The ITT Program - ITR Training · 2019-06-12 · (C. Henry Kempe & Frederic Silverman) “The bones tell a story the child is too young or too frightened to tell

ITR Training Institute © 2016

The ITT Program• What we are • Who we treat • How we are different from other programs • How people come to us • What results we see • Our “modal” client


History of Trauma Therapy Overview • The discovery of child abuse • Important figures and events • Collective & individual traumas • Major approaches to trauma • The common denominator


Trauma Has a Long History!

50 years ago . . . Battered Child Syndrome identified in 1962

(C. Henry Kempe & Frederic Silverman)

“The bones tell a story the child is too young or too frightened to tell.”


But, over 150 years ago . . . Tardieu (a French doctor and one of the first forensic scientists)

published on the same topic in 1857.



Important Figures & Events• Mesmer • Pierre Janet • Freud, Charcot, Breuer & hysteria • Freud’s change of theory • Freud and Jung part company • Psychoanalysis becomes dominant


Soldiers & PTSDThe understanding of trauma was advanced on the

battlefield

• Soldier’s heart

• Shell shock

• War neurosis

• Battle fatigue • PTSD


Collective Traumas• World Wars I & II; regional wars • Genocide • Terrorism • Natural disasters – floods, fires, tornados


Individual Traumas• Repeated physical and/or sexual abuse • Rape • Domestic violence, captivity • Traumatic grief


Individual Traumas• Car accidents • Industrial accidents • Medical trauma • Neglect by drug-involved parents


The Ubiquity of Trauma

•Bizarre, impulsive and violent behaviors

•Inner voices •Chronic suicidality, self-mutilation

•Treatment resistance •Panic states, generalized anxiety

•Genitourinary symptoms (pain, dysfunction)


The Consequences of

Trauma

PTSD symptoms: • Intrusion (reenactment) • Avoidance & numbing • Arousal • Dissociation • “Negative thoughts & mood

or feelings” (new in the DSM-5)

Post-traumatic fixed states: • Prolonged reenactment of the

Instinctual Trauma Response phases

Dissociation: • “Dissociative attention deficit”

• “Splitting” • Inner dialogue with voices • Phantom selves, alter

personalities


What Is Considered a Trauma?“The person experienced, witnessed, or was confronted

with an event or events that involved actual or threatened death or serious injury, or a threat to the physical integrity

of self or others.” - DSM-IV


Little “T”

vs. Big “T” Traumas

Little “T” (a layperson’s concept)

• Distressing, upsetting • Continuous memories • Short-term disturbance of

functioning

Big “T” (a trauma professional’s concept)

• Life-threatening situation (DSM-IV definition)

• Involves the freeze (Instinctual Trauma Response)

• Fragmented memories • Major disturbance in

functioning


What Is Our Approach?

A neuropsychological model that marries the physiology of the brain with the psychological aspects of the mind.


The Common Denominator of All Trauma

• The biological hard-wiring of the brain • The Instinctual Trauma Response

Brought on by a life-threatening situation — a feeling of being trapped and about to die


The Instinctual Trauma Response •Evolutionary survival strategies

• The Instinctual Trauma Response: • Startle

• Thwarted intention to fight or escape

• Freeze

• Altered state of consciousness

• Body sensations throughout the trauma

• Automatic obedience

• Self-repair

Documents

The ITT Program - ITR Training · 2019-06-12 · (C. Henry Kempe & Frederic Silverman) “The bones tell a story the child is too young or too frightened to tell