Alternative Therapies
Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT)
Alternative Therapies
Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) treatment is a type of psychotherapy — or talk therapy — that utilizes a cognitive-behavioral approach. DBT emphasizes the psychosocial aspects of treatment.
The theory behind the approach is that some people are prone to react in a more intense and out-of-the-ordinary manner toward certain emotional situations, primarily those found in romantic, family and friend relationships. DBT theory suggests that some people’s arousal levels in such situations can increase far more quickly than the average person’s, attain a higher level of emotional stimulation, and take a significant amount of time to return to baseline arousal levels.
People who are sometimes diagnosed with borderline personality disorder experience extreme swings in their emotions, see the world in black-and-white shades, and seem to always be jumping from one crisis to another. Because few people understand such reactions — most of all their own family and a childhood that emphasized invalidation — they don’t have any methods for coping with these sudden, intense surges of emotion. DBT is a method for teaching skills that will help in this task.
Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR)
Extensive scientific and clinical research has determined that EMDR is an effective method to heal people heal from their past traumatic experiences. It's believed that past traumatic experiences continue to cause problems in our lives when the memory of that experience is not processed properly. Unprocessed memories contain all the negative emotions, thoughts and even the physical sensations that were present at the time of the event. When these memories are triggered, so are the negative elements of the initial event, causing symptoms of PTSD or other mental health disorders. EMDR therapy incorporates the use of eye movements and other forms of rhythmic bilateral (left-right) stimulation (for example, taps or tones). While clients simultaneously focus on the trauma memory and experience bilateral stimulation, the pain and the distress of the memory are reduced.
This type of therapy is intended to change how the memory is stored in the brain, thereby lowering or even eradicating the distressing symptoms.Anyone who has suffered past trauma can benefit from EMDR.
Neurofeedback
Neurofeedback is a non-drug, reward-based training system for your brain. The brain needs healthy fast- and slow-moving brainwave activity to function at its best. Neurofeedback, a form of biofeedback, works to change the electrical activity of your brain. It’s a non-invasive treatment that works toward improving the source of your unwanted symptoms.
All neurofeedback methods include EEG sensors that monitor your brainwaves, and a computer to send feedback back to you. There are different ways to receive this feedback. It can involve playing a game, listening to music, or watching a video.
The stimuli (game, music, or video) only operates smoothly when your brainwaves are functioning within an optimal range. This acts as a reward for your brain. When your brainwaves fire at a rate that’s not optimal, you’ll receive negative feedback (your movie pauses, the music stops, etc.). This tells your brain that something is out of balance and causes it to “figure out” how to return to a seamless movie, music, or game.
Over the course of a neurofeedback training program, your brain learns from this feedback. This can promote lasting structural changes within your brain. The brain then consistently operates within a more optimal range outside of your training sessions, alleviating your symptoms.
Neurofeedback is used to help many conditions such as: ADHD and ADD, stress disorders, anxiety, panic attacks, Asperger’s, depression, headaches, migraines, some forms of memory concerns, and sleep issues.
Somatic Experience
Revisioning Theory
Revisioning works through simulating the re-attachment in a mirror of elements of lost identity following grief or trauma. Clients often prefer Revisioning as they don't have to re-live traumatic events.
Revisioning has been found to activate the Mirror Neuron System and six additional brain networks . This creates more empathy for the client, which overrides grief and trauma.
The Somatic Experiencing® method is a body-oriented approach to the healing of trauma and other stress disorders. It is the life’s work of Dr. Peter A. Levine, resulting from his multidisciplinary study of stress physiology, psychology, ethology, biology, neuroscience, indigenous healing practices, and medical biophysics, together with over 45 years of successful clinical application. The SE™ approach releases traumatic shock, which is key to transforming PTSD and the wounds of emotional and early developmental attachment trauma.
Offers a framework to assess where a person is “stuck” in the fight, flight or freeze responses and provides clinical tools to resolve these fixated physiological states. It provides effective skills appropriate to a variety of healing professions including mental health, medicine, physical and occupational therapies, bodywork, addiction treatment, first response, education, and others.
Somatic Emotional Release (SER)
Somatic Emotional Release (SER) is an advanced therapeutic process that uses and expands on the principles of CranioSacral Therapy (CST). This modality helps to rid the body of the residual effects of trauma by unwinding areas of the body that are stuck in a holding pattern.
Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS)
TMS is a non-invasive method of brain stimulation that relies on electromagnetic induction using an insulated coil placed over the scalp, focused on an area of the brain thought to play a role in mood regulation. The coil generates brief magnetic pulses, which pass easily and painlessly through the skull and into the brain. The pulses generated are of the same type and strength as those generated by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machines. When these pulses are administered in rapid succession, it is referred to as “repetitive TMS “ or “rTMS”, which can produce longer lasting changes in brain activity.
TMS has been shown to be a safe and well-tolerated procedure that can be an effective treatment for patients with depression who have not benefitted from antidepressant medications or cannot tolerate antidepressant medications due to side-effects. TMS was FDA-cleared in 2008 and now is widely available at clinics and hospitals across the country.