S01E04 “Allowing the brain and the mind to repair itself”: Recovery after trauma

02/04/19 • 64 min

The phrase psychological trauma can be roughly translated as “the wound of the soul”. Contemporary neuropsychology shows us that the wound is not metaphorical, as this poetic-sounding phrase might suggest, but rather a real one, detectable in the brain’s neural networks.

To understand what these wounds look like, how we acquire them, and what we can do about them, the Brain Health podcast team interviews a practitioner of eye movement desensitization and reprocessing therapy (EMDR), Isabel Fernandez. A cognitive-behavioral psychologist and a psychotherapist, Fernandez is trained in EMDR therapy and currently serves as the president of both EMDR Europe (a professional association of EMDR therapists) and its Italian branch (EMDR Italy). Besides discussing psychological trauma treatment, Fernandez also shares her rich knowledge of childhood trauma and trauma symptoms.

EMDR Europe was founded in 1999 with a mission to use EMDR treatment to help people suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and emotional trauma, as well as mental illness, to overcome their issues. Having started with a few hundred, the association is now 23 000 therapists strong, and has 31 national committees in Europe. Furthermore, they work with EMDR International Association and EMDR Research Foundation within EMDR Global Alliance, and promote the therapy in the Middle Eastern and African countries. They often provide psychological first aid where there is a high risk of trauma - refugee hotspots, and sites of terror attacks and tragic accidents.

Kim Baden-Kristensen is the co-founder and CEO of Brain+, a digital therapeutics company that helps people with brain disorders and injuries to recover their fundamental cognitive brain functions and daily life capabilities by using an app-based cognitive rehabilitation platform, which is developed in close collaboration with patients, clinicians and researchers.https://www.linkedin.com/in/kbadenk/
Alessia Covello is a life science IT consultant working in the field of healthcare technology implementation, and advocating for better services for people with brain conditions and learning disabilities.https://www.linkedin.com/in/alessiacovello/

Talking points include :

5:03 What is EMDR therapy and how it works
9:27 Psychological trauma: Basic facts
14:47 - Trauma symptoms in the brain: the physiological level, stress reactions, hormonal reactions
23:24 - What happens with the memory of a traumatic experience and how EMDR helps
27:56 - Childhood trauma: Why children don’t talk about their traumas and what to do about it
31:18 - What are our natural “tools” against traumatic experience, and when in life do they develop?
35:49 - Risk factors: Practical advice
44:22 - Recovery from trauma - different phases and obstacles
47:52 – Protective factors: Practical advice
53:47 – Exposure therapy relying on virtual reality (VR)

Disclaimer:
All references to products, companies, and organizations in this podcast and the article that accompanies it are included with the purpose to inform, rather than promote or advertise. The podcast authors do not receive financial compensation for any of these references.

Talking points include :

5:03 What is EMDR therapy and how it works
9:27 Psychological trauma: Basic facts
14:47 - Trauma symptoms in the brain: the physiological level, stress reactions, hormonal reactions
23:24 - What happens with the memory of a traumatic experience and how EMDR helps
27:56 - Childhood trauma: Why children don’t talk about their traumas and what to do about it
31:18 - What are our natural “tools” against traumatic experience, and when in life do they develop?
35:49 - Risk factors: Practical advice
44:22 - Recovery from trauma - different phases and obstacles
47:52 – Protective factors: Practical advice
53:47 – Exposure therapy relying on virtual reality (VR)

Previous Episode

S01E02 Our future with brain disorders: Advocating for a "paradigm shift"

Brain disorders are becoming more and more prevalent in the population. Kim’s and Alessia’s guest - Frédéric Destrebecq, executive director of European Brain Council (EBC) - is here to tell us about how society can cope with this tendency, discussing prevention and treatment of brain diseases as well as topics like effects of depression, mental illness stigma, stress disorders and burnout syndrome.

European Brain Council is a non-profit organization that brings together patient associations, research institutions, and representatives of the relevant industries, with a mission to improve the quality of life among people suffering from neurological disorders. Founded in Brussels in 2002, EBC have spent the last 16 years facilitating communication between their member organizations, as well as between research, industry and policy-makers.

