Recovering From Traumatic Experiences Through Mindfulness

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Author: Cecilia Clementi, Ph.D, Psych.D

Repost from Food For Thought 2019


Many people experience traumas, whether large or small, at some point in their lives. 

Trauma is like “a wound of the soul” that affects our experience at every level, creating distress or functional impairment in daily life. Trauma is considered an important risk factor for the development of mental illnesses such as eating, mood, and anxiety disorders.


In Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder(PTSD) (1) the person has to be exposed, directly or indirectly, to the threat or actual experience of three major traumas: death, serious injury, or sexual violence. PTSD is associated with a variety of symptoms including intrusive memories, flashbacks, nightmares, avoidance of trauma reminders, negative changes in cognitions and mood, a heightened state of arousal, detachment, and disinterest, and in some cases can also lead to dissociation. 


A neurobiological explanation of PTSD symptoms underlines a loss of top-down inhibition due to a hypo-activation of the medial prefrontal cortex over limbic regions such as the amygdala. This explains the exaggerated emotional reactivity and other PTSD symptoms such as hypervigilance. (2, 3) 


Mindfulness practices are widely used to reduce physical and psychological distress. A recent review (3) showed that mindfulness-based approaches may reduce PTSD symptoms of: 

  • hyper-arousal and intrusive thoughts by increased attentional control, improving the patient’s ability to shift attention away from trauma-related stimuli and remain in the present moment.
  • avoidance by promoting openness to new or potentially challenging experiences.
  • negative mood states and changes in cognition by promoting nonjudgmental acceptance of current and past experiences.
  • dissociation by promoting nonjudgmental acceptance of current and past experiences.

Moreover, research findings suggest that mindfulness-based therapies may be effective for PTSD in restoring top-down modulation of the limbic regions associated with improvement in emotional regulation. (3)

However, when mindfulness practices are used with trauma survivors, to avoid the experience of re-traumatization, it is important to be especially sensitive and to tailor the meditation according to each person’s needs and stressors. (4)



Five mindful steps to recover from trauma-related symptoms

When a trigger brings you back to the memory of a traumatic experience and you get overwhelmed by it:

  1. Refocus your attention to the present moment, notice your feet touching the ground and the sensation of your breath going in and out, and reach out and touch an object, becoming aware of the place you are now. You can also say to yourself, “I am here, it’s over now, I am safe.)

  2. Slow your breathing to take a deep, soothing breath, noticing the expansion and contraction of your abdomen. Slow, deep breaths help to reduce our hyper-arousal symptoms.

  3. Observe your experience with curiosity, acknowledging memories, flashbacks, thoughts, emotions, and bodily sensations without identifying with them.

  4. Accept your experience without judgment and gently let it go, accepting that you can’t change the traumatic experience, but you can change the way you relate to it.

  5. Be kind and take care of yourself, intentionally sending yourself good wishes (e.g. May I be free from suffering, May I be safe and protected, May I be at ease, May I forgive myself.) Remember that recovering from a trauma is a process. Respect yourself if right now it feels too challenging for you, and start from steps 1 and 2. 



Walking Meditation: Grounding the Body Intention
  • Learn to calm the mind anchoring awareness in physical sensations.
  • A way to work with emotional distress when it arises

One of the most useful and grounding ways of attending to our body is the practice of walking meditation. Walking meditation is a simple and universal practice for developing calm, connectedness, and focused awareness. To practice, select a quiet place where you can walk comfortably back and forth, indoors or out, walking 8-10 steps in one direction, then returning in your own steps. Experiment with the amount of time you spend doing walking meditation. Keep in mind that there is much more distraction that your attention will be pulled to outdoors. Begin by standing in Mountain Pose, Tadasana. The legs are slightly bent. Let your hands rest easily, wherever they are comfortable. Take a few deep breaths and with the last exhalation move your attention down your body all the way to your feet. And feel the soles of your feet on the floor. Now shift your weight to the left foot and notice any sensations in the left foot. You might become aware of the foot making contact with the floor, sock or shoe, or the temperature, pressure, or weight of the foot. Any physical sensation or absence of sensation you might notice. Now shift your weight to the right foot. Noticing any physical sensation you feel in or on your right foot. Observing with curiosity and without judgment. Now move your body weight back into the center. When you reach the end of your path, pause for a moment. Center yourself, carefully turn around, and pause again so that you can be aware of the first step as you walk back. Now beginning to walk forward very slowly. Notice the sensations of lifting a foot, stepping forward, and then placing the foot on the floor. Do the same with each foot as you walk, attentive to the physical sensations of walking. When you notice your mind has wandered, bring your attention back to the physical sensations in the soles of your feet again. When you are ready, return to the mountain pose.

Traveler, your footprints are the only road, nothing else. 
Traveler, there is no road; you make your own path as you walk. 
As you walk, you make your own road, and when you look back you see the path you will never travel again. 
Traveler, there is no road only a ship's wake on the sea. 
Antonio Machado


For further reading on this topic:





Cecilia Clementi, Ph.D., Psy.D is a clinical and health psychologist, EMDR, CBT, and DBT psychotherapist, and certified mindfulness and mindful eating teacher. She works in her private clinic and at San Nicola Addiction Rehabilitation Centre in Italy. Her areas of expertise are eating disorders, addiction, and trauma. Cecilia has been a TCME Board member since 2015.






References
  • American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Publishing.
  • Rauch SL, Shin LM, Phelps EA. (2006). Neurocircuitry models of posttraumatic stress disorder and extinction: human neuroimaging research — past, present, and future. Biol Psychiatry.;60:376–82.
  • Boyd JE, Larus RA, McKinnon MC (2018). Mindfulness-based treatments for posttraumatic stress disorder: a review of the treatment literature and neurobiological evidence, J Psychiatry Neurosci; 43(1): 7–25.
  • Lindahl JR., Fisher NE., Cooper D.J., Rosen RK, & Britton WB. (2017). The varieties of contemplative experience: A mixed-methods study of meditation-related challenges in Western Buddhists. PLoS One, 12(5), e0176239.