Conference

[toaster]

Pie and I went to a conference today.

There was a talk on self-harm which was good, the woman was really forward thinking and I really appreciated her views

There was a psychiatrist who gave a lecture on personality disorders but specifically BPD - that was ok but it was literally just from a psych point of view and I didn't find out anything new.

The last speaker was a clinical psychologist who works for CAMHS. Her topic was developmental trauma. I was really interested in the stuff she had to say about hyper-arousal - basically, when a child is traumatised they either go into dissociation or hyper-arousal (HA). This HA is basically when the person suffering the trauma becomes aware of EVERYTHING and can later recall everything, even down to things like the colour of socks someone was wearing. This state is useful as a survival technique but as the trauma continues it becomes easier for the sufferer to go into this state until they go into the state when there is no danger.

I was also interested in how, if a pregnant woman is stressed, the cortisone (stress hormones) can be passed onto the child and then the child is more at risk from high stress/anxiety.

We were shown a brain scan of an average three year old brain and the brain of a three year old that had been neglected. The brain was smaller in the neglected child and the 'ventricles' we overdeveloped. We were also shown a brain scan of an adult who had been traumatised in childhood and their vision receptors were overdeveloped. This would fit in with the HA theory as children/adults who are hyper-aroused are very visual people.

A lot of it resonated with me - the HA in particular. I pride myself on my memory, I remember mundane things without knowing I am doing so and I can recite things back. It was clear to see as well how a person could go from one state to another (HA to dissociation).

Am bloody knackered but it was a good day and I feel all important :lol:

[catsmother21]

Sounds really interesting Toastie and glad you had a good day xx

[JasmineRose]

Sounds interesting.

I have one problem. As a child, I did both and I have both now - dissociation AND hyper-arousal. How the heck does that work!

[Abster]

I was just thinking exactly the same JR. Although I tend to dissociate I can also remember minute detail.

[greenthing]

yep! me too - i've thought about this a very great deal over the last year, and i think that for me the really shitty stuff set up the dissociative pathways and the long-term grinding neglect and abuse set up the hyper-arousal - i'll ask my cptsd therapist on tuesday...

[manja.]

Sounds very interesting Toaster... I'm glad it was a good day...

That's interesting about the child's brain but so sad also xx

[autism-bpd]

sounds interesting, they didnt mention that also if you been abused as a kid this is what was explained to me by the rpe crisis that you can automatically switch as that little kid and your voice sounds like a little girl. I am saying this because sams volunteers notice my voice sound like a little girl and i had to explain what it meant to them and they were ok with that