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Negotiating Emotion

by Theresa on April 23, 2019 in DID, Emotions, english, for helpers, Self-regulation

It is normal for traumatized people to avoid the sensation of emotion. TraumaTime taught us that it is too much to handle. Since we are not living in TraumaTime anymore and emotion is a big part of feeling alive and happy, it is time to get in touch with our feelings again. The level of […]

Epiphany #5: The State of Shame

by Theresa on April 20, 2019 in english, other

Our stress responses come with emotions attached. In flight we feel fear, in fight anger. The emotion that belongs to freeze is shame. In freeze we submit to the one stronger than us, an ancient way of creating a social hierarchy. Shame supports that by telling us our place. “The story follows the state“. We […]

The Polyvagal Ladder

by Theresa on April 17, 2019 in basics, english, Self-regulation, theory

When I first wrote about the polyvagal theory I didn’t expect you to be interested. But there has been an ever increasing demand for more information, so here it is. We are still leaving out most of the neuroscience behind the polyvagal theory to make it easier to work with. People used to think […]

Exercise: influencing emotion

by Theresa on April 5, 2019 in DBT Skills, Emotions, english, Self-regulation

Emotions are involuntary. It means we can’t just choose to feel one emotion instead of another. But we can influence emotions to increase or decrease in intensity and that will make a difference too. The following is an exercise that is incredibly valuable and that you can repeat over time. You will need pen and […]

Emotional Regulation

by Theresa on March 29, 2019 in Emotions, english, Self-regulation

Emotional regulation can be challenging when we get overwhelmed with a feeling and we don’t have a plan how to manage it. I will share with you the systematic approach we are using, in the hope that it will give you some guidance as well. . Before we do anything else We need to regulate […]

Raising dissociative barriers (DID SystemWork)

by Theresa on March 25, 2019 in DID, english

A lot of the work we do in Phase 1 of our DID therapy has to do with making inner connections, lowering dissociative barriers and creating co-consciousness. It is good to be closer together and more aware of the world outside. Yet there are moments when it creates difficulties. Being constantly co-conscious increases our risk […]

Regulating Hyperarousal 2 (Flight Response)

by Theresa on March 18, 2019 in basics, DBT Skills, english, Self-regulation

PTSD makes regulating emotions extra hard (more). That is why we will look at ways to deal with different emotions. But first there is one thing we need to take care of and that is hyperarousal (flight/fight response) People differ in their tendencies, some going into fight more regularly, others don’t feel that at all […]

Mindfulness for emotional regulation

by Theresa on March 12, 2019 in basics, DBT Skills, Emotions, english, mindfulness, Self-regulation

Many trauma survivors are annoyed by their therapists persistence in trying to teach them mindfulness. The exercises seem weird and we can’t comprehend how that is supposed to help us with our PTSD. We might not understand it right away, but mindfulness is the key to emotional regulation. As we have explained here, trauma changes […]

Emotions

by Theresa on March 8, 2019 in Emotions, english, Self-regulation

Humans feel emotions for a reason and it is not to torment us. Our brain is created with different levels. Roughly speaking there is a part that we share with reptilians that holds reflexes and instincts, a part we share with mammals that is responsible for emotions and a part that is limited to humans […]

The problem with emotional regulation

by Theresa on March 5, 2019 in Emotions, english, Self-regulation

There are a couple of reasons why emotional regulation is so difficult for trauma survivors, especially those with developmental trauma and cPTSD. They are intertwined and sometimes create a fatal cycle of reinforcement. Parenting Some of our struggles are created by inadequate parenting. Children are supposed to learn emotional regulation from their parents and […]

The Rhythm of Regulation

by Theresa on February 20, 2019 in basics, english, Self-regulation, theory

My first encounter with the word resilience was not in psychology but in physics. In a psychological context the term is usually used to describe an inner strength that can prevail under a lot of pressure. So the goal of interventions is to make people more resistant to stress by adding positive resources. You can […]

Keep breathing

by Theresa on February 14, 2019 in english, Self-regulation

We have already looked at some basic breathing exercises. Now let’s take it a little further. “Cologne“ breathing (4711*) You might be heading into a difficult meeting or maybe there are only 2 minutes to relax. Breathe in counting to 4, then slowly breathe out counting to 7. Repeat 11 times. You should feel […]