The Neurobiology of Trauma

Course overview

How Trauma Overloads the Brain and Takes Away Its Ability to Cope Bessel van der Kolk, MD Dan Siegel, MD The key part of a traumatized brain that gives trauma such enormous power The critical factor that allows the brain to successfully cope with a traumatic event The brain science underlying neurobiological shut-down How Trauma Impacts Specific Areas of the Brain (And How This Can Affect Your Treatment) Ruth Lanius, MD, PhD Bessel van der Kolk, MD Dan Siegel, MD How the survival brain gets altered after a traumatic experience (and how to look for this in your client) Two hormones that leave the brain highly vulnerable when traumatic memories are forming What happens in the brain that makes some clients unable to distinguish threat cues from non-threatening stimuli The critical part of the brain stem impacted during trauma How to Prevent Dissociation and Its Negative Influence on Trauma Recovery Stephen Porges PhD Pat Ogden PhD Dan Siegel MD Why dissociation may be driving your clients trauma deeper into their nervous system How to work with dissociation and shift a clients reaction to trauma One strategy to prevent dissociation and retrain a clients trauma response Strategies to Foster Powerful Brain Integration After Trauma Pat Ogden, PhD Dan Siegel, MD Two distinct signs that your client might have impaired brain integration from trauma How the midbrain holds the key to the freeze response What posture reveals about a history of trauma, and how to work with it in the healing process Epigenetics and the Brain: How Trauma Affects Gene Expression Dan Siegel, MD Why systemic inflammation could be directly linked to how trauma impacts the brain