Trauma and Memory Holes

Trauma sends our hippocampus (mind's historian that keeps track of events and time) off-line. The trauma is so hurtful the mind simply shuts it down! Trauma also shrinks the hippocampus up to 25-30%, particularly when one has post-traumatic symptoms, so it makes sense that many of us have big memory holes! The hippocampus comes on-line about age 2-3, if I remember correctly, but our amygdala (alarm center) is present in utero; therefore, we have alarms ringing in our mind before we have processes to figure out what is going on. It amazes me how much tapping we practitioners do on VERY early memories, some of them we swear happened before we were born, and as a practitioner, we just go with whatever the client brings to the tapping table. Sadly, science clearly shows us that we carry around so much epigenetic trauma from our ancestors! It's no wonder some of us are so burdened down with emotional stuff! Anyone have a tapping story to share around any really, really early memories? We'd love to hear them! Sherrie Rice Smith Certified EFT Practitioner EFTforChristians.com Author of EFT for Christians 5 Book Series

How Energy Psychology Works with Internal Issues

“How energy psychology works with internal issues: a. Bringing to mind a memory, thought, or cue related to relationship difficulties . . . b. Activates the amygdala and initiates a stress response (cortisol, adrenaline, and other stress hormones flood the system and the hippocampus goes offline). c. BUT stimulating selected acupuncture points initiates an opposing process: d. The alarm response is turned off, even though the memory or trigger is still present. e. With a few repetitions, the memory or trigger no longer evokes the alarm response. f. The hippocampus can process the current experience in concert with the prefrontal cortex. g. This becomes the “new normal” – the internal model has been changed. 4. Acupoint tapping changes the brain in any of five ways: a. Reducing the amygdala’s threat response. b. Extinguishing conditioned responses. c. Supporting hippocampus and prefrontal cortex activity. d. Increasing the neural impact of positive self-imagery. e. Increasing the neural impact of well-conceived suggestions." David Feinstein, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist who has served on the faculties of The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Antioch College, and the California School of Professional Psychology. Author of more than 80 professional articles and eight books, he has been a pioneer in the areas of Energy Psychology and Energy Medicine. His books have won nine national awards, including the U.S. Book News Best Psychology/Mental Health Book in 2007 (for Personal Mythology) and an Indies Best Books Award (for The Promise of Energy Psychology). Sherrie Rice Smith Certified EFT Practitioner EFTforChristians.com Author of EFT for Christians 5 Book Series

Are You Ready to Heal? Here's What is Going on in Your Brain!

This is a well written article about abuse/trauma.

I want to highlight out a few important points: Please read the article. It explains a lot about why you feel the way you do. It's not your fault, but it is your responsibility to do something about it!

1) "Only a state of non hyper-arousal allows activation of the prefrontal cortex needed for learning and problem solving."

Cathy Corbett Reiling says this about every post she makes! Tapping quiets the body and mind. Only when your mind and body are QUIET can you process your emotional issues. Period.

2) "When those hormones reach a high level, they suppress the activity of the hippocampus and it loses its ability to function. Information that would make it possible to differentiate between a real and imagined threat never reaches the cortex and a rational evaluation of the information isn't possible (Rothschild, 2004)."

I've said this a thousand times. We need tapping because our subconscious mind (SC) has NO concept of time (kinda like God - not saying our mind is God b/c it isn't but it is made in His image, like the rest of us!), so our old emotional stuff isn't truly IN the past tense UNTIL we tap and put it there! This is the work of sanctification. Salvation is FREE, but our work here on earth (sanctification) is to actively DO something to become more like our Savior. Tapping will accomplish that if you do it well and thoroughly!

3) "If a particular stimulus is misinterpreted as a threat, this leads to immediate fight/flight/freeze responses (to non-threatening stimuli). This causes this system to respond to minor irritations in a totalistic manner (Streeck-Fischer & van der Kolk, 2000)."

When we have had trauma, particularly early childhood trauma, we ALWAYS misinterpret everything! We've been programmed to do that. Repetition of hard emotional events ARE learned just like learning your multiplication tables in 3rd grade!! Over and over events are repeated, until trauma is implanted so solidly in our SC we misinterpret minor things in a major way - automatically. We fly OFF the handle at the slightest provocation (and then feel remorseful, sad, guilty, etc. afterwards)!

