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Domestic and social violence, wars and natural disasters are a daily reality for all too many people in today's world.
Mental health professionals are increasingly challenged to find safe and effective methods of treating the survivors of psychological trauma.
Until now, such methods have been largely unavailable.
Today, The Therapeutic Spiral ModelTM (Hudgins, In Press, 2002, 2000) provides safe, effective and fast acting recovery for all trauma survivors, using experiential methods of change. Neurological changes being found in the brains of people who have experienced violence show that action methods provide the most effective route to healing. (van der Kolk, 2004).
Find out more about Therapeutic Spiral International and how we train professionals in various parts of the world to heal the psychological effects of trauma using the Therapeutic Spiral Model.
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Keynote Speech, University of Wisconsin conference on Trauma, Healing and Recovery, May 25th.
Kate Hudgins, Ph.D., TEP
Keynote for "Trauma, Recovery and Healing" conference at University of Wiconsin-Parkside, Kenosha, Wis.
May 24, 2005
I am starting today’s talk by saying: Recovery is possible after trauma! There is hope for you, your family and friends, your clients, our schools, our society and the global community. No matter what you have experienced in your life, healing can happen. I know this from my personal and professional experience.
I am a woman with a family history of alcoholism, addiction, and childhood sexual abuse. I grew up in a wealthy, powerful, and very dysfunctional family in the 1950s in Miami, Florida. I am also a clinical psychologist who has studied trauma and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and worked with many patients with PTSD for many years. I work internationally as a trainer of psychodrama, sociometry and group psychotherapy and developed a safe system of action therapy for trauma survivors called the Therapeutic Spiral Model™ -- which you will hear more about later. I love my work. I love my life today. But, I will tell you, that was not always true.
For more than 20 years, I sought out therapists, psychiatrists, counselors and healers without much success. I lost two marriages. I surrendered my psychology license rather than defend myself against a complaint that I considered unfair. I turned to alcohol and marijuana to dull the pain. Finally, I found the help I needed and this is what I want to offer you today: my experience, both personal and professional.
I want to share with you what I know about trauma, recovery and healing. I want to tell you what worked for me and what you can do to find healing for yourself and people around you. I want you to leave this conference filled with knowledge about trauma. Most of all, I want you to take away hope for the future. Healing is possible for everyone. I am a living testimony to that fact!
What is Trauma?
By definition, trauma is caused by overwhelming stress that overcomes your normal coping mechanisms. Trauma is a real event that causes so much emotional and/or physical pain that your mind cannot cope with it. It is just too much for anyone to handle. That pain can stem from childhood abuse, as was the case in my life. It can also come from more mundane forms of living life on life’s terms.
Trauma can be caused by the normal circumstances of being human---sudden loss of someone you love to illness or accident. Natural catastrophes like fires, hurricanes, tornados, floods or earthquakes. And unfortunately, in today’s world, there are many circumstances where human-made violence only adds to the natural traumas of daily life.
We can all identify with how our world changed on Sept. 11 when terrorists destroyed not only the Twin Towers but also our sense of personal security and collective safety. Close to home, there are guns in our schools, drive-by shootings, gang violence, alcoholic families, domestic violence, and child physical and sexual abuse. Many of us have also been affected by spiritual abuse, which has been in everyone’s awareness as the Catholic Church has had to deal with decades of secrecy over pedophile priests, as well as the spiritual damage by chronic racism and prejudice. All of us know the damage of war as it has come to our families, once again in Iraq, following decades of conflict from World War I to Vietnam, now in the Middle East.
Many of you may be trauma survivors. Others of you work with people who have experienced overwhelming stress. Even if you don’t recognize it, most of you know a few people who have known trauma in their lives. I am here today to help each and every one of you take a step in healing the ravages of trauma in your lives.
The problem with violence and trauma in our lives is that people don’t talk about it. There is a societal taboo about sharing our experiences of overwhelming stress. We are supposed to suck it up, go it alone, take care of things inside the family without seeking outside help. This secrecy often leads to alcoholism, drug abuse, eating disorders and other maladaptive ways of dealing with the pain.
Unfortunately, secrecy and denial only creates a cycle of violence that repeats itself endlessly in our family, schools, and community. People who have experienced trauma often unwittingly act out what was done to them in their relationships with others. No doubt most of you can give an example of this happening in your lives.
People are asked to stand up if they have experienced the following traumas in their lives, ONLY if they choose to share. After each question, people have a moment to share with someone close to them.
