Holistic Recovery

Resolving Trauma and Treating Addiction through Research and Innovation

By: Scott Lebowitz

Don Mullaney, Ph.D., LCSW, CAP, the CEO and Founder of Behavioral Health of the Palm Beaches (BHOP), has always envisioned BHOP to be a treatment center dedicated to the highest quality of care for alcoholics, addicts and their families.  Mullaney’s vision also included making BHOP a center for professional education and research.

Research and innovative techniques inspire change and recovery at BHOPB, which is located in West Palm Beach, Florida.   First and foremost, BHOP treats the primary disease of addiction.  BHOP also recognizes that co-occurring issues need to be addressed for the recovering person to have a quality recovery.  For some people, the experience of trauma can result in post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which can diminish quality of life and become a relapse issue.  BHOP has developed an innovative and holistic approach to addressing co-occurring PTSD.   This approach also has broad appeal to anyone suffering symptoms of trauma.

At the heart of the innovative treatment is a process known as EMDR, or Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing.  EMDR is cutting edge inasmuch as it is one of the most effective methods of trauma treatment that does not incorporate pharmacological or psychotherapeutic intervention.  EMDR has proven to be highly successful in resolving trauma issues for those suffering with                                                                                         post-trauma symptoms.

The basic idea behind EMDR is bilateral stimulation, which is stimulating right brain activity and left brain activity concurrently.  This can be done by moving a hand or object back and forth in front of the patient’s eyes, or by using headphones or goggles.  Bilateral stimulation integrates the thoughts and feelings related to the trauma, bringing both parts together into the person’s awareness so that they can resolve the trauma in the here and now.  

The key to bilateral stimulation is that one side of the brain contains the traumatic experience and the other side contains the emotions associated with the experience.  EMDR brings both back to consciousness, so the patient can resolve the symptoms.  This brings about a holistic resolution to the trauma. 

“When people suffer a trauma, thoughts and emotions are immediately suppressed and the patient is left with symptoms and will not know where they came from,” explains  David McVinney, the Chief Operating Officer at Behavioral Health of the Palm Beaches.   “Nightmares, OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder), anger and outbursts are all symptoms triggered from trauma.  The trauma causing the symptoms can take several forms, including emotional, physical and sexual abuse.”

EMDR was developed by Francine Shapiro, PHD, in the late 1980’s and has been endorsed by the American Psychiatric Association, the Department of Veteran Affairs and the Department of Defense as an effective treatment for trauma and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Light-sound therapy is coupled with EMDR at Behavioral Health of the Palm Beaches.  Light-sound therapy gives biofeedback which is used by the staff to start preparing the client for the emotional processing the client is likely to experience with the EMDR.  According to McVinney, “We have observed that the light-sound therapy has helped facilitate post processing EMDR.”

McVinney, a practicing Buddhist who has studied and practiced Tai Chi for many years, understands that pain can be a major precipitating factor in relapse.  “We integrate the treatment for trauma and pain into our overall program to help our clients strengthen their relapse prevention efforts,” he says.

Michael Weiner, Ph.D., CAP, is the Director for Education, Assessment and Research at BHOP.  Weiner opened the Education, Assessment and Research Center at BHOP three years ago.  The educational aspect of the Center is geared towards keeping the staff current in the field.  State mandated training on issues like CPR, first aid and HIV, staff development trainings and training seminars open to professionals from the community are frequent at BHOP.  Last February, for example, Behavioral Health of the Palm beaches hosted “12 Steps from Around the World,” an open seminar on how the 12 steps of recovery is viewed from the perspective of Christian, Jewish, Muslim and Buddhist faiths. 

Clients at BHOPB undergo a very thorough assessment.  Nursing and physical assessments, as well as an addiction severity index and computerized psycho-social assessments allow counselors to probe deeper into the individual than other treatment centers tend to, as well as providing more individualized treatment. 

“We try to detect any possible unresolved trauma and chronic pain issues as we assess our clients,” says Weiner.  “A client with chronic pain issues is referred to a full service non-opiate rehab/therapy clinic.  Our clients are able to participate in acupuncture treatment and tai chi sessions as appropriate.  The light-sound therapy provides biofeedback to help mitigate some of the symptoms related to depression and anxiety, while the EMDR employs the bilateral stimulation to resolve trauma.  Using evidenced based research opens more doors and compels us to ask more questions, which we believe will continue to lead to more cutting edge therapy approaches that can be holistically employed to better help our clients.”

EMDR has proven helpful to the survivors and responders of the World Trade Center and to war veterans. “ It’s effectiveness is far reaching beyond addiction,”  Weiner notes, ” There is a great deal of interest in first responders to catastrophes, like plane crashes rescuers, policmen,  fire fighters and flight attendants.”

McVinney credits Weiner with bringing conventional and alternative methods together under the same roof at BHOP.  “Purists say modalities must either be all conventional or be all alternative.  We say, lets meld and integrate.  Dr. Weiner has been able to integrate alternative modalities into our traditional cognitive behavior psychotherapeutic model.” 

