Somatic Memory

A Study in Trauma and Somatic Memory

Recorded Saturday 13 and 20 June 2020

A Two-Day Workshop with Dr Janina Fisher PhD

CPD Credits: 5 hours

It is not the traumatic events that haunt survivors for decades afterward. It is the impact or legacy of those events in the form of emotional, body and behavioural memories.
Janina Fisher, PhD

In this workshop, we will look at how the neuroscience and attachment research of the past twenty years has transformed our notions of “memory”. We now know that “the body keeps the score,” that our most painful experiences are less often remembered than encoded in wordless somatic and emotional memories.

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SPEAKERS

Dr Janina Fisher,

FULL PROGRAMME

“The Body Keeps the Score”
Brain science has transformed our understanding of what it means to remember trauma by demonstrating what happens when a memory is evoked: areas of the brain dedicated to verbal and autobiographical memory are inhibited while structures in nonverbal areas become highly active, showing increased emotional, perceptual and body memories. We re-experience the feeling of being traumatised without always knowing what events these are linked to; our bodies and emotions remember events for which we have no words or pictures.

What is a Memory?
Implicit emotional and somatic memories evoked by association to past events are not always recognisable as memories as such. With no connection to that event, it is hard to know if we are reacting or remembering. Even more problematic is trauma-related “procedural” memory or memory for function and habit. In a dangerous world, individuals learn automatic ways of surviving and coping without any conscious connection to the events that conditioned them. Helping clients to notice and recognise their implicit memories as part of their story is the first step in recovering from trauma. Without the ability to know what is memory, clients may feel as afraid or ashamed in their present-day lives as they were in the past.

Q&A and Discussion

Transforming One’s Relationship to a Traumatic Past
Cutting edge research and treatment approaches focus on how the brain and body hold the aftermath of trauma and neglect. If the “body keeps the score”, then we must include the body and the nervous system in talking therapy treatments and if the implicit memories are what activate post-traumatic responses we must somehow address them. Where the traumatic past poisons relationships, the ability to function or the ability to sleep through the night, the client must be helped to transform their experience in those arenas. Using interventions drawn from Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, EMDR, Internal Family Systems and clinical hypnosis, we will consider how implicit memories can be addressed and resolved.

Q&A and Discussion

A Repair Model, not a Remembering Model
It is not the traumatic events that haunt survivors for decades afterward. It is the impact or legacy of those events in the form of emotional, body and behavioural memories. Addressing those events gives the client a perspective or context, but it doesn’t fundamentally change the implicit memories or their impact on the client’s ongoing life. A repair model focuses on counteracting the traumatic past by resolving the body and emotional memories, transforming habitual survival strategies, and facilitating new experiences that change their relationship to what happened and to how they survived.

Q&A and Discussion

End

FEES

Includes: 1 year’s access, test and CPD Certificate of Attendance, subtitles and transcript

INDIVIDUAL

£70 (or £56 Confer member)

GROUP RATE

£50pp in groups of over 10 (please apply to accounts@confer.uk.com)

CPD

Continuing Professional Development (CPD) credits for 5 hours are available as part of the course fee. You will need to fill out an evaluation form and pass a multiple choice questionnaire related to the content in order to receive your certificate. You can submit this test up to a maximum of 5 times.

SCHEDULE

00:01:38
“The Body Keeps the Score”

01:13:46
What is a Memory?

02:36:09
Q&A and Discussion

03:00:02
Transforming One’s Relationship to a Traumatic Past

04:04:42
Q&A and Discussion

04:30:30
A Repair Model, not a Remembering Model

05:30:20
Q&A and Discussion

05:41:27
End

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

By attending this workshop virtually, participants will be able to:
  • Identify developmental milestones in how trauma affects our bodies
  • Explain the differences between implicit and explicit memory and how they link to trauma
  • Describe how implicit memory manifests as symptoms in our patients
  • List different therapeutic models and interventions used to treat traumatic somatic memory