Love Wins: Trauma, The Nervous System and Recovery

This talk will discuss some new perspectives in looking at Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, the Polyvagal Theory and its’ implications for clinical practice, examples of somatically oriented therapies, followed by a live demonstration of some of the principles discussed. The target audience is primarily therapists, psychologists, and psychiatrists who work in the field of psychological trauma recovery but also can be helpful and understood by members of the general public. The presentation is a synthesis of ideas from the work of Allan Schore, Stephen Porges. Kathy Steele, Peter Levine, Pat Ogden, Babbette Rosthschild, Diana Fosha, Habib Davanloo, and Christine Courtois. It is important for all who work in the field of psychological trauma recovery to have a broad range of knowledge as well as a breadth of techniques and recovery modalities. It is particularly relevant as we are seeing more and more people in our practices who have been traumatized by violence as well as the disintegration of civil discourse and strong communities.

Learning Objectives

1. Participants will be able to describe the neuro-regulation model of recovery.
2. Participants will be able recognize the limitations of the psychopathology model of mental health treatment
3. Participants will understand the clinical significance of the Polyvagal Theory and what that means for our practices
4. Participants will be able to recognize and describe at least five types of somatically oriented recovery modalities.
5. Participants will be able to see the principles described above through observing a live, unrehearsed demonstration of neuro –regulation techniques that can assist individuals in recovering from psychological trauma.

James Seymour, MD, joined Sierra Tucson in 2010. Upon receiving his medical degree from the University of Tennessee and completing his psychiatric residency at the University of Virginia in 1987, Dr. Seymour trained for several years in Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy (ISTDP).

Dr. Seymour was an officer with the United States Public Health Service, where he served as mental health director of the Tucson Area Indian Health Service (IHS). For 10 years, he served as the assistant medical director of a residential behavioral health and substance abuse program focused on the healing of mind, body, and spirit. Dr. Seymour is board certified by both the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology and the American Board of Addiction Medicine. Additionally, he is a Somatic Experiencing® practitioner.

Dr. Seymour’s areas of expertise include trauma recovery, addictions, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), and somatic mind-body therapies. Dr. Seymour believes strongly in the resilience of the human spirit and views the role of the psychiatrist as assisting the person in removing obstacles to the natural healing and recovery process.

Dr. Seymour approaches post trauma symptoms as the natural nervous system’s response to trauma, rather than a disease or disorder, with a primary focus on increasing the capacity for better nervous system regulation, improvement in navigating interpersonal relationships, and mindfulness to support and encourage positive results in each individual.