Dan Buglio

In Dan's approach to TMS one does not need to interrogate past events i.e. it isn't required. His approach involves conveying - consistently - to the brain that they are safe now i.e. no danger in the present. My EMDR psychologist disagrees, she says that some traumatic memories can be held in short-term memory, within the brain, and require facilitation into long-term memory for archival and storage so that the emotional charge, to those memories, can be attenuated (she uses EMDR to achieve that). She says just talking to your brain and conveying messages of safety isn't going to work in itself if emotionally charged memories have not been processed by the brain.

I am a big fan of Dan's work and I agree with most of what he says but I don't necessarily agree that past experiences does not need to be processed. How could someone with a traumatic past convey messages of safety to the brain if they are triggered or emotionally charged by past trauma? I recall Sarno saying that he would refer complex TMS cases for psychotherapy.

For those of you with deep knowledge/experience of TMS (Cactus, Jan, Diana, BloodMoon etc) what is your view on this? Do you agree with Dan or do you think processing of past trauma is a key pre-requisite to healing?

Thanks for your advice.

 

Do you follow or watch The Mindful Gardener? Their channel just did a video disputing Joe Dispenza and I actually got in a brief conversation with Helmut about Dan because there was a brief mention of your brain is not misinterpreting danger in the video and everyone was like whoa, are they talking about Dan?

All that to say he gets some criticism for what you said, ignoring the "why", as it is really felt to be important historically in TMS work, much as your psychologist felt. The SEP here leans into doing that emotional work, while Alan's PRT program disregards it. So much on either side, but I know Jan for sure would agree with doing the emotional work.

 

Thanks for your reply. All I can say is that I did an EMDR session today. A past memory came up with an evil perpetrator. My entire body started shaking (never had this in an EMDR session). I then thought to myself that my body (from the amygdala) has so much stored emotional energy in relation to this perpetrator and, perhaps, that is a major contributing factor to my TMS. If I don't do the work i.e. psychotherapy how will this emotional energy ever be released?

 

I don't really know the answer but...I've done 8 EMDR sessions for traumas and they helped. A lot.

I'm also a Yogi, I meditate daily. I'm keeping my mind clean and pure and I have to do this, it's helping me every single day to stay calm and at peace.

But I also agree with Dan, some things can be left in the past, no need to scratch them over and over again. Maybe not everyone can do it, some really need psychotherapy. Maybe extensive. But I think that others can benefit from concentrating on the positive/pink side of life and move on. It depends on the person.

 

Mike,
You are really into the 4 million dollar question. And you’ll get as many answers as there are people with TMS. Probably the reason Dan isn't into digging into the past is because he was somehow able to heal without it (albeit, it took him 13 years.) Helmut is the same way: messages of safety; no digging. But, he does say your brain will tell you what you need to know.

Then, there are people who say the only digging you need to do is for rage (Sarno). Add to that, the very real and scientifically-backed knowledge of how trauma is stored in the body (which I don’t think Sarno talked about. But he did recognize that some people were going to need psychotherapy. So maybe he was into that, too.)

It’s so confusing. And I used to be. But now, I consider myself to be an expert on myself. I trust myself that I’ll figure out the best way for me. And for sure, I have rage plus a ton of stored up trauma. My TMS came on this time from all the triggers around me. I couldn’t contain the stress from it.

I’m a firm believer now that I need to come at this from all angles. Dig into the past—release rage and grief. Release trauma that’s stored in my body from the past. Keep a close watch on current reasons for rage.

In addition, I need to help my body calm down from being hyper-sensitized since I was a child. And for that, Dan’s messages of safety are good stuff. Also Claire Weekes.

That’s great you started shaking today in your EMDR session —even though I’m sure it wasn’t fun. That’s just a little more trauma being released from your body. This is good!

If Dan speaks to you, stick with him. He’s very soothing. You don’t have to pick one single camp. Use everything to your advantage. You will know what to do.

Will you ever get better? Will I? It’s hard to feel so bad. You want this all to be over. And it’s a moving target. You get one hole plugged up and another opens up. It’s so easy to be discouraged. But I tell myself every day: if I don’t give up, I’ll get better. And so will you.

 

Based on my personal experience, you don't need to resolve trauma to recover from TMS. I recovered from TMS in about 18 months over 10 years ago, but I still carried a shitload of trauma that I've been working on the entire time. I think two different mechanisms, and therefore treatments, are involved.

