Psychotherapy - EMDR based, polyvagal informed

Dr. Holowaty became interested in trauma treatment through her previous healthcare provider practice and her time at Gateway, an Edgewood Health facility for first responders with post-traumatic stress disorder. Dr. Holowaty provides preferential waitlist access to first responders, military, and healthcare providers, and requires a referral from a physician, nurse practitioner, or psychologist. 

EMDR is a first line therapy for post traumatic stress disorder, as well as being helpful for other mental health conditions.  It can actually help with all types of trauma, from those that meet the criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder, to those that only you yourself feel affected you in an a negative way. 

It is a structured, unique type of psychotherapy that assists your brain to process distressing memories and events and helps change the way you think about these things. It does this through having you focus on the memory while taxing your working memory through bilateral stimulation (either eye movements, tapping, or sounds, or even all three). This leads to a reduction in the intensity and disturbance of the target you are working on. 

One of the unique aspects of EMDR is that you don't have to go into detail about your traumatic memories. 

A great website that explains EMDR and trauma in detail is the US Department of Veterans Affairs. They also have a good overview of all trauma therapies.

Read more and see videos on their site -  https://www.ptsd.va.gov/understand_tx/emdr.asp

Polyvagal Theory is the theory that the parasympathetic nervous system predisposes us to react in different ways based on whether we perceive threat in the world around us, or we feel safe and connected. It connects the physiology of the nervous system to our behaviours and reactions. 

Trauma and Pain

Treating and addressing trauma can assist with your pain experience. 

There is an overlap in the symptoms between chronic pain and PTSD, with both sharing hyperarousal, avoidance behaviour, anxiety, emotional reactivity, and a somatic focus (doi: 10.1016/j.jpain.2021.04.015).  Chronic pain is reported in 20 to 80% of individuals with a history of trauma, and 10 to 50% of individuals with PTSD report chronic pain (doi: 10.1016/s0272-7358(00)00071-4).  

We also are learning that early life experiences may  influence chronic pain in adulthood. Adverse childhood events (ACEs) are associated with increased pain complications, pain catastrophizing and depression  (doi: 10.3389/fpain.2022.923866). Wondering what your ACE score is and what it might mean for you? Take the ACE questionnaire here.