Published Dec 16, 2024

How to Work with Your Parts: Complex PTSD, IFS, and Dissociation | Elizabeth Ferreira

Somatic therapist Elizabeth Ferreira joins Forrest Hanson to explore the profound connection between Internal Family Systems (IFS) therapy and somatic methods, delving into trauma, dissociation, and strategies to manage complex PTSD, while emphasizing the integration of self-parts for holistic healing and growth.

Episode Highlights

Topics covered

Questions from this episode

- Why do people easily fall into the trap of a victim mindset, and is it bad to be stuck in one? How can I avoid it properly? I often feel that the reason I overthink and have deep thoughts is because my father tortured and abandoned my mother and me during my childhood.
  Asked by 146 people
- Is it true that the nervous system needs a different input at the right time to change a reaction, as discussed in episode #273: Overcoming Challenges and Birthing a New You with Christine Hassler and the clip Navigating Triggers? For example, if a person has a fear or phobia and their body becomes reactive when they encounter a trigger, would a solution be to try to calm the body with breathwork at that moment? Would this approach provide a different input to the nervous system so that over time it stops being activated by the original trigger? Is this how Pavlov's dogs experiment is used as a tool for changing the nervous system's responses?
  Asked by 140 people
- Is it true that the nervous system needs a different input at the right time to change a reaction, as discussed in episode #368: Polyvagal Path: Healing Your Nervous System & Your Life with Dr. Stephen Porges and the clip Body Awareness Journey? For example, if a person has a fear or phobia and their body becomes reactive when they encounter a trigger, would a solution be to try to calm the body with breathwork at that moment? Would this approach provide a different input to the nervous system so that over time it stops being activated by the original trigger? Is this how Pavlov's dogs experiment is used as a tool for changing the nervous system's responses?
  Asked by 96 people
- How to practice mindfulness
  Asked by 80 people
- Can you explain more mindfulness techniques?
  Asked by 63 people
- How can I be more calm and present?
  Asked by 57 people
- How can one detach from feelings of stress or overwhelm as discussed in episode #364: Heal Your Deepest Pain & Live Happily No Matter What w/ Matthew Hussey and the clip Finding Inner Strength?
  Asked by 51 people
- How can I improve my mindfulness?
  Asked by 50 people
- How important is it to acknowledge that your fitness journey will be full of ups and downs and to come from a place of self-care in the episode #051: Ending Family Enmeshment with The Holistic Psychologist and the clip Productivity and Presence? Is it true that it's never the right time to improve your habits, and you just have to do it?
  Asked by 50 people
- What are some mindfulness techniques?
  Asked by 45 people
- What are Mark Groves' thoughts on healing the nervous system as discussed in episode #324: How to Somatically Rewire Your Past to Create Secure Attachment with Sarah Baldwin and the clip Regulating the Nervous System?
  Asked by 42 people
- If we can't forget traumatic events but can modify our emotional response to past events, can the changes to a person's character following an event also be reversed or altered? For example, if someone who was once very positive and engaging returns from war or suffers the loss of a parent/spouse and as a result becomes guarded and distant, how much of our "character" is malleable? Or can people truly become "stuck in their ways"?
  Asked by 42 people
- What is ADHD?
  Asked by 41 people
- Is there a podcast that covers the topic of trauma?
  Asked by 38 people
- Can you explain mindful awareness in more detail?
  Asked by 32 people

Episode Highlights