1) Who has lost someone important in your life? Expected or unexpectedly?
2) Who knows someone who has experienced violence in their lives?
3) Who treats people who have experienced overwhelming stress in their lives?
As we look at our group sharing their own experiences with trauma and violence, we see that many of us are personally and professionally affected by overwhelming stress. As Bessel van der Kolk, a noted Harvard neuroscientist who has written extensively about overwhelming stress, (1996) says:
“Experiencing trauma is a natural part of being human.”
What I want you to know today is--the cycle of violence and trauma can stop --and it can stop with you. So let’s talk about trauma, about our responses to it, and what needs to be done to make things better, to promote recovery, and ultimately to achieve healing from the past.
What Happens with Trauma?
For many years, doctors, nurses, psychologists, social workers, pastors, counselors, teachers, and families have seen the effects of trauma on the people who come to them seeking help. We see families torn apart by alcoholism, addiction, and abuse. We see dissociation--people living their lives with no emotional connection to what they are doing. We see families destroyed by dysfunction they could not control. We witness people repeating the violence they experienced in childhood, repeating it in their own families--domestic violence between spouses, childhood physical, sexual and emotional abuse, school violence and community disruption. We also see these same violent phenomena repeated at the global level of terrorism, war, and genocide.
Historical Treatment of Trauma
Let me tell you about how our thinking about trauma has changed during the last 75 years. How our soldiers have been treated shows the changes most easily.
World Wars I and II
During World War I soldiers who experienced overwhelming stress were told they had “shell shock.” In World War II, the same symptoms—constant re-experiencing of battle scenes, scenes of their buddies dying beside them, feelings of despair and loss—were called “battle fatigue.” In both wars, soldiers were given medical treatment for their physical injuries that gave them the briefest time in the hospital. No one talked to them about what the traumatic experiences that surrounded their physical injury. They were told that to talk about it only made it worse. Then they were immediately sent back into battle without psychological treatment or even pastoral counseling. Some of you may have fathers, uncles, brothers, friends and grandfathers who were hurt in these wars and were said to “never be the same again” when they came home. Many still don’t talk about it.
The Vietnam War
During the Vietnam War, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder became an official medical diagnosis for the first time. Medical professionals began to understand that the long-lasting psychological effects of the violence experienced in war were serious and could be treated, producing better adjustment in life following the war. This led to individual counseling from doctors, psychologists, social workers and pastors. Community and peer support groups at Veterans' Centers allowed people to share their experiences with each other. Addiction and alcoholism were seen as ways to cope with pain, ways that needed to be changed. People were encouraged to go to Alcoholics Anonymous and other programs of self-care. And yet, many of you know people who went to Vietnam, who also “were never the same when they came home.”
In my own life, I remember my boyfriend’s cousin who came home from Vietnam. We were having a lovely family barbecue on July 4, 1969. Fireworks unexpectedly went off in the neighborhood. Jim immediately dived under the picnic table, shaking and yelling “Dive, dive, dive!" We were stunned. I was 16. I had no idea what was happening or what to do. My boyfriend’s father quietly crawled under the table and said, “Hey Jim, It’s OK. You’re home. You’re safe now.”
With great shame and embarrassment, Jim came out from under the table and we all embraced him and told him it was OK.
Later, during my internship at the well-known St. Elizabeths Hospital in Washington, D.C., I was leading a group with my fellow interns. There was a conflict in the group. I pantomimed handing out guns and told people to “take their sides.” A few minutes later, there was laugher as we enacted a mock gun battle -- like young children playing soldiers. Suddenly, one of my peers went into a flashback of being in Vietnam. He was screaming and crying about having to kill women and children. He was clearly back in the jungles of Vietnam, no longer aware that he was a student in our training group. I took a deep breath and used all my skills to lead the veteran and the man to a safe place once again.
On that day, our group members offered the strength he needed to come out of the past and forgive himself in the present. One woman offered compassion. Another gave him unconditional love. His best friend in the group said, “I understand, man, I was also there.” The pastoral counselor in the group, a Methodist minister, offered a blessing of forgiveness. We all stood on the psychodrama stage, holding hands, and asking God to bring forgiveness to him and everyone who was in Vietnam and any other war. We welcomed him back into the containment of our love and compassion as a group of people learning how to use action methods to heal ourselves and others. It was humanity in action.
This moment was the beginning of the Therapeutic Spiral Model, the system of experiential therapy that I have developed with my colleagues and clients to treat PTSD safely and effectively..