Furthermore, they have been influencing European Commission and European Parliament to invest more in brain health. Besides the pan-European level, EBC works with National Brain Councils and National Action Groups (check this map to see if you country has one) too, and on global partnerships.

Kim Baden-Kristensen is the co-founder and CEO of Brain+, a digital therapeutics company that helps people with brain disorders and injuries to recover their fundamental cognitive brain functions and daily life capabilities by using an app-based cognitive rehabilitation platform, which is developed in close collaboration with patients, clinicians and researchers. https://www.linkedin.com/in/kbadenk/
Alessia Covello is a life science IT consultant working in the field of healthcare technology implementation, and advocating for better services for people with brain conditions and learning disabilities. https://www.linkedin.com/in/alessiacovello/

Discussion points include:

● Brain health statistics: prevalence in the population, costs of treatment, current issues (4:00 - 16:20)
● The role of education and awareness, especially in work environments (13:22)
● Technology in hospital care and daily life (16:24-22:00)
● The role, the achievements, and the priorities of EBC (22:15-27:30)
● Treatment and prevention - what is more important? (27:44-33:45)
● Allocation of the EU sources to brain research (34: 04-46:00)
● Role of the industry (46:36-48:30)
● Patient-centered care (48.38-50:45)

Disclaimer:
All references to products, companies, and organizations in this podcast and the article that accompanies it are included with the purpose to inform, rather than promote or advertise. The podcast authors do not receive financial compensation for any of these references.

Next Episode

S01E05 Dopamine - neurotransmitter that gets us going

Thanks to pop culture, dopamine is commonly associated with pleasure-seeking and addiction, but its function goes way beyond that.

Despite the fact that only about 400 000 out of 10 billion neurons in our brain produce it, the importance of natural dopamine for our survival is tremendous. It is responsible for us making a difference between what is good and what is bad for us, our ability to compare expectations to reality, but also for basic functions like physical movement. And it’s not only survival of humans it has a role in - dopamine systems are something we share with organisms as simple as fruit flies.

To find out about dopamine function and current research into it, Kim and Alessia interview professor Ulrik Gether, head of the Department of Neuroscience at Copenhagen University. A trained medical doctor, Gether studied at Copenhagen University and Stanford University Medical School, and is now a leading researcher on neurotransmitters, dopamine in particular. He currently co-manages the project called Attention to Dopamine, an interdisciplinary endeavor aiming to provide better understanding of the relations between dopamine and Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD).

Even more importantly, he tells us about practical ways in which we can affect dopamine production to improve our lifestyles - its role in changing habits and how to prevent relapse into old bad habits. Furthermore, we find out about the applications of dopamine in Parkinson’s disease treatment, ADHD, and schizophrenia, and get to peek into the cutting-edge research of dopamine Gether does at his lab at Mærsk Tower, Copenhagen.

Kim Baden-Kristensen is the co-founder and CEO of Brain+, a digital therapeutics company that helps people with brain disorders and injuries to recover their fundamental cognitive brain functions and daily life capabilities by using an app-based cognitive rehabilitation platform, which is developed in close collaboration with patients, clinicians and researchers.https://www.linkedin.com/in/kbadenk/
Alessia Covello is a life science IT consultant working in the field of healthcare technology implementation, and advocating for better services for people with brain conditions and learning disabilities.https://www.linkedin.com/in/alessiacovello/

Talking points include:

4:13 What is dopamine and why is it important?

9:19 Dopamine and addiction - how compulsive behaviors arise, what they do to receptors in the brain, and how to defeat addiction

18:44 The power of habit and changing habits: The process of “cue-behavior-reward”

21:37 Dopamine and movement - dopamine gets us going

22:13 Dopamine in Parkinson's disease (PD) and Parkinson’s treatment

28:45 Schizophrenia, dopamine, and related treatments

32:42 ADHD, dopamine, and related treatments

37:36 Current research on dopamine - what we have learned in the recent years and how

42:03 Research in Gether’s lab - genetic factors and dopamine, its relation to early onset Parkinson, effects of drugs, etc.

48:06 The future of dopamine research - gene editing and its potential in brain treatments

Disclaimer:

All references to products, companies, and organizations in this podcast and the article that accompanies it are included with the purpose to inform, rather than promote or advertise. The podcast authors do not receive financial compensation