4) "Research shows that environments of extreme stress lead to increased cortisol levels (Murray-Close, Han, Cicchetti, Crick, & Rogosch, 2008) which can lead to decreased hippocampal volume. Decreased hippocampal volume has been associated with poorer declarative memory which places adults at greater risk of developing PTSD-like symptoms, and is closely correlated with experiences of depression and physical inflammations (Danese, Pariante, Caspi, Taylor & Poulton, 2006)"

Hippocampus, which is our SC's "historian", can go off-line when abuse happens in early childhood. We remember NOTHING - all our memories, both good and bad, are buried. It's a protective mechanism.

Hippocampus shrinks about 35%+ in PTSD like trauma.

Sadly, our SC knows the emotional pain is still all there and runs our life around it. We become sick, depressed feeling, anxious feeling, crabby, act out, etc. and we cannot figure out why we (or our children) do these things.

We do them because our emotional pain has never been dealt with completely. Our body, mind, and soul are screaming for help. We need to tap. We probably should hire a EFT Practitioner to help us process our emotional stuff. We need emotional help and God has created tapping to do just that!

5) "Through this chain of events, violence and abuse pass from generation to generation (Teicher, 2002)."

I've never really said what I am going to say here this pointedly, except in personal conversations. And I may make some people angry when I say this.

Emotional issues are running YOUR life and they WILL run your children's life, too. This stuff IS generational. It is what Exodus 34:7 & Numbers 14:18 say. Your emotional issue may NOT be your fault, but the pain will continue for 3-4 generations. We see it all the time. Scientific research is proving this fact.

Will the buck stop with you? Are you willing to do the work necessary so that your children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren will be FREE to live their lives as our Lord intended in His joy, peace, and freedom?

Are you?

Sherrie Rice Smith

Certified EFT Practitioner

EFTforChristians.com

Author of EFT for Christians Tapping in God's Peace & Joy (2016)

Author of EFT for Christians Advanced  (2017)

Author of EFT for Christians 52 Tapping Devotions (Christmas, 2017)

Author of EFT for Christians Devotions (Christmas, 2019)

Use Promo Code SAVE20 when ordering from Publisher to get 20% Off

Trauma Study

I've previously read (and taught) that we have 3 days after a trauma before the hippocampus decides whether to encode a trauma permanently, or whether to let it go.

I've seen this study below a couple of times, but it is time to share it. This study was done on mice, so does it also effect humans? Good possibility. We share a similar genome.

This study suggests we have 10 (TEN) days after a traumatic event to ameliorate the issue. Simply stated perhaps getting or receiving some kind of adequate emotional support is sufficient to let the event pass from our psyche without possibly permanently encoding and turning into PTSD. This would have all kinds of profound implications for disasters, accidents, deaths, etc. Could EFT do the trick here? Wouldn't it be wonderful to find out?

Anyway, here is the quote:

According to Anusha Krishnan at the National Centre for Biological Sciences in Bangalore, India:

“A new study by Indian scientists has gained insights into how a single instance of severe stress can lead to delayed and long-term psychological trauma. The work pinpoints key molecular and physiological processes that could be driving changes in brain architecture. The team, led by Sumantra Chattarji from the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS) and the Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine (inStem), Bangalore, have shown that a single stressful incident can lead to increased electrical activity in a brain region known as the amygdala. This activity sets in late, occurring ten days after a single stressful episode, and is dependent on a molecule known as the N-Methyl-D-Aspartate Receptor (NMDA-R), an ion channel protein on nerve cells known to be crucial for memory functions. Previously, Chattarji’s group had shown that a single instance of acute stress had no immediate effects on the amygdala of rats. But ten days later, these animals began to show increased anxiety, and delayed changes in the architecture of their brains, especially the amygdala.”

Study: Yasmin, F., Saxena, K., McEwen, B.S., & Chattarji, S. (2016). The delayed strengthening of synaptic connectivity in the amygdala depends on NMDA receptor activation during acute stress. Physiological Reports, 4(20), e13002

Remember, EFT is not a substitute for medical or psychological care. Please consult your own personal physician when you need that type of help.

