This book was conceived out of the authors' shared vision to synthesize key neurobiological developments with effective developments in clinical practice to offer both understanding and practical guidance for the many practitioners working to heal people burdened with traumatic sequelae. It is unique in bringing in all levels of the brain from the brainstem, through the thalamus and basal ganglia, to the limbic structures, including the older forms of cortex, to the neocortex. The book looks at the neurochemistry of peritraumatic dissociation (PD) and explores the effects on neuroplasticity and the eventual structural dissociation. Individual chapters focus on the definition of PD and tonic immobility (TI) and their associations with posttraumatic psychopathology, and review disturbances in self-referential processing and social cognition in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) related to early-life trauma. Separate chapters focus on the modulatory role of the neuropetides in attachment as well as autonomic regulation, and highlight mesolimbic dopamine (ML-DA) system as central to the experiences of affiliation, attachment urge when under threat, attachment urge during experience of safety, and to the distress of isolation and/or submission. The book while increasing awareness of different parts of the self and ultimately creating a more stable sense of self, also incorporates psychoanalytic, cognitive behavioral, and hypnotic methods, as well as specific ego state, somatic/sensorimotor therapies, eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR), and variations of EMDR suitable for working with trauma in the attachment period. The latter methods are explicitly information-processing methods that address affective and somatic modes of processing.

This book serves as a practice resource for social workers by making accessible the vast territory covered by the social, cognitive, and affective neurosciences over the past 20 years, helping the reader actively apply scientific findings to practice settings, populations, and cases. It features contributions from social work experts in four key areas of practice: generalist social work practice; social work in the schools and the child welfare system; in health and mental health; and in the criminal justice system. Each of the chapters is organized around practice, policy, and research implications, and includes case studies to enhance practice application. The impact the environment has on neural mechanisms and human life course trajectories is of particular focus. It is divided into four sections. Section A includes chapters devoted to social-cognitive neuroscience conceptualization of empathy, mirror neurons, complex childhood trauma, the impact of trauma and its treatment through discussion of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Section B covers child maltreatment and brain development, transition of youth from foster care, social work practices in schools for children with disabilities, and managing violence and aggression in school settings. Section C deals with several issues such as substance abuse, toxic stress and brain development in young homeless children and traumatic brain injuries. Neuroscientific implications for the juvenile justice and adult criminal justice systems are explained in Section D.

This book is a comprehensive guide to the basics of mindful hypnotherapy (MH), incorporating everything you need to understand the approach, apply it to clients in your clinical practice, and use it for your own personal edification and growth. MH is a treatment that combines the qualities from two highly effective and well-established treatment approaches: mindfulness and hypnotherapy. These approaches have separately been shown to be effective in the treatment of a wide array of disorders ranging from elevated stress or adjustment problems to more debilitating conditions such as major depressive disorder, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), substance use disorders, chronic pain, anxiety disorders, and more. This book is intended to be an additional tool in a therapist’s toolbox—a new approach that delivers a mindfulness-based intervention within a hypnotic context. The book is divided into three sections. The first section (Foundations) provides the conceptual basis for MH, research, discussion of hypnotic abilities, and basics for formulating hypnotic inductions and suggestions. The second section (Mindful Hypnotherapy by Session) provides a treatment manual for MH over eight sessions. It includes transcripts, hypnotic inductions, and guidance for individualization and tracking progress using the Mindful Self-Hypnosis Daily Practice Log. The third section (Conclusion) provides an overview of training and personal growth toward becoming a mindful hypnotherapist. This MH approach is long overdue, and over the course of the past 40 years, the fields of hypnotherapy and mindfulness have been compared and contrasted phenomenologically, physiologically, and neurologically. MH is an intervention that intentionally uses hypnosis (hypnotic induction and suggestion) to integrate mindfulness for personal or therapeutic benefit.