Holistic Recovery

Resolving Trauma and Treating Addiction through Research and Innovation

By: Scott Lebowitz

Don Mullaney, Ph.D., LCSW, CAP, the CEO and Founder of Behavioral Health of the Palm Beaches (BHOP), has always envisioned BHOP to be a treatment center dedicated to the highest quality of care for alcoholics, addicts and their families.  Mullaney’s vision also included making BHOP a center for professional education and research.

 Research and innovative techniques inspire change and recovery at BHOPB, which is located in West Palm Beach, Florida.   First and foremost, BHOP treats the primary disease of addiction.  BHOP also recognizes that co-occurring issues need to be addressed for the recovering person to have a quality recovery.  For some people, the experience of trauma can result in post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), which can diminish quality of life and become a relapse issue.  BHOP has developed an innovative and holistic approach to addressing co-occurring PTSD.   This approach also has broad appeal to anyone suffering symptoms of trauma.

 At the heart of the innovative treatment is a process known as EMDR, or Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing.  EMDR is cutting edge inasmuch as it is one of the most effective methods of trauma treatment that does not incorporate pharmacological or psychotherapeutic intervention.  EMDR has proven to be highly successful in resolving trauma issues for those suffering with                                                                                         post-trauma symptoms.

The basic idea behind EMDR is bilateral stimulation, which is stimulating right brain activity and left brain activity concurrently.  This can be done by moving a hand or object back and forth in front of the patient’s eyes, or by using headphones or goggles.  Bilateral stimulation integrates the thoughts and feelings related to the trauma, bringing both parts together into the person’s awareness so that they can resolve the trauma in the here and now.  

The key to bilateral stimulation is that one side of the brain contains the traumatic experience and the other side contains the emotions associated with the experience.  EMDR brings both back to consciousness, so the patient can resolve the symptoms.  This brings about a holistic resolution to the trauma. 

“When people suffer a trauma, thoughts and emotions are immediately suppressed and the patient is left with symptoms and will not know where they came from,” explains  David McVinney, the Chief Operating Officer at Behavioral Health of the Palm Beaches.   “Nightmares, OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder), anger and outbursts are all symptoms triggered from trauma.  The trauma causing the symptoms can take several forms, including emotional, physical and sexual abuse.”

EMDR was developed by Francine Shapiro, PHD, in the late 1980’s and has been endorsed by the American Psychiatric Association, the Department of Veteran Affairs and the Department of Defense as an effective treatment for trauma and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

 Light-sound therapy is coupled with EMDR at Behavioral Health of the Palm Beaches.  Light-sound therapy gives biofeedback which is used by the staff to start preparing the client for the emotional processing the client is likely to experience with the EMDR.  According to McVinney, “We have observed that the light-sound therapy has helped facilitate post processing EMDR.”

McVinney, a practicing Buddhist who has studied and practiced Tai Chi for many years, understands that pain can be a major precipitating factor in relapse.  “We integrate the treatment for trauma and pain into our overall program to help our clients strengthen their relapse prevention efforts,” he says.

Michael Weiner, Ph.D., CAP, is the Director for Education, Assessment and Research at BHOP.  Weiner opened the Education, Assessment and Research Center at BHOP three years ago.  The educational aspect of the Center is geared towards keeping the staff current in the field.  State mandated training on issues like CPR, first aid and HIV, staff development trainings and training seminars open to professionals from the community are frequent at BHOP.  Last February, for example, Behavioral Health of the Palm beaches hosted “12 Steps from Around the World,” an open seminar on how the 12 steps of recovery is viewed from the perspective of Christian, Jewish, Muslim and Buddhist faiths. 

 Clients at BHOPB undergo a very thorough assessment.  Nursing and physical assessments, as well as an addiction severity index and computerized psycho-social assessments allow counselors to probe deeper into the individual than other treatment centers tend to, as well as providing more individualized treatment. 

“We try to detect any possible unresolved trauma and chronic pain issues as we assess our clients,” says Weiner.  “A client with chronic pain issues is referred to a full service non-opiate rehab/therapy clinic.  Our clients are able to participate in acupuncture treatment and tai chi sessions as appropriate.  The light-sound therapy provides biofeedback to help mitigate some of the symptoms related to depression and anxiety, while the EMDR employs the bilateral stimulation to resolve trauma.  Using evidenced based research opens more doors and compels us to ask more questions, which we believe will continue to lead to more cutting edge therapy approaches that can be holistically employed to better help our clients.”

EMDR has proven helpful to the survivors and responders of the World Trade Center and to war veterans. “ It’s effectiveness is far reaching beyond addiction,”  Weiner notes, ” There is a great deal of interest in first responders to catastrophes, like plane crashes rescuers, policmen,  fire fighters and flight attendants.”

McVinney credits Weiner with bringing conventional and alternative methods together under the same roof at BHOP.  “Purists say modalities must either be all conventional or be all alternative.  We say, lets meld and integrate.  Dr. Weiner has been able to integrate alternative modalities into our traditional cognitive behavior psychotherapeutic model.” 

 For more information on how EMDR can help resolve trauma related symptoms in your life, please visit www.emdr.com.  For more information on Behavioral Health of the Palm Beaches, please visit www.bhpalmbeach.com or call (800) 251-9445.