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Healing Trauma: Research Links PTSD, Emotion Regulation and Quality of Life

AHA Publisher — Wed, 28 Jul 2021 07:00:28 +0000

Binghamton University via EurekAlert – We often talk about the coronavirus pandemic in terms of health or economic impacts: the numbers of cases and deaths, the persistence of long-haul COVID, lost jobs and toilet paper shortages. But there is another crisis, too… [t]he pandemic is a type of mass trauma, explained Binghamton University doctoral candidate in psychology Craig Polizzi. And trauma can and does give rise to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and potentially problematic behaviors and a lower quality of life. Recent research from Polizzi, fellow graduate student Damla Aksen and Distinguished Professor of Psychology Steven Jay Lynn provides insight into the impact PTSD has on emotional regulation and quality of life, and points to ways to improve both. Their article, “Quality of Life, Emotion Regulation Dissociation: Evaluating Unique Relations in an Undergraduate Sample and Probable PTSD Subsample,” was published in a recent issue of the journal Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice and Policy. Their research fills some of the gaps left by previous studies into PTSD, emotion regulation and quality of life. Previous studies mainly focused on older adults and individuals with medical problems, and tested emotion regulation strategies or difficulties separately; they also didn’t account for important variables that may explain the relation between emotion regulation and quality of life. Polizzi, Aksen and Lynn instead take a more comprehensive approach and include such critical variables as dissociation, neuroticism and PTSD symptoms in addition to dimensions of emotion regulation. Using questionnaires and personal narratives, the researchers identified participating college students who potentially met the diagnostic criteria for PTSD. The traumatic events these students experienced ranged from physical or sexual assault to car accidents, abuse, severe illness and witnessing suffering. The researchers then used a series of self-report surveys to measure difficulties in emotional regulation, positive and negative coping strategies and dissociative experiences with the participants. It’s eye-opening to see how much trauma college students — and the U.S. population in general — are exposed to, Polizzi acknowledged. “The positive side to these statistics, though, is how remarkably resilient people can be following traumatic events, especially during this pandemic,” he said. What Is Quality of Life? “Quality of life” isn’t an amorphous concept, although researchers can have different definitions, including improved function related to physical health and psychological well-being. It can actually be measured in many ways, such as through self-report surveys, physician ratings or direct observation, Polizzi explained. In the study, the researchers relied on a broad definition informed by the World Health Organization (WHO), which defines quality of life as healthy functioning across mental processing, life activities, physical mobility, participating in society, self-care and social skills. In particular, they administered a questionnaire, the WHO Disability Assessment Schedule, based on the organization’s definition of this concept. Closely associated with quality of life is emotion regulation, or the ability to alter your emotional state to better cope with the situation at hand. People with enhanced emotion regulation tend to have greater psychological health, whereas problems in this area are associated with psychological difficulties, Polizzi explained. During and following traumatic events, many people dissociate — or distance themselves from their emotions, body, mind and even personal identity — to escape overwhelming feelings such as shame, fear and anger. People who experience dissociation may lose focus, forget people and events, have out-of-body experiences or extreme daydreaming, and feel a sense of unreality and detachment from their immediate surroundings. While some researchers have argued that dissociation is an emotion regulation strategy, it typically has negative effects, including interfering with emotional awareness, sense of self, social bonds and engagement in daily activities. In fact, it was surprising how strongly dissociation was related to quality of life, Polizzi acknowledged. Rather than just a part of other unhealthy emotion regulation strategies, it appears to play a disruptive role in daily activities and everyday behaviors. Overall, their research suggests that decreased emotion regulation is related to a lower quality of life, although not necessarily a sole cause. People may experience a lowered quality of life for many reasons, one of which could be the inability to effectively regulate their emotions; conversely, the lack of psychological resources — for example, from stress, pain or physical health issues — could also limit a person’s ability to emotionally regulate. “These variables could exist in a vicious cycle, in which lack of emotion regulation contributes to lowering quality of life, which in turn reduces emotion regulation skills,” said Polizzi, adding that further research is needed to confirm this idea. On the plus side, emotion regulation is something that people can learn. “Many techniques used in psychological treatments are designed to help individuals enhance their emotion regulation. For example, learning to accept and re-interpret emotions in realistic ways rather than avoiding emotions and blaming them on others can improve people’s psychological functioning and their quality of life,” Polizzi said. Three Main Symptoms In their research, Polizzi, Aksen and Lynn provide information that could refine the current evidence-based practices for treating PTSD by focusing on a trio of symptoms that have a strong impact on an individual’s quality of life: namely, dissociation, impulsivity and blaming others. Used as a coping strategy for negative emotions, impulsive behaviors can lead to physical injury, substance abuse and other health concerns, while dissociation may make it even more difficult for people with PTSD to be emotionally engaged, cope with stress, set goals and have a healthy sense of self. Individuals with PTSD also tend to mistrust others, which could lead to blame in interpersonal interactions and the further erosion of social bonds. That doesn’t mean, however, that trauma is a one-way street to a diminished life. Many individuals can learn how to successfully cope with such experiences, and treatment can lead to a greatly improved quality of life. For those diagnosed with PTSD, focusing on these three factors would be especially helpful during the later phases of treatment, when the individual has improved their coping skills and stability, Polizzi said. If the pandemic’s aftermath has you feeling not quite yourself, it might be helpful to take an honest look at how you’re really feeling and the strategies — good and bad — that you’re using to cope. “People experiencing increased psychological stress during this pandemic may look to improve their quality of life by focusing on ways to enhance their emotion regulation skills via reducing dissociation, impulsivity and blaming others, such as increasing emotional engagement, planning goal-directed behaviors and fostering compassion toward others, respectively,” Polizzi said. To read the original article click here.

