Hypervigilance: Trauma-Informed Care for Dizziness

Learn about trauma, how it relates to chronic dizziness, and how to assemble a healthcare team that knows how to consider trauma in their treatment.

Find a trauma-informed mental health provider: https://www.inclusivetherapists.com/

https://www.therapyden.com/

The article that Jen references: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41593-023-01483-5

Work with Jen: https://www.jenwellness.com/

Instagram: @jenwellnesstherapy

Key takeaways (consult your doctor before making any changes):

-Experiences that make us feel powerless (like dizziness/vertigo) can be compounded by feeling those same feelings in the past

Timestamps:

00:45  Introduction of Jen Warner, her training, and specialty of trauma and trauma-related illness

01:40  How would you define trauma and why does it matter to dizziness

02:15  DSM offers a more narrow definition

04:45  What is the connection between trauma and chronic illness

05:36 Trauma versus traumatic stress

06:08  Vertigo can be traumatizing, but if you have a history of trauma the vertigo is compounding the past history of trauma

08:00  Post traumatic stress for chronic illness aren’t necessarily “post” because it is doesn’t feel like it’s over

09:47  Brain doesn’t like trauma, it is wired for survival. Trauma doesn’t make sense to the brain.

10:20 Brain organizes experience by feelings

10:50  Experience of vertigo is compounding the feelings of terror and powerlessness and results in a scary feelings

12:05  Is dizziness exacerbated by childhood trauma?

13:07  History of trauma makes you familiar with powerlessness

13:42  Posterior cingulate cortex makes memories feel like a current event or trauma.

16:40  We don’t learn well when we are stressed

17:00  What are the things that we can do to help us deal with things that have traumatized us in the past.

17:44  Distinguish traumatic stress reaction versus new trauma

18:27  Come into a relaxed body state, soften, reconnect to breath

19:48  Come into a relaxed body state before facing the fearful situation

20:09 Thoughts cannot stick to a relaxed body

21:15  Physiological sigh

22:08  Exhaling drops your heart rate

22:30  What does it mean to be trauma-informed and how do you find a provider who knows trauma-informed care?

24:17  The Three R’s of Trauma informed care: realizing the trauma, recognizing the impact, respond appropriately

25:15  Don’t minimize the trauma

25:54  Trauma is prevalent and it is on individual to treat themselves in a trauma-informed way

28:18 Foster your own safety

29:09  Wrong provider can be traumatizing

29:35  Self-advocacy might be needed when there is history of trauma relating to interpersonal situations.

30:12  How do we find a trauma-informed mental health provider?

30:45   www.inclusivetheraptists.com; www.therapyden.com

31:27  What else can we do to make ourselves feel safe and why does that matter for learning?

32:35  Feelings thermometer to check in on your feelings, 0 - 10

33:25  Optimal window for learning. Don’t go up to ten or down to zero on thermometer

35:35  Set timer for fifteen minutes.

36:37  Progressive muscle relaxation

35:33  Stop, orient, self check: SOS

38:57  Importance of keeping a list of steps to take

39:41  Escape plan of what you’re going to do, you’re never trapped

40:56  What is one thing someone can do prior to a triggering event? 

42:03  Ice water to calm the vagus nerve

43:00  Before you enter space, SOS with timer

43:42  Breath in and out three times

44:15  Massage or tapping heart as anchor

44:45 Soften gaze

45:29  “You may notice me exhaling a lot”

46:07  How do you find and work with Jen Warner

47:08  Look for videos from Jen on grounding