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October 2008
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Dear Colleague,
In this October issue, you will hear about
training opportunities for the balance of
this calendar year including the October
15 teleseminar with Dr. Peter Levine,
How to Resolve the Emotional Pain of
Trauma: Working with Fear, Anxiety, and
Panic. News from the Pain Front reviews
mindfulness as an antidote to pain and trauma.
Be well,
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I am writing this from the charming town of
Rottweil, Germany, where I am teaching in a
week-long intensive on ego-state therapy. The
response from participants has been very
positive here and in Vienna, and we (Dr.
Claire Frederick from the US, Dr. Wally
Hartman from South Africa, and I) are
launching the new certificate program in
ego-state therapy this month. Please contact
my assistant at assistant@maggiephillipsphd.com
for more information and stay tuned for other
related announcements.
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| The October Teleseminar with Peter Levine |
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Many experts believe that anxiety is one of
the most challenging aspects of our reactions
to trauma and threat. The whole spectrum of
anxiety, including fear, panic, and worry,
contribute significantly to all post-traumatic
symptoms including chronic emotional and
physical pain conditions. Please join Dr.
Peter Levine with me from 10 am - 11:30 am
Pacific time on Wednesday, October 15.
The format will be that we make a
presentation for one hour based on questions
submitted to us in advance, and then answer
live questions from participants for the last
30 minutes. The fee is $50 USD and includes
the following benefits: A content-rich
presentation on topics related to resolving
fear, panic, and anxiety reactions, a study
guide to help you organize your learning,
access to the live call either through phone
contact or via the internet, and unlimited
audio replay following the call through
November 15.
We will be discussing the following topics:
- The neurobiology of the fearful, anxious
brain
- How anxiety is related to the dynamics of
the polyvagal nervous system and the triune
brain
- Self-regulation methods for various
symptoms related to fear
- The mindful brain and how it helps to
reverse the effects of fear
- How to teach others to work successfully
with their fear, anxiety and panic reactions
Please take a few moments now to register at
www.maggiephillipsphd.com/courses_teleseminars.html
and record the date and time on your
calendar. Registration will close on Monday,
October 13 at 11:59 pm Pacific time so that
we have time to email instructions and study
guides to all enrolled. If you register after
the deadline, you will automatically be
enrolled in the audio replay-only option. If
you would like to submit questions in advance
for Peter and me, please click
here if you are an individual struggling
with emotional or physical pain, or click
here if you are a professional working
with trauma and pain. If you have any
questions about registering or how the
teleseminar process works, please visit our
FAQs
page.
Peter and I look forward to having you
with us on this call!
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| The Autumn Calendar of Training Events |
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Please plan to attend the two additional
teleseminars for 2008:
Wednesday, November 5 with Dr, Bob
Scaer, author of The Body Bears the
Burden and The Trauma Spectrum,
from 9 am - 10:30 am Pacific time.
The Neurobiology of Trauma and Chronic
Pain
Friday, December 5 with Dr. Laurel
Parnell, EMDR facilitator and author of four
books on using EMDR, from 8 am - 9:30 am
Pacific time.
Tapping In and Tapping Through: EMDR with
Emotional and Physical Pain.
Check your email for more information about
these teleseminars coming soon.
The proposed October training in Ego-State
Therapy to be held in the San Francisco Bay
area has been rescheduled for Spring 2009.
We will let you know more details in the next
few months.
Dr. Claire Frederick and I will be presenting
on ego-state therapy at the International
Society for the Study of Trauma and
Dissociation in Chicago from Friday,
November 14th - Monday, November 17, in
Chicago, Illinois. Please join us by going to
www.isst-d.org
for more information and registration.
Finally, I will be presenting at the Brief
Psychotherapy Conference in San Diego,
California on Thursday, December 11,
10 Common Barriers to Resolving Chronic
Pain and Brief Methods to Correct Them
(go to www.isst-d.org
for more information and registration.
I will then present at the National Institute
for the Clinical Application of Behavioral
Medicine (NICABM) conference in Hilton Head,
South Carolina. It's a wonderful conference
with excellent presenters and one of my
favorite venues on Hilton Head Island. Visit
www.nicabm.com
to find out about my presentations (10
Reasons Why People Don't Heal from Chronic
Pain and How You Can and Healing the
Pain of Trauma, a post-conference master
class on December 13-14) as well as
those of many other faculty. I hope you will
consider registering for this conference!
