RESET Therapy (Reconsolidation Enhancement by Stimulation of Emotional Triggers)
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An amazing solution to PTSD difficulty is RESET Therapy (Reconsolidation Enhancement by Stimulation of Emotional Triggers) which combines neuro-acoustical stimulation (sound) with patient recall of traumatic memories. The idea is to reset emotional memory circuits in the brain to pre-trauma levels. This occurs during a process designed to interfere with a targeted memory being repeatedly restored after it is selectively lit up in the emotional part of the brain through the patient’s intentional focus.
Targeted binaural sound using the BAUD (Bio-acoustical Utilization Device) interrupts the brain’s natural restoration of memory. The device as well as the basic protocol was invented in 2003 by Dr. Frank Lawlis, a pioneer in the field of medical psychology. By focusing on the trauma, PTSD patients activate (light up) the targeted neural circuits. Their active participation is critical to the success of RESET Therapy.
is defined as a mental health condition that’s triggered by a terrifying event – either from personal experience or as a witness. Symptoms include: flashbacks, nightmares, stress, severe anxiety, depression, sleep disorders, various addictions, and social withdraw. PTSD concerns more than veterans. The symptoms also impact first responders, clinicians working in acute hospital settings, and any adult or child that has experienced trauma.
Overcoming erroneous beliefs.
My primary mission is to offer veterans as well as civilians who continue to suffer from PTSD and their loved ones, the promise of hope from a member of the healing profession! I do this to replace the erroneous belief that currently pervades many of our mental health professionals about PTSD being a lifelong psychic injury that cannot be healed.
With this point of view in mind, veterans and victims of PTSD have been led to believe that they must either ingest medications designed to contain and control their minds at the expense of their personalities or, they are required to be in some form of psychotherapy for the rest of their lives, or both of the above.
This way of thinking has pervaded our civilian population to the extent that when our veterans return to either re-integrate or touch base with their families on their varied rotations, others who come in contact with them perceive that they must be careful not to trigger the veterans’ inner time bombs.
PTSD is a disease of the memory system.
A key point I’d like to make is that PTSD is a disease of the memory system. The real problem is not that the trauma happened in the first place, but the fact that the memory of the trauma can’t be forgotten. Adults and children dealing with PTSD end up reliving the trauma over and over again. This includes physiological reactions to the experience as well as their associated emotions such as fear, anger and sadness. The emotional charge of the memories remain hair-trigger and intrudes into numerous activities of daily living.
Neuronal Model of PTSD
The next major neuro-scientific piece of information I’d like to provide is how trauma specifically affects the brain. I’ve come to call this the Neuronal Model of PTSD. If we looked at it through sophisticated brain imaging equipment, specific areas deep within the Limbic System would appear to be activated (flared) and other brain areas such as the speech center located in the left hemisphere would be shut down; going offline when the trauma is triggered.
Also, the area that is associated with making complex decisions in the prefrontal lobes referred to as ‘executive functioning’ also goes offline when the trauma is reactivated. After, a person who was well able to multi-process typically has difficulty with this advanced level ability.
Perhaps this is the reason, that talking to someone in the depths of their PTSD despair, hardly ever does anything but frustrate the speaker, whose words can’t be fully received by the supposed listener. Also, perhaps this is why the person with PTSD seems dumbfounded by tasks that he/she was previously well able to manage.
Hope for PTSD suffers.
Methods like RESET Therapy are giving many trauma impaired patients hope that PTSD doesn’t have to permanently ruin their lives. It’s increasingly clear that brain-based methods and tools are the future of medicine.
Guest Post by: George Lindenfeld, PhD (see his new E-book on RESET)
[callout]What type of therapy has helped most with yourself or someone you know with PTSD? I will be interested in your comments.[/callout]