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An Unconventional Yet Highly Effective Method to Overcoming Addiction, Shame, and Guilt

AHA Publisher — Wed, 05 Feb 2020 08:00:28 +0000

Dr. Caroline Leaf – Addiction is something many of us have experienced, whether we ourselves have battled with addiction, guilt and shame, or we know a loved one, friend or family member who is dealing with addiction. According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), 19.7 million American adults (aged 12 and older) battled a substance use disorder in 2017 alone! When it comes to addiction, whether we are talking about addiction to drugs, alcohol, food, sex and so on, people are often faced with conflicting messages: they are damaged goods with little or no hope of overcoming their addiction, or it is all their fault and they are just “bad apples”. Yet reality is far more complicated, and, thankfully, far more hopeful: it is possible to take responsibility for our lives while recognizing and dealing with the negative consequences of addiction. Addiction means to be consumed by something, which is why I think it is important that we learn to see addiction through the lens of the latest neuroscientific research. Addiction involves the desire to suppress an issue or trauma that is causing you discomfort and pain. We are not just controlled by our “chemical hooks” and defined by our biological predilections. Rather, we are constantly changing in response to our environment (through neuroplasticity, or the ability of the brain to change. Addiction is a response (a signal) to life, to some underlying issue that needs to be addressed. Indeed, the latest scientific research also shows that up to 85% of people get out of addictions through choice once they begin to work on the underlying issues that led to their addiction, as I discuss on this’ week’s blog and podcast with Adi Jaffe, Ph.D. Dr. Adi Jaffe is a nationally recognized expert on mental health, addiction, relationships and shame. He was a UCLA lecturer in the Psychology department at UCLA for the better part of a decade, and was the Executive-Director and Co-Founder of one of the most progressive mental health treatment facilities in the nation. He has been interviewed on several national TV shows, including Dr. Oz and Larry King, has been featured in many documentaries on addiction and has his own TEDx talk. His work and unique approach to addiction has also been published in numerous journals, and he is a regular contributor to Psychology Today. Dr. Jaffe’s work and research focus on changing the way Americans think about, and deal with mental health issues. He is passionate about the role of shame in destroying lives and aims to greatly reduce the stigma of mental health and addiction in this country. He has used both his personal and professional experience as an incredibly effective inspirational and motivational tool. Although he grew up in a loving home, Dr. Jaffe always felt uncomfortable with who he was, and started drinking and using drugs to hide his anxiety and depression. Over time, he developed a meth addiction, which led to drug dealing to pay for his habit. As Dr. Jaffe notes, “he wasn’t learning how to deal with discomfort; he was only learning how to mask it, but he always felt alone.” Eventually, he was caught and spent time in jail and rehab; however, when he was released he still battled with drug addiction and had several relapses. True change, after all, is not instant; it is a process. Dr. Jaffe eventually realized that he had to find another way to recover—the traditional system was not helping him. He had to take accountability and responsibility for his own life; he had to believe that he had it in himself to change. And, when he realized that he was not just “damaged goods” with no hope of recovery and that he could change, began to take charge of his life and go back to school, which put him on the path to where he is today: helping people overcome addiction, mental health and shame. Through his book, The Abstinence Myth, his work and his organization, online program and podcast IGNTD, he helps people recognize that we need “guidance and understanding, not judgment and stigma, and the sooner we realize this, the more lives we’ll be able to save.” His unique take on addiction, mental health and shame has changed thousands of lives for the better, and can help you or anyone you know who is battling as well. His method, although unconventional, is truly unique and