My introduction to psychiatry from physical medicine coincided with the initial appearance of PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) in 1980 in the psychiatric classification manual DSM-III. Because I was serving in the military at the time (Royal Air Force) PTSD and trauma reactions became a prominent focus in our work.
The search for tools to treat PTSD initially depended on using established treatment methods. Many of the psychotropic medications used to treat anxiety states, depression, cognitive, and other psychological therapies were used in the new field.
PTSD became a prominent focus in research and provided a platform for the development of new treatment strategies, both pharmacological and psychological.
Over the intervening years, I have remained intensely interested in trauma work and have witnessed the most interesting development of body-focused psychological methods.
This is very relevant to trauma reactions that involve both mind and body. Exposure to trauma excites survival energy which has a transient, necessary, and beneficial effect in short-term acute stress reactions. However, if that survival energy becomes trapped in the mind and body then it creates ongoing strain. This we recognize as hyperarousal, flashbacks, and other intrusive images of the trauma. As well as a host of ways to avoid reminders we call avoidance. These are the core features of PTSD, fuelled by trapped energy from the original impact of the trauma which has never been released.
The Total Release Experience is a method of releasing that energy from the mind and the body and eliminating the symptoms of PTSD. In my experience it is very effective…..and….we didn’t invent it…..we observed it in other species who use it in the natural world as a way of preventing the development of their PTSD.