Just my personal experience.

 

Agree with @Ellen

 

I think it's personal.
Some folks need to do some digging: some more than others
Some folks just need to know that it's there.
Some folks didn't have traditional trauma - they are just sensitive beings who perceive their experiences in a more hurtful and emotional way

Just depends.
@mikeinlondon your therapist is right: we have stuff we're aware of, stuff deep down we aren't consciously aware of and that deep stuff doesn't have a reference of a time or place - it views your past as your current - as in this very moment and when it constantly feels this is a very unsafe place to be, that nervous system is going to respond. Your subconscious is like a giant file cabinet, and when the parts of you in charge of filing things in the "right" place (sort of like puzzle pieces) doesn't keep up with the job well then, it's like all the files get thrown on the floor in a jumble. EMDR is so similar to REM sleep in that it helps your mind file things in an "order" of sorts. The amazing thing is, that what you felt today will probably feel totally different in 2 weeks time if it's brought up again, because EMDR works over time. Once the brain learns what the therapist is guiding it to begin doing, it learns the method and starts doing it on the regular. Sure it can get stuck on occasion again, but generally all you need is a little reminder of how it all works and the mind gets to it again.
The only times I think this doesn't work as well is if the person has some very specific and serious mental health diagnoses or if they aren't going consistently (whatever timetable that the therapist suggests) during the period of more intensive therapy.

 

Well that is hopeful and amazing.

 

I think they might seem alike but there's a big difference between Buglio's and Helmut's approaches. Buglio goes all-in with the safety approach. Helmut is more of an embrace-your-feelings coach. One points to the light, the other to the shadow. What is similar is that both ways tell you to live the present moment.

 

Ok. I’ve heard Helmut emphasize that you have to teach your brain you are safe. And when you finally do that, you’ll get better. But maybe I’ve missed the other stuff. His videos are kind of haphazard, so it would be easy to not understand.

 

I can say Helmut is not a Buglio fan and not shy about it. He said they had a few interactions that turned him off.

 

I think that's mostly because the neuroplasticity work Helmut went through didn't work so well for him, and Buglio teaches a kind of CBT thing of diverging your thoughts from the danger.

I agree there's some danger in bringing up traumas and getting lost in it, but if your memory is treating those traumas like ongoing events, I don't see much escape from it. You're already there.

Also, I think Helmut and Sam are posting too many videos (maybe trying to pump up YouTube algorithm) and should take a moment to fix some of their production aspects. Somatic allowance is by far the method that's brought me the better sense of progressing and the only TMS channels I see it being brought up are theirs and Prussack's.

 

@feduccini
Tanner Murtaugh’s channel is the biggest proponent of somatic allowance.
There are more folks who use other social media channels who focus on this aspect far more than Helmut and Sam.
It’s Dani Fagan’s entire basis and Phil De La Hay is in this camp too and uses ISF (because CBT methods have long been proven not to work well with most TMS-era).

 

Ah that's right! I forgot about him.
Thanks for the other 2 recommendations.

 

I've seen a similar opinion about that (the too many videos). I think a lot of people were also a little turned off by the long video about Dispenza. They felt they didn't need to criticize other practitioners to promote their own work.

 

I’m really liking Sam’s meditative videos, where she walks you through “allowing.” And she teaches that your body is fully a part of you and not a separate entity to fight. Your body is trying to rescue you, and it’s in the process of releasing trauma and healing your nervous system. It knows exactly what to do and it heals itself if you just get out of the way. I’m finding this philosophy extremely comforting, and I’m noticing that I have more peace from it. It makes me feel like I don’t have something wrong with me; instead, I feel like something is fixing inside of me. This also dovetails with all of my readings from Claire Weekes about healing from nervous illness. The body knows what to do. Stop instilling fear. Provide a peaceful daily life. Let the body work it out.

(I will add, imho, that you have to put out the fires in your life first. For example, if you’re being abused on a daily basis, you have to fix that. If you have childhood issues you’ve never grieved or worked through, you have to do that too.)

Here’s the video I listened to yesterday. I really liked it!

 

Helmut is more the shadow work proponent, right? I haven't watched a lot of their videos yet, just a couple and engaged with him on FB.

 

I don’t really understand what “shadow work” means. I think his partner, Sam, offers a different way of explaining things than Helmut, but they are meant to complement each other.