Navigating Trauma: Analyzing Traumatic Memory, Arousal Regulation, and Evidence-Based Treatments

Course overview

Trauma Processing, actively addressing and desensitizing traumatic memories, is one of the most intense and unpredictable stages of trauma treatment. Clinicians often have little training or understanding about what actually occurs in the brain during the trauma processing stage of trauma treatment. In this webinar, Dr. Fatter will describe the impact of traumatic stress on the brain. Dr. Fatter will also discuss what clinicians need to know about the nature of traumatic memory and the role of arousal management during trauma processing. Three evidenced-based trauma treatments will be reviewed that are commonly used by clinicians during trauma processing: Cognitive Processing Therapy, Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) and Internal Family Systems (IFS). In addition, research on what contributes to therapy dropout, cultural competency considerations, and what clinicians can do to set up this stage of trauma treatment for success will be presented. Case examples, limitations, and risks of each model will also be discussed.