dr. Linda Chamberlain
When a wolf catches her foot in a trap, she experiences trauma. If she is able to get free in time to save her life, whether through her own devices or help from another being, she will have learned about the dangers of traps. But her brain will also have absorbed a pattern of responding to severe stress; and the experience may sear her memory with a track composed of hormones cascading into physiological response to fear and pain. This shortcut to high stress response may affect her behavior in other ways. Of course, if she is not freed from the trap in time, she will die. But the unmitigated stress response itself can become a negative adaptation, and cause the wolf version of post traumatic stress disorder. She experiences the fear of being caught in the trap over and over again, when even minor events trigger the response pattern of high levels of physiological fight or flight reactions that the brain has learned from the traumatic event.
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How to Help a Loved One Overcome Trauma
Traumatic events occur every day to untold numbers of people. But no matter how widespread the trauma, what it comes right down to is how trauma affects the individual. Trauma could be the result of a natural disaster, terrorism, mass violence, or it could be closer to home and involve domestic violence or sexual abuse, the loss of a job or economic stability. Sometimes it’s difficult to know where to start to help a loved one overcome trauma and resume a normal life, but there are some basic things that you can do.
Babies Can Remember Traumatic Events for Years
Most people are under the impression that infants younger than six months old do not remember traumatic events that happen to them or to their loved ones; however, this has recently been disproved.
Judy Siegel-Itzkovich of the Jerusalem Post reports that a professor of infant mental health announced to an audience of 300 at a Jerusalem conference that young children, even babies, “remember traumatic events in their bodies” with increases in stress hormones such as cortisol. She said that the event makes a distinct impression on them.
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Barbara Brawerman Develops Trauma Recovery Program at Promises
Promises’ integrated approach to treating alcohol and drug addiction offers those with a history of trauma or abuse an effective therapeutic approach to reduce future relapse triggers.
Los Angeles-based psychotherapist Barbara Brawerman, Psy.D, MFT, has teamed up with Promises Treatment Centers to develop a trauma recovery program that utilizes EMDR, an innovative method of psychotherapy involving eye movements and bilateral stimulation to desensitize and reprocess traumatic memories. The therapy is especially helpful for those in recovery for alcohol and drug addiction as it helps prevent relapse by addressing situations that trigger dysfunctional emotions.
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