Childhood Disrupted: How Your Biography Becomes Your Biology, and How You Can Heal by Donna Jackson Nakazawa

‘Your biography becomes your biology. The emotional trauma we suffer as children not only shapes our emotional lives as adults, but it also affects our physical health, longevity, and overall well-being. Scientists now know on a bio-chemical level exactly how parents’ chronic fights, divorce, death in the family, being bullied or hazed, and growing up with a hypercritical, alcoholic, or mentally ill parent can leave permanent, physical “fingerprints” on our brains.’ …

The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel van der Kolk M.D.

‘Trauma is a fact of life. Veterans and their families deal with the painful aftermath of combat; one in five Americans has been molested; one in four grew up with alcoholics; one in three couples have engaged in physical violence. Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, one of the world’s foremost experts on trauma, has spent over three decades working with survivors. In The Body Keeps the Score, he uses recent scientific advances to show how trauma … ‘

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The Adverse Childhood Experience (ACEs) are traumatic events that effect children while growing up, such as suffering child maltreatment or living in a household affected by domestic violence, substance misuse or mental illness.

Take Self Assessment

The ACEs questionnaire for adults is used to identify and understand problems that may have occurred early in your life and helps your therapist explore how these problems may be impacting the challenges you are experiencing today.

Compassion Fatigue Symptoms: Learn More

[Internet Archive Link] The emotional residue or strain of exposure to working with those suffering from the consequences of traumatic events, including caring for trauma victims, hospice, and COVID-19 patients.

Introducing the Neuroplastic Narrative: Learn More

By clinicians including the context of our experiences as individuals and in examining human survival needs and patterns, diagnosticians can view symptoms of trauma not as pathological, but adaptive! Using this model alongside the medical model (to rule out organic pathology) decreases stigmatizing diagnoses and treatments. Aimee believes this can result in decreasing client’s shame.

New and Emerging Treatments for Depression: Learn More

If you are considering a medical based treatment for depression, (e.g., TMS, psychedelics, ECT, etc.) click the link above for a research review of the available studies which reveals some biases and limitations of original research. While Golden Oak will collaborate with any other treatment provider, we tend to recommend all other avenues be tried before recommending a client spend thousands of dollars on treatments that may give temporary relief, but need to be repeated. Ultimately, we recognize that suffering can be intolerable. We have observed the temporary effects of some of these treatments allow our clients the strength and motivation that was lacking with their current antidepressants, necessary to do difficult work that led to healing that is long-lasting.

Higher Level of Care

If you are in need of more treatment than what an outpatient provider can give, we recommend the following inpatient trauma-focused units after years of recommending these for our clients.

• Dominion Trauma Sci program in Virginia
• River Oaks of the New Orleans Institute

Trauma and Beyond offers IOP/PHP near Los Angeles, California. However they are cash pay, no insurance is accepted.

Banyan Mental Health is a nonprofit that will soon be open and offering IOP/PHP. Banyan was started by the owner of Golden Oak and is passionate about reducing the number of inpatient hospital admissions. Watch their website for updates.