Sherrie Rice Smith, R.N. (Retired)

Certified EFT Practitioner

Author of the EFT for Christians series (on Amazon)

EFTforChristians.com 

Stress and EFT

Our invaluable fight-or-flight system is regulated by the HPA axis which refers to three organs:  the hypothalamus, the pituitary, and the adrenal glands. This is our body’s way of coping with stress. The pituitary gland and the hypothalamus are located within the limbic brain, and the adrenal glands sit atop the kidneys. When the amygdala (located in the old, reptilian brain, e.g. our fear/alarm center) perceives an immediate threat, rather than sending the signal along to the neofrontal cortex (our conscious brain) for logical processing, the HPA axis releases stress hormones – cortisol and adrenaline – into the bloodstream. These chemicals induce quick energy, raise our heart rate, direct blood away from digestion and other less-essential bodily functions, and reroute blood to our extremities and muscles so we’re physically equipped to fight or run. The advantages offered by the rapid response of our HPA axis are clear. We often don’t have time to think our way out of a dangerous situation – we instead need to act immediately and our primitive brain does just that for us before we have time to consider and process all the variables or implications involved. 

In times of danger, this chemical mix is necessary to help us fight or run; however we can also get locked into a state of chronic stress when the adrenal glands don’t receive a signal to stop producing these hormones which are designed solely for limited application. Unlike acute stress which serves a positive purpose in getting us out of danger quickly, chronic stress is very destructive to our health. Long-term exposure to stress has truly horrific consequences for our bodies.

Among other things, chronic stress increases the damaging effects of free radicals in the neurons of the hippocampus, causing damage to the mitochondria. The hippocampi neurons themselves die from the damage, making creative learning nearly impossible. The mind/brain is now out of balance, causing us to feel paralyzed. We cannot think or feel appropriately, nor can we conjure up solutions to get us out of the rut we now feel trapped in. Our adrenal glands become exhausted, causing us to feel drained and worn out.

This overuse of stress hormones keeps us stuck where we are as we simply cannot learn from old experiences and move ourselves forward into new ones when caught in this cycle. The repetitive nature of this stress wiring instead leaves us stranded right where we are, going nowhere, and mired in the past.

This is where Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT, tapping) can play a vital role.

In order to protect ourselves from long-term, chronic stress damage to our bodies, we must reset the hippocampal rhythm. For decades, scientists wondered what actually controlled the cortisol output in the adrenal glands during stress. Most researchers were surprised when they determined the hippocampus was the adrenal glands master controller, and also its own hangman – as it turns out that high levels of cortisol actually damage the hippocampus, yet the hippocampus controls the amount of cortisol released by the adrenal glands during stressful periods!

When infants and children are traumatized in early life, the hippocampus becomes sensitized to increased cortisol. In fact, cortisol levels are often programmed into children in their very early years. As children become more and more stressed as they grow older, more and more cortisol is pumped out of their adrenal glands to deal with this ever-elevating levels of stress. As the cortisol levels rise, the hippocampal mitrochondrial neurons die off due to free radical damage, leaving the child with less cortisol control, less memory, less reserves to deal with future stress, and little to no creativity as to how they might proactively address distressing situations and resolve the problems they’re facing.

So…how can we learn to lower these hippocampal set points?

Using a stress-relieving modality like EFT is a step in the right direction. EFT lowers cortisol levels. One study alone has shown that one hour of tapping drops cortisol levels 24% (Church, Yount, & Brooks, 2012).  That’s huge in contending with this chronic stress loop which results in our minds and bodies being awash in cortisol.

EFT can reset these cortisol or “circadian” rhythms within approximately 3-6 months of establishing regular, routine tapping. Our bodies will reregulate themselves -- if we give them some help.

As we tap, EFT releases the hippocampus and the amygdala triggers. The tapping signals to these brain structures that we are safe. When we tap and recall the negative events or memories in our life, we lower the cortisol around the event, thus informing our subconscious that the witnessed or felt event is no longer happening in the present tense, nor does the event any longer have control over us. We simply neutralize the sensory information that was previously driving our unwanted behaviors and stress.

I invite you to give EFT a try. Attending EFT Level 1 & 2 classes is a wonderful way to immerse yourself in the understanding of how EFT actually works, and will provide you with a bevy of tapping practicum along with a solid basis of how to tap for yourself and for those you wish to help.