You'll be very glad that you did! And if you
missed the opportunity to enroll in advance
in my distance learning class, Advances in
Energy Psychology, there's still time to join
if you join
now.
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| News From the Pain Front |
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I have recently presented several workshops
on using mindfulness to help resolve
emotional and physical pain, as well as many
other trauma-related symptoms. A recent book
by neurobiologist Daniel Siegel, The
Mindful Brain, has pointed out that the
systems that we use to experience
relationships with others are the same ones
that are engaged in mindfulness meditation
and experience. This means that many of the
difficulties related to trauma, and other
types of stress, can be repaired by learning
how to use mindfulness in our everyday lives.
Jon Kabat-Zinn, MD, created the model of
Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR).
His team at the University of Massachusetts
Medical Center has published more than 12
studies documenting symptom reduction between
29% and 46% for such health problems as heart
disease, chronic pain, and high blood
pressure. Other studies have found that
increases in mindfulness were connected with
decreases in perceived stress levels and in
compulsive negative thinking. For more
information, visit www.shambhalasun.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1859
Although there are many techniques linked to
the experience of mindfulness, one I like to
introduce to my clients is "Just One Breath"
(modified from my colleague, Neil Fiore's
work in Awakening the Strongest Self).
I ask them to consider bringing their
awareness to their breathing without changing
anything and find out what can happen in
"just one breath." If you'd like to, try it
right now and see what happens for you...
Most people are amazed to find out what they
become aware of in just one breath cycle.
Perhaps you notice that your breathing
becomes a little deeper... or that your mind
becomes just a little more quiet... or that
you feel calmer. Whatever you discover is
usually an amazing result in that span of time.
The focus on mindfulness is on acceptance of
all experiences and letting go of the need to
change them. It's also important to cultivate
acceptance of yourself in other ways,
including acceptance of your needs, desires,
or uncomfortable feelings. What does
mindfulness offer us? The benefits are
extensive and include:
- Developing full presence
- Experiencing unpleasant thoughts and
feelings safely
- Becoming aware of what you're avoiding
- Being more connected to self, others,
world
- Becoming less judgmental
- Feeling less disturbed by and reactive to
your unpleasant experiences
- More calm and peacefulness
Do these benefits suggest ways of
counteracting pain? Here is an example with
one of my clients. Michael has multiple pain
problems (lumbar pain, shoulder and neck
pain, and significant depression) related to
several motorcycle and skiing accidents and
to early childhood abuse. Our work had become
stuck because he was critical of all the
results we were getting and worried that his
pain would never improve. During one session,
I suggested that we proceed in a somewhat
different direction, which was to add
something new, since we were not obtaining
the results he needed.
Michael agreed and at first was very
skeptical when I explained the goals of
mindfulness. "This doesn't seem like it's
going to do anything for my pain," he
commented. When I asked whether he could be
open to a brief 10 minute experience,
however, he said he could.
I guided him first to be aware of his
breathing without changing anything about it,
just noticing how the breath flowing in and
out felt as it moved through his body. I then
suggested that he notice each sensation and
thought and accept each one as if he were
acknowledging an uninvited guest. I also
asked Michael to name each sensation related
to discomfort as well as each body feeling
that was neutral or even comfortable as if he
were recognizing an acquaintance or friend. I
then asked Michael to take all the time he
needed to meet, accept, and welcome these
sensations and to let me know when this
experience felt complete.
Michael told me that he was quite surprised
at how positive the exercise was for him. "At
first I was angry at you. I didn't want to
accept these sensations and thoughts because
they were all painful and they seemed even
stronger when I focused on them. However, as
time went on, I began to notice some other
kinds of thoughts and feelings. I felt more
hopeful so I went on. And gradually, I felt
more peaceful and calm. I still feel that way
and my pain is still there but not bothering
me as much."
This is a common outcome of using mindfulness
with pain. The good news is that work with
mindfulness not only unblocked Michael's
treatment but also has created dividends of
greater self-compassion and acceptance that
coincided with a decrease in Michael's
perception of his pain and in his use of
medications.
We will explore other mindfulness techniques
and applications in the future so please look
for them in later issues of this newsletter.
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Maggie Phillips, Ph.D.
2768 Darnby Dr.
Oakland, CA 94611
USA
510-655-3843
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Thanks so much for reading.
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