Sebern Fisher, foremost global trauma therapist, teaches how to calm the fear-driven brain, through the Integration of neurofeedback and psychotherapy in the treatment of developmental trauma

Overview of six hour recorded course

1. Trauma and the Developing Brain. How abuse and neglect in childhood impacts the developing brain.
2. Behavior and Brain Circuits. Dissociation, repression and even regression as learned patterns in the brain and the implications for treatment of developmental trauma.
3. The Science of Neurofeedback. What research shows about how it works and why it's effective.
4. Arousal, Affect, and the Process of Brain-training. The arousal model of neurofeedback and its importance in the treatment of developmental trauma.
5. Self meets other. The importance of the therapeutic relationship in helping the traumatized brain recover.
6. Case study. how neurofeedback and therapy helped a patient recover from severe trauma.
   Includes video interview of young woman who has recovered from DID. (Sebern’s patient interviewed by Bessel van der Kolk)

This intensive six-hour recorded seminar will help you incorporate successful strategies of neurofeedback into the treatment of developmental trauma.

Reviewing the latest neuroscience research relating to the impact of neglect and abuse on the developing brain, we will also turn to evidence-based techniques to calm the fear-driven brain. In developmental trauma, no major neurological system is spared, leading to consequences for physical and immune system health. We will discuss how trauma impacts the brain’s networks as well as its capacity to inhibit states of high arousal.

The workshop examines the brain dynamics underlying dissociation and the differences in how the dissociative and non-dissociative person processes information. These findings challenge our ways of thinking about psychological defenses including dissociation, repression and resistance. They can also inform the development of neurofeedback protocols.

All of these impacts give rise to a mind and sense of identity in our traumatized patients that we encounter as psychotherapists. The second day of this workshop will focus on how to integrate neurofeedback and psychotherapy. We will explore the powerful fields that trauma creates in our patients and in us, where these seem to show up in the EEG and how we can measure change in these fields as treatment and neurofeedback progress. We will discuss the pragmatic issues in the integration of brain and mind approaches such as touch, time and office set-up, as well as the importance of psycho-education in this approach to treatment.

We’ explore some “tried and true” protocols and some new ones that are emerging in response to the neuroscience. And we explore the changes and the setbacks we can expect to see in the course of recovery from the devastating aftermath of developmental trauma. We discuss all of this using case examples.

𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗱 𝗔𝘂𝗱𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲: Designed for trauma therapists, including psychologists, psychotherapists, counselors, social workers, occupational therapists, nurses, and psychiatrists, this course is accessible at at an intermediate level. Specific focus on the implications of research in neuroscience on therapeutic clinical practice makes this material appropriate for graduate and post-graduate students in psychology and neuroscience.
Format: Video, lecture, facilitated discussion


LECTURE 1
Trauma and the Developing Brain. How abuse and neglect in childhood impacts the developing brain.

How does abuse and neglect manifest in a traumatized person's nervous system during development? What areas are most affected? Why can children not simply bounce back?  What are the long-term effects of developmental trauma. Is it irreversible? Why is the therapeutic relationship important?

Part 1 Learning objectives:
1. Participant will be able to explain how current neuroscience supports a neurophysiological understanding of how trauma impacts the brain.
2. Participant will be able to identify areas of the brain and brain function most impacted by developmental trauma.
3. Participant will be able to describe specifically how developmental trauma impacts the brain.


LECTURE 2
Behavior and Brain Circuits. Dissociation, repression and even regression as learned patterns in the brain and the implications for treatment of developmental trauma.

How can we understand the link between behavior and neurophysiology? What does it mean to talk about habitual firing patterns in brain networks? Why does these patterns emerge? What benefit do they serve? How do dissociation, repression, and regression arise from traumatic histories? Is there a neurobiological way of describing these behaviors?

Part 2 Learning objectives:
1. Participant will be able to identify and describe how circuits in a healthy, untraumatized the brain responds to threat.
2. Participant will be able to describe circuits in the brain that develop differently in response to developmental trauma and unrelenting threat.
3. Participant will be able to describe how the brain's response to trauma and threat gives rise to particular symptom presentations, such as states of dissociation and other distortions in the sense of self and other.

LECTURE 3
The Science of Neurofeedback. What neuroscience research shows about how it works, and why it is effective.

What happens in neurofeedback? What is understood about how it works? What kinds of changes can be expected? How quickly does the traumatized brain respond? What are some of the different kinds of brain-training, and what differentiates them? What is the evidence for the effectiveness of neurofeedback? What are some ways of describing neurofeedback to patients? How can a therapist help a patient set workable goals and expectations for the process? What risks are there?

Part 3 Learning objectives:
1. Participant will be able to describe the basic principles underlying neurofeedback.
2. Participant will be able to describe what is currently known about how neurofeedback works.
3. Participant will be able to elucidate how to clearly set expectations with patients.

LECTURE 4
Arousal, Affect, and the Process of Brain-training. The arousal model of neurofeedback and its importance in the treatment of developmental trauma.

What is the arousal model? In what ways does this model offer a means of understanding "stuckness" and dysregulation? What does the arousal model say about the link between affect and activation? In what ways to the limbic system and frontal cortex play a role? How does the arousal framework help to describe the process of learning brain self-regulation through neurofeedback?

Part 4 Learning objectives:
1. Participant will be able to describe how arousal is affected by trauma.
2. Participant will be able to describe neurophysiological markers of high and low arousal.
3. Participant will be able to describe how high arousal in the nervous system can manifest as uncontrollable affect and behavior.

LECTURE 5
Self meets other. The importance of the therapeutic relationship in helping the traumatized brain recover.

Why is the therapeutic relationship so important in helping your patient to cultivate a flexible sense of self and other? How does a therapist balance brain-training and therapy? What are some of the particular obstacles for people who have experienced abuse and neglect by a care-giver? How can a therapist overcome the special challenges these histories may present in terms of developing a relationship of trust and acceptance? What are some of the pitfalls to be aware of in this relationship? How can the therapist supportively address transference, blame, fear, distrust, paranoia?

Part 5 Learning objectives:
1. Participant will be able to describe why the therapeutic relationship is a critical part of successful recovery from trauma.
2. Participant will be able to describe how the therapist can provide support for the patient in the development of a sense self and other.
3. Participant will be able to describe what the therapist looks for and asks for to evaluate progress of the patient towards a healthy, functional sense of self and other.

LECTURE 6
Case study: how neurofeedback and therapy helped a patient recover from severe trauma.
Included: Video of young woman who has recovered from DID. (Sebern’s patient interviewed by Bessel van der Kolk)

How can brain-training and therapy help patients with devastating trauma histories to recover and thrive? How do patients understand this process? How long does this process take? Is it possible for the brain to change too quickly? What can the therapist do to help patients feel comfortable and safe as their brain begins to learn more effective functioning? What kinds of setbacks should be expected?

Part 6 Learning objectives:
1. Participant will be able to describe brain-training and therapy work together in calming the fear-driven brain.
2. Participant will be able to describe the process of recovery.
3. Participant will be able to describe strategies for therapists using neurofeedback when the patient's brain is not immediately responsive to training.
Includes live question and answer session.

This program, when attended in its entirety, is available for 6 continuing education credits.

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