Chase Spiegel, LCSW

Remember arousal and hypervigilance are the same.

What Happens When Your Stress Exceeds Your Window of Tolerance 5 ways to decrease arousal.

Q: Who should use the Lifeline Chat program?

A: Anyone who is depressed, going through a hard time, needs to talk, or is thinking about su***de can use the chat. The chat counselors are here to listen and support you through whatever difficult times you may be facing.

Wounds vs scars

or a few in each category

My trigger responses are a mix of these, depending on the situation. :/
How about you?

💜

The holiday season can be difficult for some, but we're here for you - 24/7/365. Text 988 whenever you need someone to talk to.

World View encouragement

Transgender lives and rights need to be honored and respected. No one should ever be in fear of their life due to what they identify as.

If you are a veteran having thoughts of su***de or know someone who is, help is available. Call the Veterans Crisis Line at 988 and Press 1 to speak to a caring, qualified responder. Veterans don’t have to be enrolled in VA benefits or healthcare to connect. To learn more, visit: https://www.veteranscrisisline.net/. ***de #988

Validation

Trauma and it's impact on the body.

And I am sick and it sucks being sick and contagious makes me feel so triggered. Hugs all

❤️🫶❤️Christine

Good to share

Great Resource!

💜

I like this diagram for understanding CPTSD.

www.womenwithptsdunited.org

5 Triggers for Adults Who Experienced Childhood Emotional Neglect 2. Being ignored.

Express Yourself! Art can be quite the vehicle to trauma recovery, too.

From Illness to Thriving Creativity: One Woman’s Journey How does a patient process their illness and move their way to healing and even creativity?

CPT works! It's what I use in my trauma focused therapy.

Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT) teaches you to change the upsetting thoughts you’ve had since experiencing a trauma, and start to feel better. Learn more about CPT: https://www.ptsd.va.gov/understand_tx/cognitive_processing.asp

Navigating Loss: Why Acknowledging Grief Is Vital For Mental Health Grief—we all experience it at some point in our lives. The death of a loved one, a career change, or an unexpected life event can bring on sadness and

Just like last year!

RiverArtsFest 2023 - River Arts Fest | GivePulse RiverArtsFest is a celebration of fine arts and fine local music with live artist demonstrations and hands-on art activi...

❤angel

Truth - trauma is treated the same, regardless of the source (childhood, disaster, domestic violence - all in the same group.

Love y’all! ❤️🫶❤️ Christine

Brain stuff!

Brain imaging studies of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have identified a few key brain regions whose function appears to be altered in PTSD, most notably the amygdala, the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) and the hippocampus.
The amygdala is an almond-shaped region ("amygdala" is greek for almond) that is key to the normal expression of emotions, especially fear. Brain imaging studies see high activity in the amygdala when subjects experience anxiety, stress or phobias.
The vmPFC can be thought of as a "higher" or "more sophisticated" part of the brain, involved in less well defined activities such as "emotional processing" and "decision making".
The hippocampus is a large region that is, very simply, involved in memory, especially spatial memory (such as for, and of, places)
A very generalised model of what happens during normal responses to anxiety is this; a person enounters some environmental cue that signals danger, for example, they see a tiger. This information is sent to the amygdala, which gets fired up and starts sending out "fight or flight" responses to other parts of the brain. However, the vmPFC, being involved in "higher thinking", has a quiet word with the amygdala, saying "look, the tiger is in a cage, you know what a cage is, tigers can't escape from cages, it's OK, calm down". Another part of the brain, the hippocampus, helps out, providing information about the context of the event (we're at a zoo, we know what zoo's look like, we've seen them before). In summary, the vmPFC inhibits the amygdala to keep fearful responses in check.
Brain imaging studies of PTSD sufferers generally show two things; reduced activity in the vmPFC and increased activity in the amygdala. A long-held interpretation of these studies is that, in PTSD, the vmPFC is asleep at the wheel, allowing the amygdala to go unchecked and thus produce many of the intense anxiety symptoms that are a key feature of PTSD.

Resource!!

Joining a peer support group for PTSD may help you learn how to handle day-to-day challenges of PTSD by talking to people who are going through something similar. Learn about joining a peer support group: https://www.ptsd.va.gov/gethelp/peer_support.asp

When ending trauma treatment, this discussion often happens. Yes, trauma therapy can have an "end date" - got questions? ChaseSpiegel.com or https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists/chase-spiegel-memphis-tn/1048266