The book describes updated information on mechanisms of action of eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy. It delivers clear, concise treatment guidelines for students, practicing clinicians, supervisors, clinic directors, and hospital administrators involved in the treatment of those with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), Specific Phobias, and Panic Disorder. In EMDR therapy, various strategies can be employed to support the goals of stabilization and symptom reduction. Some stabilization strategies commonly used in EMDR therapy were developed in other traditions such as progressive relaxation, self-hypnosis, biofeedback, and meditation. The book provides an overview of the standard eight-phase model of EMDR therapy and the general three-pronged protocol that provides the framework for the specific treatment protocols for diagnostic groups. It briefly touches on clinical situations where the general principle of treatment planning based on the three-pronged protocol must give way to an initially inverted protocol for treatment planning that starts with reprocessing targets in the future, then on the present, and addresses past targets only after significant treatment gains have been achieved. The book explores the theoretical and practical aspects of the EMDR therapy approach to case formulation, treatment planning, and selecting and preparing patients with PTSD and other post-traumatic syndromes for EMDR reprocessing. Screening for a possible dissociative disorder is essential before offering EMDR reprocessing on either traumatic targets or resource installation. Case studies with transcripts illustrate the different protocols and further guide practitioners of EMDR therapy in informed decision-making.

Unhealed trauma causes distress in the body. When the nature of the distress overrides a person’s existing system for coping, or the trauma is not processed, survivors may numb themselves or seek a more pleasurable experience to escape. Such behavior is a completely natural response to unprocessed trauma. This book continues challenging the existing paradigms for treating addiction and related issues. Despite the longstanding existence of professional treatment in North America, recidivism is high. People are still dying at alarming rates not just from the opioid crisis that dominates news headlines, also from the impact of alcohol, cocaine, nicotine, and other maladaptive behaviors. Moreover, the social isolation and collective trauma caused by the COVID-19 pandemic added fuel to an already raging fire, revealing massive cracks in a system for care that is barely functional. In the authors’ assessment, no single drug, substance, or behavior is the culprit—the real issue is the untreated trauma that lurks underneath, causing people to seek out the relief of these substances in the first place. The literature and practice knowledge in the field of addictions have long identified untreated posttraumatic stress disorder as a relapse risk factor. There is a rich history of eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy’s role in helping to heal addiction at a holistic level due to the long-established connection between unprocessed trauma and addiction. EMDR therapists must remember that EMDR therapy is a complete system of psychotherapy and ought to be honored as such when conceptualizing cases connected to compulsive behavior, substance use disorders, or other addictions.

This book examines new research regarding battered women and cross-cultural and cross-national issues, and addressed issues ranging from murder--suicide in domestic violence cases to proposed legislation and congressional resolutions. It reflects new research on traumatic responses, and addresses trauma-informed and trauma-specific psychotherapy, interventions with youth in juvenile detention centers, information from government task forces regarding children exposed to violence and juvenile justice, and new findings regarding the application of psychology to the legal system. Some of the battered women who already have been identified with a mental disorder that is exacerbated by the abuse or those who develop battered woman syndrome and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) from the abuse itself may need some psychotherapy to help them heal and move on with their lives. The link between sex trafficking and domestic violence has also become much better known within the last 10 years. The concept of learned helplessness has been quite useful in expert witness testimony to help jurors understand how difficult it is for women to leave the relationship and why some women become so desperate that they must arm themselves against batterers. To eradicate domestic violence and violence in the community, people must stop modeling both sexist and violent behavior and change the divorce laws to empower children and abused women so they are no longer victimized by the abusers.

The inner subjective world of the mind was historically relegated to the margins of social science, confined instead within the traditional domains of psychology and psychoanalysis. In the seven years since the first edition of this book was written, many developments in the fields of neuroscience and psychotherapy that were just beginning to appear on the horizon have received a massive increase in interest and study. Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is so profoundly guided by the adaptive information processing (AIP) model, it is crucial to examine how it measures up to researched neurobiological models of consciousness and information processing. The book is written with language that is not only technical but also suitable as an introduction to the neural underpinnings of consciousness and EMDR. It examines pertinent neuroscience research related to the understanding of consciousness, information processing, and traumatic disorders of consciousness. The book first presents with basic research in the neurosciences relevant to online/wakeful information processing, which includes sensation, perception, somatosensory integration, cognition, memory, emotion, language, and motricity. The second section examines the neuroscience research relevant to disorders of consciousness, which include anesthesia, coma, and other neurological disorders. Major focus is given to the disorders of type I posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), complex PTSD/dissociative disorders, and personality disorders. The third section presents the reader with an examination of neuroscience research relevant to chronic trauma and autoimmune function. A number of medical illnesses, collectively known as “medically unexplained symptoms”, are examined. These include fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, reflex sympathetic dystrophy, systemic lupus erythematosus, type 1 diabetes, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, Graves’ disease, multiple sclerosis, Sjögren’s syndrome, and rheumatoid arthritis. The final section examines the foregoing material with respect to the AIP model. It explores treatment implications vis-à-vis the various types of PTSD and the presentations of medically unexplained symptoms.

