The Work:

Containment and Resolution

Containment and Resolution (CAR) is the primary form of somatic trauma therapy we utilize. It is an exposure therapy that focuses on organic body processes to resolve stress and trauma. The idea behind CAR is simple: it supports the release of traumatic charge through the natural mechanisms that are part of the nervous system. Just as when we overheat, our bodies use the mechanism of sweating to cool us down, so it is that when we become highly stressed or traumatized, our bodies have innate processes to release that charge.

There are a few key points that will help clarify the CAR process:

1) Stress and trauma are primarily non-cognitive phenomenon. While it is true that thoughts and beliefs are affected by stress and trauma, the body is the primary location where traumatic charge is held, where symptoms develop and where resolution is most effective. Trauma is common to the mammalian nervous system, and can be seen in animals (such as mice, deer, horses) that don’t have the capacity for higher cognitive beliefs. As humans, we have relatively the same responses to stress and trauma that other mammals have because we share the same basic autonomic nervous system structure.

2) Stress and trauma symptoms were at one point adaptive mechanisms that helped us survive a threat. If you are in a dangerous situation, be it domestic violence, a car accident, or in an unstable family with an alcoholic parent, it is very appropriate to be hyper-vigilant, nervous, ready to fight or flee (or collapse if that was the only way to survive). These symptoms were survival responses that make sense in a threatening context

3) For a number of reasons, stressful and traumatic charge can get locked into the nervous system and remain as reactive years later as the day the events occurred. Even after threats have completely disappeared, the ANS can retain activation in the form of anxiety, tension, compulsions, depression, and dissociation. With few exceptions, most wild mammals have an innate, autonomic process that turns on to release traumatic charge. The success of CAR is that it is not a new invention; rather it simply ignites the autonomic release process innate to the mammalian nervous system.

Psychotherapy

Love and Trauma Center therapists work with adults, teens and couples to treat trauma and attachment issues. These issues are often characterized by a mixture of the following: troubled relationships, anxiety, panic attacks, manic episodes, addiction, compulsive behavior and depression, as well as the more commonly recognized PTSD symptoms such as intrusive imagery, avoidance, and fear responses. We offer free psychotherapeutic consultations to help determine if our skill sets are appropriate for your needs and if there is a good personality match client and therapist.

Psychiatric Medicine

Integrative psychiatry is an approach to medicine and mental health that takes into account the many different elements that contribute to illness. The symptoms which people commonly seek professional help for are precisely just that, symptoms. The DSM-IV defines psychological disorders based on observed or reported symptom sets that have been given labels such as bi-polar disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, schizophrenia, et al. The causes of such condition are simply not addressed. However, causes are relevant. Just as a headache is a symptom that can come about by any number of causes such as dehydration, lack of sleep, hunger or some internal condition, mental illness is a series of symptoms that can be created by multiple causes. These causes can range from bio-chemical imbalances in the brain to nutrition to highly stressful or traumatic experiences lodged in the autonomic nervous system. Psychotropic medications treat the symptoms of mental disorders, not the disorder itself. It is the equivalent of taking an aspirin to decrease the pain of a headache without consideration for what brought it about and intervening at that level. Let us be clear here, this approach is necessary and valuable in many instances (especially with severely bio-chemically imbalanced individuals). However, for many other individuals whose symptoms are caused by traumatic experiences or disturbed family dynamics, or a combination of brain chemistry and circumstances, a pure medication approach is not appropriate and can lead to a life-time of medication support for otherwise resolvable ailments.

The integrative approach to mental health that we practice at the Love and Trauma Center seeks to heal the causes of the disorder itself. We prescribe medication as an adjunct with psychotherapy to soften symptoms enough to allow clients to organically engage in their own therapeutic work. We have an appreciation for the strengths and limitations of psychiatry and psychotherapy and use each to augment the other. We see symptom management as a starting point, resolving the actual cause of the disorder is our end goal.