Hope For Those Returning from the Middle East
Today, soldiers returning from the Gulf War, Afghanistan, and Iraq are being offered family support, intensive psychological counseling, and community programs to deal with the horrors they experienced during these wars. Post-Traumatic Stress is gradually being recognized as a normal response to abnormal experiences of overwhelming stress and loss. While there still remains a stigma about asking for psychological help, the military is coming to understand that anyone, no matter how strong, can be affected by the violence experienced in war, and most importantly that they can be treated and return to service and to their families, a stronger, more resilient person than before. There is hope for the future.
Neurobiological Changes in the Brain
A recent influence on the treatment of trauma has been the advances in neuroscience and the study of the brain. In the last 15 years, advances in technology have brought new information about the effects of violence on the brain. The latest research shows significant brain changes in people who have experienced overwhelming stress regardless of what caused the actual stress.
While I cannot go into great detail in this short keynote speech, I do want to tell you about three brain changes that happen in many people who suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) (van der Kolk, 1996, 2003, 2004).
1) The early warning system of the brain is a small almond-shaped area in the emotional center of the brain called the amygdala. When someone suffers PTSD, the amygdala is always turned on. It is constantly yelling, "Danger, danger, danger!" —even when there is NO danger in the present. This causes agitation, hypervigilence, and an ever-present feeling of being unsafe, affecting all interpersonal relationships and day-to-day living.
2) Brain scans now show that unprocessed trauma is stored in the nonverbal, emotional centers of the brain. This is what causes the body memories, sensory flashbacks of the traumatic event, and intrusive and intense feelings that can flood people with PTSD at a moment’s notice. This leads to people avoiding anything that reminds them of the trauma causing them to isolate and lead a constricted life in hopes that they won’t be triggered into uncontrolled emotions and body sensations.
3) The third brain change is a disconnection between the right and left brain functions. The right brain holds emotions. The left brain is the place where the brain makes meaning and puts words on what has happened. What trauma happens, the brain is flooded repeatedly by a stress hormone called Cortisol. Cortisol interrupts the transfer of information from the emotional to the meaning making centers of the brain, affecting memory so that people with PTSD cannot fully process what happened to them.
Together these three brain changes leave people with PTSD with a wide range of nonverbal and emotional symptoms that they often experience as crazy making. This in turns causes them to isolate, hide their symptoms, and lead a life of secrecy so other people won’t think they are crazy. As I know, it is a lonely and exhausting way of life.
Fortunately, knowing about these brain changes is actually helping practitioners find more effective treatments for people with PTSD. It also helps normalize the often confusing, varied and intense symptoms of PTSD. People are NOT crazy. Their brains are simply unable to process the emotions of the traumatic event and that causes the body memories, sensory flashbacks and intrusive emotions that are part of PTSD. Symptoms become understandable and this alone decreases shame and isolation and gives hope to people who have experienced overwhelming stress whether it is from a natural loss or catastrophe or from human made violence.
What Can You Do to Stop the Cycle of Violence?
There are two areas of change that we need to think about today. The first is to how to decrease our experience of trauma and overwhelming stress in our own lives. This can be as simple as not over-exposing your self to media images of violence on a daily basis. It can be as profound as devoting your life to caring for others as Mother Teresa did.
After each question, people will be asked to share their ideas with the large group.
1) Who has found a personal way to decrease violence in your life?
2) Who has discovered what works in their family to protect their children from overexposure to violence?
3) Who has methods of change to offer their clients and consumers when they are dealing with trauma?
Your Response to Trauma
The second area of change is how we respond to trauma in our own lives and the lives of others. If a child is sexually abused but is able to tell a responsible adult, be believed, and supported at the time of the abuse, the long-term impact is lessened considerably. Grief groups following school shootings help with the fear and loss that students, families and communities feel.
Encouraging a child who is being bullied to seek out friends in school and talk to their teachers and families rather than remaining silent gives them ways to stop the bullying. Family counseling as part of addiction treatment can help repair families so they can stay together and gain strength from one another.
Community training like this one can help teach people what to expect and what you can do to gain a sense of empowerment following situations like Sept. 11. Most importantly, you can break the cycle of violence by stopping the cycle of silence and secrecy.
Treatment Options
Today there are many options to treat the effects of overwhelming stress. In my own recovery, I have sought out 12-Step programs, long-term individual therapy, psychodrama groups, and spiritual healing with a Mohawk medicine woman. The helpers I found assisted me to let go of the past by safely releasing my emotions and processing what happened to me as a child and how I had repeated some patterns as an adult.