This book is the result of the author’s 30+ years of military service and extensive experience as an eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapist, EMDR International Association (EMDRIA) approved consultant, and an EMDR-approved trainer who specializes in training mental health providers who treat military and veteran populations. It includes a lifetime of lessons learned in working with military personnel and veterans. It also includes a paradigm for evaluating the military personnel and veteran’s initial clinical presentation in the opening minutes in the office. The book describes how to use nuances of the military culture to present a motivating treatment plan. It provides numerous case examples to illustrate intervention strategies across the treatment spectrum while treating military personnel and veterans. Illustrations range from single-incident traumas to complex posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and moral injury. The chapters include complex cases, including suicidality, moral injury, military sexual trauma (MST), and dissociative exhibitions. It highlights the use of the EMDR eight-phase standard protocol. The overall goal of the book is to provide a resource for empowering EMDR-trained therapists to provide the most effective treatment available to our military and veteran populations who bring with them a wide range of clinical rules of engagement in the therapist’s office. The book fills the void of many therapists who are trained in EMDR therapy but wish they had a “go-to” manual on how to deal with unique treatment issues in treating military personnel and veterans. The author translates how to present clinical psychotherapy material into an approach that enables this special population to understand and willingly engage in treatment. The book’s intended audience consists of EMDR-trained psychotherapists who treat military personnel, veterans, first responders, and their families including therapists attending EMDR therapy basic trainings, EMDR advanced trainings, EMDRIA conferences, and online EMDR continuing education programs.

This book provides an overview of the three areas of family violence (i.e., child abuse, intimate partner abuse, and older adult abuse). It includes plentiful case examples, real-life stories, keywords, and discussion questions; the Test Bank is updated to align with changes in the chapters. In the area of child abuse, expanded information is provided on the various agencies working with abused children and on being an expert witness for the courts. In the area of intimate partner violence, additional information is provided on male victims of female perpetrators along with theoretical underpinnings, assessment instruments, and treatment options for both male and female victims and perpetrators. A section is added on the use of social media in precluding and enabling perpetrators. At-risk populations are expanded to include sex-trafficking victims; veterans of war suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD); middle-class families; Native Americans; and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) families. In the area of older adult abuse, chapters reflect recent policies and terminology to make clearer distinctions in the information contained within the chapters. Major changes in understanding old age assistance are made with emphasis on the different typologies of behaviors of various abusers, thus reducing the focus on caregiver stress as synonymous with older adult abuse.

Psychological trauma can occur when a person experiences an extreme stressor that negatively affects his or her emotional or physical well-being. This book encompasses theories, diagnosis, and treatment as well as how trauma affects family members and caregivers. It also addresses the variables of gender, race/ethnicity, and culture as they bear on trauma psychology and the potential health consequences of trauma. In addition, the book illuminates controversies in the field and such emerging topics as posttraumatic growth (PTG), multiple traumas, and how traumatic events affect communities. A person could be diagnosed with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) only if he or she experienced a criterion A stressor, which comprises two components: the person experienced, witnessed events that involved actual threatened death/serious injury, or a threat to the physical integrity of self/others, and the person’s response involved intense fear, helplessness, or horror. Given the serious often life-threatening conditions that trauma survivors often have, an adequate health care system response is perhaps the most pressing need of survivors of traumatic events. Children of parents with PTSD often describe damaged, preoccupied parents who are emotionally limited. Self-care is critical when someone works with clients or patients who have experienced trauma. Burnout is possible, as are compassion fatigue and secondary traumatic stress. Evidence-based treatments for PTSD can be cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) interventions, such as prolonged exposure therapy, cognitive processing therapy (CPT), and eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR). The book also deals with alternative medicine treatments such as meditation and dance therapy and movement.