transformative, as it focuses on: 1. Dealing with “you” as a person: As Dr. Jaffe notes, you first have to deal with what is right in front of you, and “you” are the first thing that is in front of you. You need to recognize where your strength and weaknesses lie, and plan for it to help you manage them and recover. You need to accept that you used certain tools to cope with issues for a while, and now you need different tools. Don’t feel bad about your shortcomings, as we all have them! Deal with your reality, and move forward in the best way you can. Accept who you are right now. 2. Start where you are: you don’t have to quit something to recover from addiction, you have to start where you are. Although traditional ways of treating addiction begins with the assumption that you have to be ready to quit, this is not the case, and often sets people up for failure, which is why the industry ends up turning away 90% of people who need help. Yet, in many cases, people don’t necessarily want to give up the thing they are addicted to, such as sex, food or alcohol; they want to learn how to control their use of it and just want their life to get better. As Dr. Jaffe notes, the abstinence requirement is a huge barrier for people who need help. You don’t have to want to quit to get better, but you do have to want your life to get better to get over your addiction. If you are committed to a better life, then you are more willing to put in the hard work and effort it takes to overcome any addiction. 3. Deal with the root of your addiction: what is making you unhappy? What substance or thing are you using to mask your discomfort? Do you like your life? Oftentimes, we use substances and things to escape our lives or cover up our distress, which can lead to addiction if we do not stop and ask ourselves what we want and how we would like our lives to look, or do not take the time to deal with the problems we face. Indeed, addictions are often the symptom of the undealt with issues in our lives, not stand-alone “conditions” or labels, which is why we need to be careful of using more traditional terms like “alcoholic” and “drug addict” without first understanding where that person came from, what their unique story is and what is causing them pain. Instead of letting the confirmation bias of a traditional label like alcoholism define someone’s story, looking backwards and seeing everything through the prism of an addiction, we need to understand where they came from and how they ended up where they are now. We should never let an addiction define someone’s past, present and future. We need to stop just giving people solutions and start asking people questions, such as “why does drinking this make you feel good?”, “why are you unhappy”, “how are you feeling inside” or “why do you feel that this helps you?”. We even need to take a good look at ourselves and how we may have contributed to someone’s behavior. By doing this, we not only eliminate people’s barriers that prevent them from getting the help they need and we start asking the questions they want us to ask, which helps them honestly explore and share their stories, hopes, dreams and failures in a non-judgmental, caring and safe environment, which is critical to the recovery process. As I constantly say, we have to face and analyze our emotional and physical warning signals and find the why: what is the root of our mental and physical distress? This is one of the first steps to any kind of recovery, and is one of the reasons why I designed my new app SWITCH, which is a great tool for helping people deal with their issues and overcome addictive thought patterns and behaviors through the mental process of reconceptualization. The “why” defines the process of healing and transformation, which will look different for everyone as we each have our own unique story, so don’t think just because something worked for someone it will work for you, or for someone else. Of course, when it comes to overcoming addiction, it is so important to remember that change is a given. As Dr. Jaffe notes, it’s not that you can’t or won’t change, because you are changing all the time, but you can either choose to take charge of what that change will look like, or let it happen haphazardly and allow the world to dictate what those changes will be. You can take control of your life; you got this! To read the original article click here. For more articles from Dr. Leaf click here.

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