Based on Stephen Porges’ Polyvagal Theory. All day long the autonomic nervous system scans for signals of danger and safety in the body and in the outside world. It does this fully automatically, beneath consciousness.

The ANS has three states that work hierarchically.

• Ventral vagus nerve: safe in contact
  Characterized by safety and contact with yourself and others. You can mobilize yourself without fear (exercise, talk etc) or immobilize yourself to recover (sleep, rest etc). Contact with others feels safe and you can be fully present in that contact. You have access to your entire system and can flexibly anticipate what happens.
• Sympathetic Nervous System: Mobilize
  When in danger, it provides mobilization so that you can fight or flee. It is a survival state that prevents you from acting rationally and causes disconnection with yourself and others. You usually feel anxious, hyperalert and jittery because of the adrenaline and cortisol rushing through your blood.
• Dorsal vagus nerve: collapse
  When fight or flight is no longer possible, the Dorsal Vagus Nerve ensures that you immobilize, endorphins are produced so that you feel less, both internally and externally. The smallest activity is too much and there is little hope. This is also where dissociation occurs.

If you have experienced trauma you can remain stuck in one of the two survival states, you experience everything as unsafe and it is almost impossible to pick up signals of safety.

The following video from the Polyvagal Institute shows how this works

The therapy

This therapy based on the Polyvagal Theory is developed by Deb Dana who is a member of the Polyvagal Institute. During the therapy we will get to know your system together in a safe way; how do you experience the different states? What brings you in and what gets you out? You will learn how to get yourself out of a survival state by using the so-called Vagal Brake. These can be visualizations, internal bodily experiences, but also physical exercises.

While working with the nervous system, there is a good chance that ‘parts’ of you will come up because they are activated in that state or activate that state. Thanks to the combination of Polyvagal and Internal Family Systems you can make the link between the body and the ‘mind’, the emotion. This way we work on several layers and integrate them.

Internal Family Systems Therapy (IFS) is one of the fastest-growing psychotherapeutic models in the world, providing a clear, non-pathological, and empowering understanding of human cognitive and emotional life.

IFS states that every person is born with parts in which personality aspects are stored. These parts are shaped by what they experience. For example, there may be parts that are especially vulnerable (due to trauma or other negative experiences) and parts that are more proactive or reactive. If vulnerable parts are overwhelming, other parts will “radicalize” to hide this vulnerability from the system. Think, for example, of addiction, pleasing, isolating yourself, aggression, dissociation, overanalyzing, etc. The parts often form these ‘burdens’ at a young age and have not developed over time.

At the root of these parts is Self-energy, which is your essence without behavior or emotion and is innate. You may have said or thought, “I’m out of touch with myself.” If you are reactive or overwhelmed with emotions, your Self-energy will be overshadowed and it will be very difficult to connect with it. In IFS therapy, parts are ‘healed’ by Self, giving them back their authentic, less radical and overwhelming identity. Behavior becomes less radical because it is no longer constantly triggered by vulnerable feelings. They are rescued from the prison of the past. As a therapist you support, the client is central and is leading in the process.

Richard C. Schwartz, the founder of IFS therapy, developed the IFS model more than 30 years ago. IFS is now practiced by thousands of licensed therapists and other health professionals around the world. It is a transparent yet sophisticated approach that integrates psychology and spirituality as well as intrapsychic theory and family systems theory.

IFS therapy:

• Shows to be effective in treating trauma;
• Is a client-driven approach to therapeutic work that fully respects the pace and goals of each client;
• Establishes a productive, trusting, and collaborative partnership between therapist and client;
• Helps the therapist/counselor to stay centered and candid.
• Also works well with couples, families, groups and children;

Why IFS?

IFS therapy differs from traditional approaches to psychotherapy because it uses parts theory in a very complex way. IFS teaches you to dialogue with your internal parts or ‘personalities’, build a relationship with them and help them recover. It shows how you can reach a state of mind where you no longer identify with any part.

It allows you to quickly reach the source of your problems, the most wounded nooks and crannies of your psyche and heal these wounds and release emotional burdens that have been carried for a long time. In addition, IFS is an effective self-therapy method.

EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. The goal of EMDR is to reprocess identifiable overwhelming experiences, thereby lessening the intense emotional and physical reactions provoked by that experience.

This happens through the brain’s working memory as sensation is experienced, overloaded through eye movements, but also clicks in the ears or taps on legs or arms appear to work. Because this working memory has to be put to work, several stimuli may be needed at the same time to achieve the goal.

EMDR is not an “eraser” for unpleasant feelings, it is really intended for people who are stuck in emotional and physical sensations in response to an overwhelming situation. Studies have also shown that EMDR works less well with developmental or attachment trauma.

Why does EMDR fit into a Trauma Informed approach while one of the starting points is not reliving? Also with EMDR, the goal is not to sit back IN the situation, but to look at it, to behold it. To see yourself in the situation where you are not actively participating in it at that moment.

When do I use it? Of course only if that feels okay to you, because with me you are leading in therapy. It often happens that during Polyvagal or Internal Family Systems therapy, a specific memory or re-experience keeps coming back that causes overwhelming sensations that make the therapy difficult. In those cases, EMDR is sometimes a solution.

EFT is based on acupuncture, but then you tap energy nodes instead of using needles. This balances the energy system and reduces overwhelming emotional and/or physical feelings. I regularly use this in my trauma therapy, it ensures that there is more room to focus on what happens internally and what that means (introception). That introception is the basis of IFS.

The great thing about EFT is that you can integrate it into your own day to be more regulated and you can use it if you do get overwhelmed. If you do this regularly, your nervous system will be less structurally alert and it will create new neural pathways in your brain so that emotions will be less intense and come back less often.

Research shows that demonstrable physiological changes occur during and after EFT. Stress hormones are positively influenced, connections in the brain change, the functioning of your immune system is improved.

* Not to be confused with EFT couples therapy!

You can also do a separate EFT session with me, which takes 90 minutes. You fill in an intake form in advance, which we will analyse at the start of the session. This is the basis to shape the content of the EFT session, we do the EFT session together and I teach you how to apply it at home.