Holistic Psychiatry: How medication, trauma, bipolar disorder, and therapy interrelate

What we do: Psychotherapy and Education

Many of the symptoms for which people seek psychotherapeutic and psychiatric services arise from having experienced highly stressful or traumatic events. The common myth of trauma is that it only happens to people in war zones or to people who have suffered severe bodily harm. This is simply not true, trauma can be caused by common everyday occurrences like car accidents, surgery, domestic violence, childhood abandonment or abuse. In fact, the earlier and more relational the trauma was in a person’s life, the more they will be affected by it as adults and the less they will be able to recall any specific events that may have created it. Symptoms such as anxiety, depression, panic attacks, manic episodes, addictions, feeling disconnected or numb, disturbed boundaries and especially painful relationship patterns are common signs of trauma. At the Love and Trauma Center healing the resulting wounds is our primary focus and what we do best.

We created the Love and Trauma Center to provide the best therapeutic healing techniques to as many people as possible. Our faculty offers education to mental health and medical professionals, while our certified practitioners provide direct therapy services to individuals, couples, families and children.

Our Trainings

We offer highly technical, skill development focused, body based trauma trainings intended for mental health professionals and graduate students. First and foremost, the primary purpose of the training is to develop highly skilled trauma therapists. To do this, we focus on integrating theory, research, and strategic thinking with very experiential, hands-on, skill development. In fact, a full 50% of our trainings are dedicated to practicing skills under supervision. Many students find the trainings to be demanding insofar as they require a high level of intellectual engagement, working with one’s own personal history of stress and trauma, and mastering a set of skills that are beyond the scope of what is taught in traditional counseling programs.

Next Steps

To learn more about this topic and our approach, watch one of our free online videos which contain excepts from our trainings and actual therapy sessions.

You can also attend one of our free 3 hour workshops or meet us at the 2012 International Congress of Body Psychotherapy academic conference where Dr. Eric Wolterstorff will be presenting along with Steven Porges and Daniel Stern.

You can also download four chapters from Dr. Wolterstorff’s book, Love and Trauma: Healing trauma and its effects on ourselves and our relationships.