Healing Trauma with Yoga - Dr Kathie Overeem
In this talk, we will cover the psychology and some mechanisms that underly the effectiveness of trauma-sensitive yoga as a therapy for complex trauma. In recent years that has been a shift towards incorporating body-based therapies for treatment of a range of mental health issues including complex trauma. With regards to complex trauma, this is important because of the limitations of cognitive-based therapies. Specifically, the drop-out rates for psychotherapies can range between 60-90%, and more than half of the participants that do complete treatment still reach the criteria for PTSD.
Trauma-sensitive yoga is a body-based treatment for complex trauma that offers an alternative. This therapy is designed to foster interoceptive awareness (i.e., felt body-sense). The methods include specific language and a trauma-informed approach whereby the facilitator is educated in how trauma can affect felt body sense and how this can interact with the therapeutic process. In this talk, we will introduce some of the methods of trauma-sensitive yoga and discuss some of the neurobiology and psychological theories that are thought to underpin the effectiveness of this treatment. We will discuss the importance of a present moment interoceptive experience and the role it plays in the therapeutic process.
Reading Recommendations:
- Chen et al. (2021) The emerging science of interoception: sensing, integrating, interpreting, and regulating signals within the self. Trends in Neuroscience.
- Farb et al. (2015) Interoception, contemplative practice, and health. Frontiers in Psychology.
- Gard et al. (2014).Potential self-regulatory mechanisms of yoga for psychological health. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience.
- Kelly, et al. (2021) Trauma-Sensitive Yoga for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in Women Veterans who Experienced Military Sexual Trauma: Interim Results from a Randomized Control Study. The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, 27, pp. S45-S59
- Russell, T.A., and Arcuri, S.M. (2015). The neurophysiological and neuropsychological consideration of mindful movement: clinical and research implications. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience.
- van der Kolk et al. (2014) Yoga as an adjunctive treatment for posttraumatic stress disorder: a randomized controlled trial. J Clin Psychiatry. Jun;75(6): e559-65
- van der Kolk (2014). The Body Keeps the Score, Mind, Brain and Body in Transformation of Trauma, Penguin Random House UK.
About the Speaker:
Dr Kathie Overeem, Ph.D.
Kathie Overeem Ph.D (psychology) is a trauma-sensitive yoga facilitator with a background in psychology and neuroscience. Kathie has over 13 years of academic research experience. During that time, she published research and lectured on topics including emotional memory, personality psychology, biological psychology, behavioural and systems neuroscience, cognition, and molecular biology. Teaching yoga since 2016, Kathie has over 700 hr of yoga teacher training and started working with clients using trauma-sensitive yoga in 2018. She is a certified Trauma Sensitive Yoga Facilitator, trained and supervised by the Center for Trauma and Embodiment at the Justice Research Institute (MA, USA). Currently, Kathie works with clients that have experienced stress, anxiety, complex trauma, c-PTSD, PTSD, and eating disorders. She also works with organisations and government programs that support adults and youth experiencing complex mental illness, complex trauma, and alcohol and other drug rehabilitation.
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This episode is sponsored by our upcoming Day on Men’s Mental Health Online Conference taking place on 30th October, 2022.
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