Tamra Zehner, L.C.S.W. - S.


Psychotherapist



Specialized Training for Trauma and Anxiety



Although I work in many different areas of specialization, including parenting, autism/aspergers, and relationship coaching, I have done extensive training in therapy techniques for trauma and anxiety.

They focus on taking a holistic approach to understand personal history, body, AND mind:



Somatic Experiencing (SE)





Somatic Psychology – Body Psychotherapy  (including Somatic Experiencing or S.E.) Somatic Psychotherapy includes many different techniques that can be utilized depending on the specific needs of each client. Such interventions can include developing mindfulness and awareness of one’s physical presence using relaxation and meditative techniques movement in order to promote a deeper physical awareness and to expand one’s capacity to feel and express emotions breathing techniques to increase awareness of and improve functioning of the breath.

Somatic Psychology (body mind psychotherapy, body-oriented psychotherapy, etc.) is a holistic form of therapy that respects and utilizes the powerful connection between body, mind and spirit. Unlike traditional talk therapy or cognitive therapy, Somatic Psychology tends to be more experiential. Somatic Psychology (body mind psychotherapy, body-oriented psychotherapy, etc.) is a holistic form of therapy that respects and utilizes the powerful connection between body, mind and spirit.

How we are in this world, how we relate to ourselves and others, is not just purely about the mind or our thoughts, but is also deeply rooted in our bodies and our spirits. Somatic Psychology has a long and rich history and is primarily derived from the theories and practices of Wilhelm Reich, a psychoanalyst and student of Sigmund Freud. Since that time, it has been influenced by existential, humanistic and gestalt psychology, dance, movement and art therapy, family and systems theory, biology, neurology, and Far Eastern philosophy and spirituality.

​Individuals seek this form of treatment for similar reasons they might look to more traditional therapy—to address stress, anxiety, depression, relationship and sexuality issues, grief and loss, addictions, trauma including abuse recovery, as well as more purely medical reasons including pain, headaches, and chronic fatigue syndrome. Thanks to USABP for sharing this overview of somatic psychology .



EMDR - Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing





EMDR was developed in 1987 by psychologist Dr. Francine Shapiro after she made an observation that eye movements can, under certain conditions, reduce the intensity of disturbing thoughts.


EMDR involves bilateral stimulation of the brain. Research has suggested that when a person is very upset (traumatized), the brain has difficulty processing information. Some traumatic events or recurring situations which lead to intense emotion become “frozen in time”, or “stuck” in the brains information processing system. EMDR appears to have a direct effect on the way the brain processes information or events that are emotionally upsetting. With EMDR treatment, these experiences can often be worked through to what is called “adaptive resolution”.


This is another way of saying that through EMDR, you can come to understand an event in the past or present, realize who or what was responsible for the event occurring, and let go of the emotional reaction that is attached to it. You can then feel safer and more confident in your ability to make good choices in the present. What happened is still remembered, but in a new and less disturbing way.


Tamra refers to post-EMDR memories being "as if you were watching a movie or watching an accident happen as you drove by in a car". Most people will find that new and more flexible responses to previously traumatic experiences become easier. Clinical reports and analyses of multiple research projects suggest that EMDR treatment provides initial effects more rapidly, and provides opportunity to work through upset more rapidly and completely than traditional psychotherapies.


But Does EMDR Really Work? Yes, a number of scientific studies have shown that EMDR is effective. For example, the prestigious Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology published research by Wilson, Becker and Tinker in December 1995. This study of 80 subjects with post-traumatic stress demonstrated that clients improved significantly with EMDR treatment, and further study showed that this beneficial effect was maintained for at least 15 months. The findings from this and other studies indicate that EMDR is highly effective and that results are long lasting. For further references a bibliography of research on EMDR may be obtained through EMDRIA at "http://www.emdria.org"



Bodynamic





Bodynamic is a body-centered approach to therapy that focuses on understanding early childhood developmental stages, and understanding how emotions, thoughts, and behavior patterns from trauma or disruption during those stages, affect adult life, and continue to live within the body.


It offers a holistic approach which centers on a principle called Mutual Connection. It concerns how we learn to be ourselves and be with others in relationship, and how the parent and child mutually create this pattern of mutual affective regulation. By comparison, attachment research examines the instinctual response the child has to the stress of being without the parent in an unfamiliar or stressful situation, which evokes both the fear cry and the move towards proximity. This is especially apparent in the first 18 months of development when the child is the most dependent on the parent.


Mutual connection is a broader category that looks at the different mutual strategies both child and parent develop during each developmental stage, reflective of the basic themes of that stage. Just as attachment behavior, once established, holds consistent throughout a person’s life, so too do the behaviors learned and held in the body.



4202 Spicewood Springs Road
Suite 116
Austin, TX 78759

Phone: (512) 569-1025
Email: twzehner@gmail.com

Copyright 2020 Tamra Zehner, L.C.S.W.-S. All rights reserved.