Trauma and PTSD therapists in Chamonix, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France FR

PHOBIAS, PANIC ATTACKS AND POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS The brain has an emotional alarm system designed to keep us safe. When people suffer from panic attacks, phobias or post-traumatic stress, it is because the system has gone into overdrive. What happens is this. There is a small, structure in the brain, known as the amygdala (Greek for almond, which is its shape), that has access to our emotional memories and learned responses. It evolved in the distant past and its job is to match new circumstances to what is already in the store and alert us to anything that previously represented a risk and might do so again. In the distant past, this might have been a movement or flash of colour that could have signified an approaching predator. The amygdala would then have triggered changes to help the body get ready to fight or flee the danger – pounding heart, racing pulse, quick, shallow breathing, etc. Now imagine this. A young woman, who has had a highly stressful day, is waiting in a long supermarket queue, worrying whether she’ll be out of the shop in time to catch the bus to school to collect her little girl. It is one pressure too many. The amygdala responds as if she is under threat and she starts to feel her heart pounding strangely and her breathing quickens. She becomes terrified that she is having a heart attack and that makes the symptoms escalate – her palms sweat; her chest feels as if it is bursting and she struggles to breathe. Soon she feels overwhelmed and may collapse or run out of the shop. The amygdala, fearful that this could happen again, files away the fact that there were bright lights and lots of people queuing when the ‘threat’ occurred. Then, when the woman is queuing in the post office the next day, the bright lights and queue may be sufficient for the over-vigilant amygdala to trigger another panic attack to deal with the new ‘threat’. Phobias start the same way – the amygdala makes associations with what was going on when a person first felt threatened, not all of which may be relevant. So, while it is understandable that someone who is attacked by a vicious dog may well develop a fear of dogs generally, it could equally be the case that someone develops a fear of broken glass because, on a previous occasion, when they had had a panic attack, there was broken glass lying near to where they collapsed. Agoraphobia develops when someone is too frightened of panic attacks even to leave the house. In the case of post-traumatic stress, someone who was in the back seat of a car when a collision occurred may find it frightening to travel in the back seat again but there may be other, unconscious, connections with the accident too, such as the smell of petrol. So the person may experience seemingly inexplicable panic when filling up their own car with petrol. Fortunately, human givens practitioners are taught a simple and effective way to deal with all these circumstances. If a traumatic memory is causing panic attacks, phobias or post-traumatic stress, they can use a powerful, painless visualisation procedure, known as the rewind technique, to take the emotion out of the memory and enable the memory of the event to be stored away as history, instead of as one that continues to intrude on the present. The memory remains, and always will remain, a deeply unpleasant one but no longer is it emotionally arousing. This method can work swiftly and reliably even in the most extreme of cases.  

Trauma is the experience not just of what happened to us, but by how our bodies, neurology, and hearts respond to what happened to us. Traumas of 'small t' and traumas of 'big T' both create adaptions to our true selves that can lead in our being 'stuck' in ways that don't serve us, that may create more trauma, or disconnection from our true selves and to our relationships with others. We have multiple ways of healing trauma, including complex traumas, including Flash Therapy, EMDR, hypnosis, somatic work, art therapy and more. Coming back to your true self, perhaps for the first time, is not a journey to be missed.  

I have a particular interest in working in a trauma informed way and am committed to ongoing CPD specialising in this field. I am continuing to study this with a level 5 certificate in CPTSD currently. I may also use an IFS approach if this is appropriate and provide psycho education in relation to the autonomic nervous system, 5 f's, amygdala, triggers and encourage clients to practice the opposing relaxation responses, starting with basic breathing exercises which are the bodies' natural calming response.  

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are unfortunately way more common than many people think. A strong link has been found my many studies between ACEs and physical and mental health problems in later life. Traumatic experiences can also take place in adolescence and adulthood. For some, the impact is greatly distressing and life-limiting, such as in the cases of having post-traumatic-stress disorder. Many of the people I have come to work with have lived through often multiple adversities and traumatic experiences, throughout their lives. I offer a confidential space where we can think together about the way such experiences have affected you and the parts of you that can change and develop in order to integrate and move on from past traumas.