TY - JOUR
T1 - Effect of Somatic Experiencing resiliency-based trauma treatment training on quality of life and psychological health as potential markers of resilience in treating professionals
AU - Winblad, Neal E.
AU - Changaris, Michael
AU - Stein, Phyllis K.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 Winblad, Changaris and Stein.
PY - 2018/2/16
Y1 - 2018/2/16
N2 - Background: Individuals who treat trauma are at significant risk of vicarious traumatization and burnout. Somatic Experiencing® (SE®) is a resiliency-focused trauma treatment modality designed to address autonomic nervous system (ANS) dysregulation and its impacted physical health and mental health symptoms e.g., anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, migraines, fibromyalgia, and chronic fatigue, etc. The SE® training supports the development of clinical skills to reduce physical health/mental health symptoms as well as increase clinician resilience. Individuals who display resilience often have increased experiences of well-being (quality of life) and decreased levels of self-reported psychological symptoms. Greater resilience could mitigate the risks to providers and the clients they treat. Materials and Methods: This within-groups, longitudinal study assessed students (N = 18) over the course of a 3-year SE® practitioner training. This training focuses on increased ANS, physical, and emotional regulation skills. The convenience of a web-based survey allowed for: measures of a general quality of life (WHOQOL-BREF), psychological symptoms, somatic, anxiety, and depressive symptoms (PHQ-SADS), as well as a measure of early life exposure to adversity (CDC/Kaiser Permanente ACE Score Calculator Questionnaire). The clinician survey was conducted yearly for 3 years. Future studies would do well to also include laboratory-based objective measures of ANS functioning. Results: ANOVA with repeated measures showed that there were significant reductions in anxiety symptoms (GAD7, p < 0.001) and somatization symptoms (PHQ15, p < 0.001). Health-related quality of life (a measure of physical well-being) and social quality of life (a measure of interpersonal well-being) both increased significantly (Health QoL p = 0.028; Social QoL p = 0.046). Conclusions: Results suggest that professionals attending the 3-year SE® training course experience a significant improvement in self-reported measures associated with resiliency including: quality of life (well-being) and psychological symptoms (anxiety and somatization). Our results support the importance of future research in a larger sample and support the exploration, cross-sectionally and prospectively, of the relationship of clinician resiliency and changes in clinician resiliency with SE® training and clinical outcomes. These data have implications for other professions at risk of exposure to vicarious trauma (VT) including nurses, medical providers, and paramedics.
AB - Background: Individuals who treat trauma are at significant risk of vicarious traumatization and burnout. Somatic Experiencing® (SE®) is a resiliency-focused trauma treatment modality designed to address autonomic nervous system (ANS) dysregulation and its impacted physical health and mental health symptoms e.g., anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, migraines, fibromyalgia, and chronic fatigue, etc. The SE® training supports the development of clinical skills to reduce physical health/mental health symptoms as well as increase clinician resilience. Individuals who display resilience often have increased experiences of well-being (quality of life) and decreased levels of self-reported psychological symptoms. Greater resilience could mitigate the risks to providers and the clients they treat. Materials and Methods: This within-groups, longitudinal study assessed students (N = 18) over the course of a 3-year SE® practitioner training. This training focuses on increased ANS, physical, and emotional regulation skills. The convenience of a web-based survey allowed for: measures of a general quality of life (WHOQOL-BREF), psychological symptoms, somatic, anxiety, and depressive symptoms (PHQ-SADS), as well as a measure of early life exposure to adversity (CDC/Kaiser Permanente ACE Score Calculator Questionnaire). The clinician survey was conducted yearly for 3 years. Future studies would do well to also include laboratory-based objective measures of ANS functioning. Results: ANOVA with repeated measures showed that there were significant reductions in anxiety symptoms (GAD7, p < 0.001) and somatization symptoms (PHQ15, p < 0.001). Health-related quality of life (a measure of physical well-being) and social quality of life (a measure of interpersonal well-being) both increased significantly (Health QoL p = 0.028; Social QoL p = 0.046). Conclusions: Results suggest that professionals attending the 3-year SE® training course experience a significant improvement in self-reported measures associated with resiliency including: quality of life (well-being) and psychological symptoms (anxiety and somatization). Our results support the importance of future research in a larger sample and support the exploration, cross-sectionally and prospectively, of the relationship of clinician resiliency and changes in clinician resiliency with SE® training and clinical outcomes. These data have implications for other professions at risk of exposure to vicarious trauma (VT) including nurses, medical providers, and paramedics.
KW - ANS dysregulation
KW - Burnout
KW - Compassion fatigue
KW - Quality of life
KW - Resiliency
KW - Somatic Experiencing®
KW - Traumatic stress
KW - Vicarious traumatization
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85042112611&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3389/fnins.2018.00070
DO - 10.3389/fnins.2018.00070
M3 - Article
C2 - 29503607
AN - SCOPUS:85042112611
SN - 1662-4548
VL - 12
JO - Frontiers in Neuroscience
JF - Frontiers in Neuroscience
IS - FEB
M1 - 70
ER -