As an author of EFT for Christians (http://www.EFTforChristians.com/) and a retired R.N. with 5 years’ experience as a certified EFT practitioner within this field, I’ve seen my own life completely transformed by this gentle but incredibly effective resource -- and in my work with clients, I see EFT consistently delivering similar life-changing results. My EFT classes are being held in Milwaukee.  Please see my website for all the necessary details (including discounted hotel arrangements):  www.EFTforChristians.com/classes.html. 

God created this physiological system of ours to work this way, so I'd welcome the opportunity to meet you and personally teach you how to tap!

EFT is not a substitute for emotional or physical care by a qualified medical personal. Take personal responsibility for your own health please.

Sherrie Rice Smith, R.N (Retired)

EFTforChristians@gmail.com 

Memory Reconsolidation and EFT

I like this article. It is pretty succinctly states how memory reconsolidation actually works in clinical settings.

 

This man states what no one else will really say - that we "erase neural circuits".  We all know it is happening, but in EFT circles we are cautioned not to actually say that. I just say it! We are changing our neurology with tapping.

 

The steps of how to accomplish the memory reconsolidation are all packed into how EFT is done with the set-up and the tapping.

 

We ask the client what memory or habit they want changed. We help them retrieve a memory, or God does, that matches how they feel about the memory or habit. And then tapping disconnects the circuits holding the feelings around the memory/habit/event in place, permanently altering it all. 

 

That 5-6 hour window occurs where the memory is friable. In Matrix Reimprinting we tell clients to go through the process of "re-imprinting" the changed scene at least once in the ensuing couple of hours.

 

This may be where doing a floor to ceiling eye roll or the 9 gamut is truly useful in hardening those positive changes made during the session, integrating the new message into all parts of the brain anatomy, truly rewiring those circuits.

 

The author claims we must make the session "truly experiential". EFT does that, as we re-ignite by allowing the triggers to come to the surface around the negative memory or event that haunts us, tapping all the while.  God uses tapping to break down that incessant hardened memory while we set up 2 different thoughts in our mind.

 

"We accept" ourselves in spite of what is going on - this bad memory. The exposure to the problem and just allowing us to be ok with it, or stating we are ok even if we aren't, or hope we can be someday.

 

As the amygdala finally gets the message that we are now safe in this moment of time and that the trauma is now truly over, the hippocampus can put the memory to bed as a past event.

 

The author is correct in that it all works in spite of much input from the "therapist". The coach is the guide to the process, not really much involved other than directing the client to go where one needs to go to change the memory, neutralizing it.  

 

https://www.mentalhelp.net/blogs/reconsolidation-a-universal-integrative-framework-for-highly-effective-psychotherapy/

 

Remember, EFT is NOT a substitute for medical care. Please call your own personal physician in case of a medical emergency.

 

Sherrie Rice Smith, R.N. (ret.)
Certified EFT Practitioner              
Author "EFT for Christians" on Amazon
www.EFTforChristians.com

EFTforChristians@gmail.com

EFT & Memory Reconsolidation

In the article referenced at the bottom of this blog, I copied this statement:  "What most probably happens is that memories in long term storage stay fairly stable until they are remembered. The process of remembering alters stored memories in some still unknown but physical fashion so that they become temporarily unstable and need to be consolidated (made stable) once again." {in a more positive fashion when using EFT - my comment}

So, exactly what does that mean in laymen’s language?

When something horrible happens to us, and remember “horrible” is in the eye of the beholder, what is awful to one person means little to another, trauma is personal, we remember. Sometimes the memory stays in the conscious mind, but other times it is only remember subconsciously.

Once that memory is accessed or brought back into the conscious mind, it is friable, or able to be changed. Every time we re-tell a memory we change details in it.

Using EFT, or tapping, we have the ability to change an awful, traumatic into something neutral, and no longer threatening – a memory that holds no triggering charge for us, and no longer runs our life. This is called memory “reconsolidation”. The memory is changed for the better. We remember what happened in the event, but the event is no longer important to our life story, or who we think we are.

Dr Robert Scaer’s definition of a traumatic event is it is horrifically overwhelming and one thinks one is going to die because the situation is completely hopeless and the person feels completely helpless and without resources.  This is why we need to ask clients, "What were you THINKING" when that memory happened. Often the thought of death itself is so buried in the psyche it underpins the memory. Tapping on, "I was going to die" multiple times until it neutralizes, along with tapping the emotion of "shock" that the event even happened takes much of the punch & sting out of the memory, in many cases.

