5 Ways To Heal From Trauma Without Medication

DISCLAIMER:

(The content in the blog and on this website is not intended to constitute or be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have seen on my website)

This blog post is inspired by the work of Dr. Bessel Van Der Kolk, professor of psychiatry at Boston University School of Medicine and President of the Trauma Research Foundation in Massachusetts. His Book, The Body Keeps the Score is one of the most read books on the subject of Trauma.

Exploring Alternative Therapies

Below I've listed 5 alternative ways for you to heal from Trauma for you to consider and potentially incorporate into your healing and recovery. The following Therapies should be discussed with your healthcare provider such as a GP, Psychologist or Psychiatrist.

1. Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)

This is an evidence-based psychotherapy method that has demonstrated success in helping some individuals heal from the emotional distress that come from painful and traumatic life experiences.

This method involves moving your eyes a specific way while you process traumatic memories. EMDR’s goal is to help you heal from trauma or other distressing life experiences. Compared to other therapy methods, EMDR is relatively new. Dozens of clinical trials since EMDR’s development show this technique is effective and can help a person faster than many other methods.

EMDR therapy is very common around the world. In the United States, the Department of Veterans Affairs and Department of Defense list EMDR as a “best practice” in treating veterans experiencing PTSD.

Click here for Further Reading on EMDR

2. Equine Therapy

Equine Assisted Psychotherapy can help individuals, couples, and families to work through the pain of traumatic life experiences. Equine Therapy can help people to find more internal resources than they knew they had, strengthen coping skills, practice asking for and receiving help, and begin to regain a sense of control.

Most of the exchange between the horse and the person is nonverbal, which is especially potent for individuals who have experienced traumatic events that they are not able to (or choose not to) express in words. For many people, developing a relationship with a horse is the first step in re-developing positive relationships with friends and loved ones

A variety of activities involving horses may help people with depression, anxiety, autism, physical disabilities, and other conditions.

Therapeutic equine programs range from teaching people how to ride or care for horses to partnering with a licensed therapist to treat specific mental health symptoms.

Further information on Equine Therapy:

CBC documentary on Equine Therapy

Everything you need to know about Equine Therapy

3. Neurofeedback Therapy

Neurofeedback Therapy claims to change the way the brain responds to certain stimuli. It’s also been used to treat epilepsy, anxiety, depression and insomnia, among other mental health disorders.

Although it’s not a new approach, the research around Neurofeedback Therapy is still inconclusive and ongoing. So while it may not be a cure-all, there is some evidence that it can be an effective treatment for certain patients.

Further Information on Neurofeedback Therapy

4. Yoga

"Our studies show that yoga is equally as beneficial—or more beneficial—than the best possible medications in alleviating traumatic stress symptoms. In the studies we did involving neuroimaging of the brain before and after regular yoga practice, we were able to show that the areas of the brain involving self-awareness get activated by doing yoga, and those are the areas that get locked out by trauma and that are needed in order to heal it." Dr. Bessel Van Der Kolk

Personally, I've found Hatha Yoga to be effective in reducing traumatic stress symptoms and was an essential part of my Burnout Recovery. There are many different types of yoga that you can try and I would recommend trying out a few different classes to see what works best for you.

Further Reading:

Yoga as a Form of Trauma Therapy

5. Drama Therapy

Acting gives Trauma sufferers a chance to escape from the circumstances and feelings they face consistently and to embody a different character. But in order to do that, they must work through many of the challenges that come with trauma, such as getting in touch with emotions, exploring conflicts between characters, and exposing vulnerability. These are some of the hardest things for trauma sufferers to do, but are essential to acting.

Actors must be in full control of their bodies and their physical expressions. Even standing up straight and projecting their voices through the theater can be a major challenge to trauma sufferers, whose inclinations are typically to try to be invisible. Feeling that you have full control and ownership of your body is key to having a sense of agency, a necessary aspect of healing for trauma survivors.

Finally, Drama and Theatre, make patients a valuable, contributing member of a community (in this case, the theater group), which helps them regain a sense of worth and competence. Competence is a powerful antidote to the helplessness that trauma instills.

This post was written by David Fallon, Mindfulness Teacher, Mental Health Advocate and Founder of TogetherMindfullycom.