Dr. Paul G. Swingle is a Vancouver based psychologist and an expert in the field of neurotherapy. He is the author of the ClinicalQ and BrainDryvr software suite published by the BFE and will be presenting an upcoming webinar on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. We recently spoke to him about his work in this area.
What are the advantages of using neurotherapy as part of the treatment for PTSD?
Neurotherapy can normalize or improve the brainwave
architecture - that is, the way the brain is functioning - and then we
typically combine that with some other psychological process for helping the
person deal efficiently with the overwhelming emotions associated with the
exposure to the traumatic event. It
marries well with other kinds of therapy whether its experiential, EMDR,
cognitive behaviour and so forth. Once the brain is functioning more
efficiently, then it just markedly enhances the efficacy of these other
procedures.
When exposed to the same traumatic experience, why do some experience PTSD, while others do not?
When I was treating
combat veterans at Harvard Medical School McLean Hospital, we had situations in
which we would have 3 or 4 veterans, one of whom was hospitalized with PTSD. He
was disabled by the event whereas although all of the other people experienced
the same thing and might have such problems such as bad dreams, they weren't disabled by the event. The difference
with the person who was disabled was his neurological condition prior to
walking into the combat theatre. So, we know one of the areas that we can work
with in terms or increasing stress tolerance, but what about the damage that's
been done - namely the post traumatic stress disorder - and that is a marked
impact on the ability to regulate emotional reactivity. The flashbacks, and all
of the rest of it, are associated directly with neurological conditions that we
can identify when we do EEG assessments. And if we can identify it, then we
know where to go to help correct the problem.
How does the ClinicalQ assessment work?
The
ClinicalQ is an EEG assessment that measures brain
activity at five critical locations. The results of the assessment are then compared
to a clinical database that is remarkably accurate in terms of indicating why a
person is coming to see us. I saw a client the other day - a young man who had
been exposed to a recent severe emotional stressor that triggered a
predisposition to depressed mood states. When I explained this to him, his
jaw dropped to the floor. How could I possibly
know that from looking at brainwave activity? Well, the brain tells us
everything. If you've been exposed to a severe emotional stressor recently, it
is very likely that the brain is going to show the effects.
And if you have a predisposition for a certain
disorder such as depression, exposure to severe emotional stressors may likely
trigger that condition.
Do you think that combat veterans - most of which are young men - are hesitant to seek treatment for PTSD because of stigmas that exist?
That's really a crucial point. Decades ago, when we were
dealing with PTSD there was a presumption of a weakness of character and that
an individual that was disabled by the exposure to this severe emotional stress
had some kind of deficit. We know now that there are neurological conditions
that render us more susceptible to one type of disorder than another. With
regard to post traumatic stress disorder, there's a very specific area of the brain
that's associated with this vulnerability. So, if the client was a police
cadet, prior to going into the policing
theatre we would have a look and see if he was neurologically vulnerable and we
would do some preventative neurotherapy to better prepare him for the severe
stresses of police duty. The focus is on brain functioning - it's exactly what
we would do for an Olympic level athlete, exactly what we would do for a CEO of
a large company. It's just making the brain more efficient to deal with severe
stress. It has absolutely nothing to do with strength of character or mental
illness or anything of that nature.
Are there other therapies that are effective with post traumatic stress disorder?
As I said before, all therapies marry perfectly with
neurotherapy. I do a lot of hypnosis for
these kinds of conditions. Once you get the brain so it's functioning
efficiently you can use hypnosis for trying to modify the core emotional belief
that gets triggered in these post traumatic stress disorder conditions. A good
example is the feeling that you're not safe. One of the situations that we get
with get severe stress...automobile accidents are a good example of this. When
you're driving through an intersection and you have the green light, somebody
t-bones you there's a situation where something came right out of the blue. So,
after you get all of the physical things sorted out you still have this angst
about the world not being a safe place and that's a core emotional belief - its
beyond the arena of words. So hypnosis is often an extremely efficient way of
having the person reorganize that emotional belief.
Do you have advice for PTSD sufferers that might not have access to neurotherapy?
A lot of it depends on extent of disability. If you're
dealing with somebody who has full blown flashbacks where they become
absolutely incapacitated and they're not present, then the notion of giving
them advice or home treatment is completely misguided because you need somebody
to be able to shepherd the person through all of that. For lesser conditions,
we use things like my sweep harmonic, for
example, which is something akin to
EMDR, but it uses sound. If you listen to that sound while you are trying to
make the fear as intense as possible, you'll find that it blows it away. So any
situation in which the individual is trying to feel, what every cell in their
body is telling them to avoid, under conditions in which it is manageable is a
positive treatment. For military veterans, it is best to inquire with their
case worker who should be familiar with these options.
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You can learn more about Dr. Swingle and his methods on the
BFE Website or by
visiting the
Swingle Clinic website.
In an upcoming webinar, Dr. Swingle will discuss his approach to treating PTSD.
Presented
by: Dr. Paul G. Swingle
Date:
November 12, 2013
Time:
3:00-4:00 pm Eastern Time (US & Canada)
Any questions can be directed to Dr. Swingle's BFE Team at
blueswingle@gmail.com.