Today, you and the people you treat, as well as your family and friends don’t have to wander from one practitioner to another until you just happen to find someone who can help. Today, at this conference you can learn about many resources for yourself and others. We have experts to teach you about:
§ Understanding Secondary Trauma, Karen Carnabucci and Kate Hudgins
§ The Wounds of War, Jon R. Christensen
§ Mending My Body Mending My Mind, Laura Kern
§ Teasing, Ignoring & Violence: It's All Bullying, Phil Williamson & Rachel Quebbeman
§ Strength-Based Solutions for Dealing with Trauma in Psychotherapeutic Settings, Terri Kading-Wheeler and Thomas K. Galten,
§ The Many Faces of Child Abuse, Thomas K. Galten
§ How Clergy and Churches Can Support Survivors of Abuse, Kathryn Jones,
§ Experiential Therapy with PTSD, Kate Hudgins & Karen Carnabucci
§ The Trauma of Racism and Prejudice, Rochelle Anderson-Moore & community panel
§ New Frontiers of Batterers Treatment, Kevin Hamberger
§ Treatment of Adult Survivors of Sexual Abuse, Lauren Murphy Payne,
I also encourage you to attend our special all-conference program --the last program of the day -- which will take a look at how we, as people who work with trauma as professionals or volunteers – and how we can rejuvenate and stay resilient while we do our healing work.
Personally, what made the difference in terms of developmental repair for me was experiential, or action methods, of change. In my case, that was classical psychodrama and the spiritual healing of Native American ceremonies and teachings. Before that, I could understand and manage my symptoms but they were still there, always haunting me.
Today, I am blessed to feel whole, to have a connection to a higher power, which for me is "Gitche Manitou," the Creator of Native Teachings. I have a good marriage to a man I deeply love and value. I have made amends to my son who suffered through my PTSD and my alcoholism. I have good friends who have seen me through the depths of despair, the surrender of my psychology license, and recovery from addiction. Most of all, I have forgiven myself for not doing any better than I could with the resources I had.
Professionally, I have created a psychological model of care, The Therapeutic Spiral, which has helped thousands of people in more a dozen countries around the world. I am proud to have been part of building a community of healers, counselors, teachers, physicians and parents who are passing on the knowledge that experiential methods of change can make a difference for people with PTSD. I am blessed to have helped develop teams of like-minded people in the United States, Canada, Australia, mainland China, England, South Africa, and Taiwan to name a few places I have worked in the past 10 years. I thank God everyday that I can stand up in front of people like you, offering hope and healing.
You have two handouts in your packets that list 10 points about trauma and 10 points about experiential methods of change. I’d like to end this keynote speech by telling you three simple things you can do to stop the cycle of violence.
1) Talk about trauma. Talk about violence. Break the cycle of secrecy. Reach out to people you know have experienced trauma whether in your family, your schools, your practice, or your community. This alone can make a difference for a huge number of people. Show them it is all right to talk about their experiences. And if this level of talking doesn’t give people what they need, encourage them to talk to professionals who know about trauma—doctors, nurses, psychologists, social workers, pastors, and teachers. A responsible adult is what is needed. Help people find one.
2) You can also add experiential methods and interventions to what you do when you are working with trauma survivors. Have your clients draw, listen to music, add bodywork, join a psychodrama group, or seek out spiritual healing that includes the body, mind, heart, and spirit. These action methods help people bridge the gap between the nonverbal symptoms of PTSD and the words needed to describe, share, and process what happened to them.
3) Share your own experience. Don’t be ashamed of your past. Know you have done the best you could do at any moment in time. Forgive yourself. Forgive others. Love is truly the answer. This is what I have done and it does truly make a difference in my life and the lives of other trauma survivors.
It really is that simple.
All material is taken from my book “Experiential Treatment of PTSD: The Therapeutic Spiral Model. (Hudgins, 2002) and my own experience as a trauma survivor and woman who healed from abuse and addiction. You can reach me at my e-mail address: drkatetsi@mac.com. I welcome you to contact me directly and always answer my e-mails personally.
Therapeutic Spiral International, the training and healing center I have developed to bring the Therapeutic Spiral Model to people around the world has a web site you can go to get additional information on trauma as well the action methods we believe will help them. Please go to www.therapeuticspiral.org for further information.
Please join our discussion group to discuss trauma and recovery with like-minded people at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Therapeutic-Spiral
I look forward to hearing from many of you and wish you love in your lives.
