Dawn's Paradigm Shift
Dawn Irons, Clinical Director
Dear Clients & Potential Clients:
Since 2011 I have started to notice some disturbing trends in my client base. Many of my clients were working in conjunction with their psychiatrists to manage their medications and we were working on the deeper therapeutic work of counseling. I started noticing that with many clients it was one step forward two steps back and it seemed we were not making much headway. The client's began to report that the side-effects of their meds were interfering with their daily functioning. Clients who were coming to work on issues like depression often said that they felt worse after starting the meds; some were even more suicidal than before taking the meds. I encouraged them to communicate with their doctor and see if a change in dosage was needed. I watched clients return from their doctor’s visits feeling more discouraged, even more hopeless, and we suddenly found ourselves in crisis management rather than moving forward with therapeutic goals.
I began to research and learned more than I ever bargained for regarding psychotropic medications and their side-effects. I watched parents of children with ADHD grow frustrated and depressed as they described how the child they knew seem to evaporate into an empty shell of the person they used to know after starting ADHD medication. (See Documentaries: The Medicated Child and Dead Wrong).
The more I researched, the more I learned. The more I learned, I knew I could never go back to the counseling practices I had been working with previously. There had been a paradigm shift in my heart and mind in terms of ethical client care. I could never go back with what I now I understand. (See Documentary: Diagnostic Statistical Manual).
I consulted with several psychiatrists and not one could answer my questions. You would think if there was such strong diagnostic criteria in which an illness could be diagnosed and medicated there must be some level of diagnostic lab work to verify the diagnosis. For example, if someone had a cardiac event the doctors could tell you exactly what cardiac enzymes were off balance. When I asked these psychiatrists to identify what chemicals or neurotransmitters were "imbalanced" that would result in depression, anxiety or bipolar disorder, they honestly answered that no such test exists. Yet these psychotropic medications which are most often prescribed as a "first line of defense" to altar brain chemistry in hopes of alleviating the symptoms quite often come with a "black box warning." This warning indicates that the medication may cause depression to increase in severity and even lead to suicidal behavior that had not been present prior to taking the medication.
As I watched my clients struggle to make progress in the face of the side-effects of their medications I began to look for other alternatives. Whereas the psychiatrists would tell me no such test exists to look at the brain functions of psychiatric symptoms or to measure the imbalance of neurochemistry, I was able to find evidenced-based research in the areas of alternative medicine that have impressive results with brain mapping and neuro-feedback. There is a very specialized form of psychotherapy called EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing) which has shown in the research literature to be far more effective than talk therapy and Prozac over the long term. EMDR provided permanent change in trauma and PTSD patients within an average of 6 sessions. Studies showed that with complex and multiple traumas that permanent change and a return to pre-trauma function were achieved in an average of 12 sessions. EMDR is one of only two therapies the Federal Department of Veterans Affairs will recommend for PTSD in our military soldiers.
The research is out there and there are tests that exist. The reality is that Psychiatrists do not use them because their training is in medication management-- not therapeutic cure. Yes, there are chronic and relapsing conditions. Yes, there are some patients that do amazingly well on a specific cocktail of psychotropic meds, and I would never want to change a patient's protocol that is stable. But it has been my experience over many years, the majority of clients are not in that situation.
I am now starting to work with clients in a holistic approach to wellness: body, soul (the mind, the will and the emotions) and spirit. Our bodies are masterfully created by God and have the ability to heal themselves if given what they need. The mind is part of the body. It is often believed that mental stressors or trauma must take years to heal. This is not always the case as evidenced by the research with EMDR therapy. We see through alternative health options that brain mapping and neuro-feedback can achieve more permanent results in balancing the brain and stressors affecting specific regions of the brain such as the limbic system and pre-frontal cortex.
I've recently come to some paradigm-changing conclusions that if we have the ability to LOOK at the organ we are treating--we should! If we can accomplish healing and better health without the use of heavy-hitting psychotropic medications that altar brain chemistry-- we should. If we know that therapies such as EMDR exist, then we should pursue the training especially since research shows permanent changes. This is ground breaking technology and can change the lives of our clients. I completed my EMDR training in November of 2015. If I can help a client reach permanent change from trauma in an average of 6 sessions, why would I keep going with standard talk therapy that often takes years and rarely reaches permanent change? I most definitely see the benefits of talk therapy in establishing a deep and trusting rapport with a client. This therapy often allows the client to deal with issues they have never felt safe discussing with anyone before. It truly has a place. But how much better to combine that with a therapy that is proven to bring change in a fraction of the time!
Hope Harbor is going through a paradigm change! I genuinely believe if a client can be helped in a shorter time frame-- we should assist them in getting their life back sooner than later. It is my privilege to partner with clients on their healing journeys.
Blessings,
Dawn
As I watched my clients struggle to make progress in the face of the side-effects of their medications I began to look for other alternatives. Whereas the psychiatrists would tell me no such test exists to look at the brain functions of psychiatric symptoms or to measure the imbalance of neurochemistry, I was able to find evidenced-based research in the areas of alternative medicine that have impressive results with brain mapping and neuro-feedback. There is a very specialized form of psychotherapy called EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing) which has shown in the research literature to be far more effective than talk therapy and Prozac over the long term. EMDR provided permanent change in trauma and PTSD patients within an average of 6 sessions. Studies showed that with complex and multiple traumas that permanent change and a return to pre-trauma function were achieved in an average of 12 sessions. EMDR is one of only two therapies the Federal Department of Veterans Affairs will recommend for PTSD in our military soldiers.
The research is out there and there are tests that exist. The reality is that Psychiatrists do not use them because their training is in medication management-- not therapeutic cure. Yes, there are chronic and relapsing conditions. Yes, there are some patients that do amazingly well on a specific cocktail of psychotropic meds, and I would never want to change a patient's protocol that is stable. But it has been my experience over many years, the majority of clients are not in that situation.
I am now starting to work with clients in a holistic approach to wellness: body, soul (the mind, the will and the emotions) and spirit. Our bodies are masterfully created by God and have the ability to heal themselves if given what they need. The mind is part of the body. It is often believed that mental stressors or trauma must take years to heal. This is not always the case as evidenced by the research with EMDR therapy. We see through alternative health options that brain mapping and neuro-feedback can achieve more permanent results in balancing the brain and stressors affecting specific regions of the brain such as the limbic system and pre-frontal cortex.
I've recently come to some paradigm-changing conclusions that if we have the ability to LOOK at the organ we are treating--we should! If we can accomplish healing and better health without the use of heavy-hitting psychotropic medications that altar brain chemistry-- we should. If we know that therapies such as EMDR exist, then we should pursue the training especially since research shows permanent changes. This is ground breaking technology and can change the lives of our clients. I completed my EMDR training in November of 2015. If I can help a client reach permanent change from trauma in an average of 6 sessions, why would I keep going with standard talk therapy that often takes years and rarely reaches permanent change? I most definitely see the benefits of talk therapy in establishing a deep and trusting rapport with a client. This therapy often allows the client to deal with issues they have never felt safe discussing with anyone before. It truly has a place. But how much better to combine that with a therapy that is proven to bring change in a fraction of the time!
Hope Harbor is going through a paradigm change! I genuinely believe if a client can be helped in a shorter time frame-- we should assist them in getting their life back sooner than later. It is my privilege to partner with clients on their healing journeys.
Blessings,
Dawn