Trauma & Art

Informed choice of approach concerning health, whether that is an allopathic or a more holistic, natural and functional approach, should be available to all and everyone’s right, without suffering any type of pushback or pressure. More as soon as I get back home and round to writing a post………..

For the time being, I am sharing some links and quotes on health and nutrition from a few only of the many resources I have watched, read and explored to some extent this last year as part of my journey while peeling off layers of experience and connecting various  aspects of my own and others’contextually embedded experiences of health.

1.By Dr Mark Hyman (http://drhyman.com/)

‘It’s more important to understand the imbalances in your body’s basic systems and restore balance, rather than name the disease and match the pill to the ill’

‘The facts are in, the science is beyond question. Sugar in all its forms is the root cause of our obesity epidemic and most of the chronic disease sucking the life out of our citizens and our economy – and, increasingly, the rest of the world. You name it, it’s caused by sugar: heart disease, cancer, dementia, type 2 diabetes, depression, and even acne, infertility and impotence’

‘…….- food is information that quickly changes your metabolism and genes’

‘It is food – we now know that food is information, not just calories, and that it can upgrade your biologic software. The majority of chronic disease is primarily a food borne illness. We ate ourselves into this problem and we have to eat ourselves out of it’

‘The body is one integrated system, not a collection of organs divided up by medical specialties. The medicine of the future connects everything’

‘We are eating hybridized and genetically modified (GMO) foods full of antibiotics, hormones, pesticides, and additives that were unknown to our immune systems just a generation or two ago. The result? Our immune system becomes unable to recognize friend or foe – to distinguish between foreign molecular invaders we truly need to protect against and the foods we eat or, in some cases, our own cells. In Third World countries where hygiene is poor and infections are common, allergy and autoimmunity are rare’

2. In his book The Autoimmune Fix Dr Tom O’Bryan claims that millions of people suffer from autoimmunity even if they are not aware of it. The root cause of most weight gain, brain and mood problems, and fatigue; autoimmunity can take decades for symptoms and a clear diagnosis to arise. Through years of research, he has discovered that autoimmunity is actually a spectrum, and many people experiencing general malaise are already on it. Autoimmune diseases, such as Alzheimer’s, Multiple Sclerosis, osteoporosis, diabetes, and lupus, have become the third leading cause of death behind heart disease and cancer; however, many people affected are left in the dark, even though many autoimmune conditions can be reversed through a protocol designed to heal the autoimmune system, 70 percent of which is located in the gut. His book includes two 3-week plans: In the first 3 weeks, he suggests a Paleo type of diet during which you cut out gluten, sweets, and dairy, which are the three primary culprits behind autoimmunity. Once the dietary changes have been addressed the focus shifts to the other causes of autoimmunity such dietary issues, the microbiome, etc.

Dr Tom O’Bryan talks about the mechanisms that destroy the gut through inflammation, and the steps we need to take heal the damage at: https://solvingleakygut.com/dr-tom-gut-presentation/

Gluten and its role in autoimmunity at http://thedr.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/TenFactsaboutAutoimmuneDisordersandtheRoleofGlutenSensitivity.pdf

3. Extracts from Dr Pedre’s website http://www.happygutlife.com/sustainability/

‘The body and mind are considered one and the same (by the way, your gut is the link between the two). “Bodymind for us is a word that reflects the interconnectedness of the body, the gut, and the mind. It reflects the emotional intelligence of your body. Practice listening to your body. Recognize your gut feelings as your intuition.”

‘Sustainability is about achieving total wellness, not in the isolation of the self, but in the integrated……. consideration and relationship of ourselves to our environment and our community’

‘Like a pebble tossed into a lake, the lifestyle choices we make through our food choices, habits, and the products we use to cook, clean, and beautify, ultimately ripple out and affect our long-term health. Our choices also impact the natural world and the resources of the planet. As a result, the environment we create can either support or inhibit our vitality’

4. On thyroid issues by Isabella Wentz, internationally acclaimed thyroid specialist and licensed pharmacist, at: http://www.greenmedinfo.com/blog/top-6-ways-transform-your-health-thyroid-disease

In the second video broadcast I watched last night: The Neurobiology of Trauma of the series Master Strategies in the Treatment of Trauma hosted by Ruth Buczynski (NICABM), Pat Ogden discussed how trauma can lead people who have experienced trauma to feel both victimized and empowered, and it is through the integration of these two aspects of the self that healing can take place. She described how she used her Sensorimotor approach to work with a client in order to integrate these seemingly conflicting experiences, which were stored in the left and right side of the body respectively. The client felt that the weak and victimizing experiences were stored on the left side, while the more empowering part of the self resided in the right part, as if the body were split vertically. I decided to refer to this short vignette because I realized again the huge significance and utter necessity of working with the body when treating trauma, and also, the amazing potential art has to quickly uncover lived experience and workings of our mind and its capacity to reveal material and knowing we are not necessarily conscious of and how art can complement working with trauma.