Healing from the “Bottom-Up”, Neurofeedback's Role in Treating Trauma and PTSD

Have you ever experienced violent situations or been exposed to them? Have you unexpectedly lost a loved one or experienced intense relationship difficulties? Perhaps your environments (work or home) are the causes of significant, persistent stress. Trauma can be the result of situations like these. It’s estimated that 76% of Canadian have been through a traumatic event during their lives (Ameringen, Mancini & Boyle, 2008). 

Each person is impacted by traumatic events differently and an estimated 8% of Canadians who experience trauma will develop Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) (Canadian Mental Health Association, 2013). Before we can understand the role of therapy in treating trauma, we first have to understand how it impacts us. 

Physiological Impacts of Trauma 

It’s important to start from the understanding that trauma does not just impact our emotional state and our thoughts, but also has an impact on our bodies - specifically our brains and our nervous systems.

Traumatic events and situations threaten our sense of safety (real or perceived). When we feel unsafe our body experiences a stress response, commonly known as “fight or flight”. That is our amygdala (part of the brain) being activated to release stress hormones (cortisol) into our body. You may have heard this part of the brain be referred to as the “primitive brain”, the “lizard brain” or “emotional brain”.

This process pushes the nervous system out of regulation, and we experience fear, anxiety, and other intense emotions, each with physical symptoms such as shortness of breath, sweating, nausea, etc. 

Because our nervous system gets involved, our memories of these events are stored with the feelings and sensations associated with the experience. Through this we learn to associate certain thoughts or feelings with these physiological responses, making them more likely to occur. 

When the nervous system has experienced enough dysregulation, it can sometimes get stuck and becomes very difficult to regulate, because our stress response stays switched to ‘on’. This is very common in individuals who are in environments where there are constant stressors threatening their safety such as violence in the home in childhood or as an adult or working as a first responder. This can create a constant state that we call hyperarousal. It just means that you are always on high alert for any danger. 

When we learn from our experiences, our brain creates new pathways. This helps us identify things as safe or unsafe based on our experiences. For example, if you get into a major car accident, you may experience fear or anxiety when you see cars because you have learned to associate being in a car as a threat to your safety. Trauma expert, Stephen Porges, refers to this process as neuroception, the nervous system’s ability to detect if we are safe or unsafe, without conscious awareness.

What therapies help us treat trauma or PTSD? 

Trauma involves both our cognitive understanding (being able to explain logically what happened) and our physiological response. It also impacts us all differently which means that there is no one way to treat trauma or PTSD. In fact, we often recommend people explore several options and take an integrated approach that utilizes many different methods of treatment. 

Many people who have experienced trauma have already utilized talk therapy as a treatment. Talk therapy can be an effective tool to help us cognitively understand our situation. But as we have learned, trauma impacts more than just our thoughts. We have to help heal the body as well and calm the nervous system. 

Going back to the car accident example, talk therapy can help us work through these emotions and acknowledge them, but it might not be effective for ‘learning’ to regulate the nervous system. You may understand that it is not logical to be so fearful of cars as you’ve driven for years without incident, but the feelings still come.  

This is where neurofeedback comes in.

Neurofeedback is a therapeutic approach we use at our clinic to help people in their recovery from trauma from the “bottom-up”. It helps us ‘get at’ the physiological response (feeling and sensations) associated with those memories. 

What is Neurofeedback?

Brainwaves are one way how our brain cells communicate and organize new pathways.

Just as we build new pathways of learning in the brain when trauma occurs, we can build new pathways in the brain for managing our trauma and its symptoms. This is what Neurofeedback helps us do through the process of brainwave training. 

Trauma often results in us getting stuck in disorganized brainwaves that reflect states of hyper or hypoarousal. Through Neurofeedback, we train the brain to access more balanced, regulated states of brainwave activity through a process of rewarding the nervous system in real-time with continuous feedback. Over time the brain learns to recognize how to access these calm states in daily life because it feels better. We also develop resilience by learning how to return more quickly after an upsetting event has happened. 

Neurofeedback is an umbrella term for brain activity biofeedback that includes multiple techniques. 

Neurofeedback as a treatment for trauma and PTSD

When using neurofeedback to treat trauma and PTSD, the goal is often to move towards the individual feeling an increased sense of safety. This allows them to respond more appropriately to everyday events and experience less nervous system dysregulation. 

Studies on the effectiveness of neurofeedback to treat trauma have been small in size and limited but show great promise. Research indicates that it has been an effective form of treatment and results in a significant level of symptom improvement in PTSD patients. For example, a randomized control study by Bessel van der Kolk and his team found an improvement in PTSD symptoms and affect regulation compared to the control group.

Our clinic works with a combination of neurofeedback techniques from the Othmer method that are particularly effective for the treatment of trauma. These methods have been developed over 30 years and have strong evidence from clinical experience and ongoing research studies.

Infra-Low Frequency (ILF) 

Infra-Low Frequency (ILF) HD Neurofeedback is a safe and non-invasive method of neurofeedback that focuses exclusively on low-frequency brainwaves. Low-frequency brainwaves are known to impact the functioning of the neural networks of the whole brain and are associated with calming and stabilizing the nervous system.  It is also thought to impact healing through regulating neuroinflammation of the brain.

ILF HD Neurofeedback training works by providing auditory, visual and tactile feedback to the nervous system, thereby engaging the brain’s innate capacity to self-regulate and heal.

Alpha-Theta  

Alpha-Theta Neurofeedback is a safe and non-invasive method of neurofeedback that encourages alpha and theta brainwaves. These brainwaves are associated with introspection and relaxation and can create a deep meditative state. 

Curious about Neurofeedback?

New Pathways Therapy is a place of growth and recovery, where people can access holistic mental health support through mind-body therapies. Our integrative and client-centred approach is rooted in the knowledge that each person is unique and has the innate capacity to heal from anxiety, stress, and trauma. If you are finding it difficult to cope with life’s obstacles, struggling with relationships or just don’t feel like yourself, we understand and are here to help. We hope to speak with you soon.