I don’t recommend at all that individuals tap on their own traumatic memories. This is one of those times when it is imperative that you hire an EFT practitioner to help you. Why? Because most likely you will NOT go deep enough to neutralize all the aspects of what happened at that fateful time, and in only partially “fixing” the memory you might drive it deeper into the subconscious. (Please just get help – email me! I have a list of Christian practitioners to help you).

Often huge amounts of the neurotransmitter norephinephrine are secreted during a trauma.  Norephinephrine drives the sensory memory. The more norephinephrine pumped out, the better the memory aspects stick.

"Post-traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD is, of course, an anxiety disorder that occurs sometimes in the aftermath of exposure to a horrendous traumatic experience involving death or the threat of death. It essentially involves a person ingesting a trauma memory that is so "hot" and emotionally overwhelming that it cannot be processed and grieved normally and instead is just avoided as best as can be managed. The trauma memory does not degrade as normal memories do, but instead stays fresh and intrudes into the traumatized person's awareness in an unwanted, unbidden and very frightening manner. Three classes of classic PTSD symptoms come out of this situation: 1) hypervigilance for threats, 2) attempts to avoid threats (anything which will trigger the trauma memories), and 3) chronic intrusive remembering of the trauma memory despite attempts to avoid it."

The above definition of PTSD comes from this same article.

I want to stress to you that PTSD symptoms almost never go away spontaneously and the triggers and behaviors resulting from the trauma are NOT your fault! Often trauma leads to PTSD. Memories continue to disintegrate and magnify as years pass. And there is absolutely no way a person with PTSD symptoms can work on themselves using EFT or any other energy techniques and adequately clear the trauma. It is a must that they find a practitioner who can gently lead them where they must go to resolves all the deep-seated trauma pieces of the memory.

Because these memories are so imbedded in the hippocampus, they continue to intrude into the life of the one who carries the memories. Sadly, the damage goes even further in that the hippocampus actually shrinks, taking with the shrinking the good earlier memories when life was good and pleasant, leaving the person with just a life full of bad memories.

Triggers, those short snaps of sensory input, that causes the flare-up of emotions and spontaneously erratic behaviors is nothing one can control. The amygdala in the brain is now in control once these memories are implanted deeply in the psyche.

EFT is one of the few modalities that actually effectively works on neutralizing and calming these awful memories.

Post-traumatic memories are not a weakness in personality or spirit. They are something done to you as a result of something awful that happened years or decades ago. There is nothing shameful about asking for help.

So, do you have memories that haunt you?  God has offered us an opportunity through tapping to once and for all reconsolidate those memories and put them to bed forever.

Are you ready to give EFT a try? Call and let’s talk!

https://www.mentalhelp.net/articles/memory-reconsolidation-and-treatment-for-post-traumatic-stress-ptsd/

EFT is not a substitute for medical or emotional care from a qualified physician or therapist. Call one when necessary.

Sherrie Rice Smith, R.N. (Retired)

Certified EFT Practitioner

Author of EFT for Christians – on Amazon

EFTforChristians.com

EFTforChristians@gmail.com

Generation Suffering & EFT

Generational suffering - another scientific article explaining the need for EFT and Matrix Reimprinting:


http://www.newrepublic.com/article/120144/trauma-genetic-scientists-say-parents-are-passing-ptsd-kids

Epigenetics Behind the Scenes Science Article

http://discovermagazine.com/2013/may/13-grandmas-experiences-leave-epigenetic-mark-on-your-genes?fb_action_ids=10151657962056600&fb_action_types=og.likes&fb_ref=.UbfoNfOy9q_.send&fb_source=other_multiline&action_object_map=%7B%2210151657962056600%22%3A505189692878125%7D&action_type_map=%7B%2210151657962056600%22%3A%22og.likes%22%7D&action_ref_map=%7B%2210151657962056600%22%3A%22.UbfoNfOy9q_.send%22%7D#.Ubfq8_nVBjj

For more information, go to  www.eftforchristians.com

To schedule a free EFT coaching session, email me at eftforchristians@gmail.com

Always remember to take complete responsibility for your own health and well-being.