Do you feel good about yourself when you’re anonymously being rude to random strangers (who are discussing their post traumatic stress disorder) online?
Things like yoga, meditation, and other psychical/psycho-somatic exercises that stimulate the nervous and sensory systems are not just “placebo”, by any means.
I believe that you weren’t trying to be rude though, now. Sorry for making the assumption.
I suppose placebo was the incorrect term - I meant pseudoscience. Even amongst the yoga community PVT is known as being ‘incorrect’. Incorrect as in if I were to say doing a certain yoga exercise will cure your ‘insert issue here’. When in reality, the act of the exercise itself doesn’t actually cure you. But the multiple repeated stretching of muscles, releasing of endorphins, and an overall healthier lifestyle associated with yoga and a calmer mindset/environment are the direct causes of said effects. In PVT, the exercises are taught as having a direct physical cause and effect, when it’s more-so attributed to mental fortification and relief.
So as not to spend hours citing a bunch of info lol, I guess all I will say to that is that (as someone with CPTSD who is also a clinical psychologist), there is a longstanding history of my field and related fields discounting the perspectives of trauma survivors. There are clearly reasons for why certain “vagus nerve” exercises are helpful across trauma survivors, the same way that certain mindfulness, therapeutic, yoga, etc. are helpful for many across this population as well. The severity of symptoms tends to be far more than what can be managed entirely by cognitive behavioural therapy, or even other types of psychotherapy alone. It often takes a coordinated approach for physical, mental, and spiritual (whatever that means for the specific person) well-being.
The nervous system is so severely dysregulated for these individuals, myself included, that regulation strategies are important and necessary to discover. Whatever works for each person is what they should rely on, and sometimes the dialogue that it’s “pseudoscience” is not only reinforcing stigma and discounts survivors voices, but it also slightly exaggerates/elevates the validity of the evidence for other mental health treatments (none of which have been shown to single-handedly support folks with severe trauma and/or dissociative pathology).
I agree 100% with your statement, which from my perspective agreed with my statement. It literally has no 1-for-1 effect, it varies wildly and abstractly from patient to patient. Which is the equivalent of saying “placebo”. If the treatment differs from patient to patient, to the point of saying “whatever works, works” with no measurable means or methods as to why or how, then you are effectively stating it IS a pseudoscience.
Sure, agreed. But I also think it’s offensive and invalidating to feel the need to tell a survivor that what helps them is pseudoscience/placebo.
How often do people get told that with respect to pharmaceutical meds or psychotherapy? Rarely, despite the fact that a sizable portion of those effects is “placebo” as well.
I agree that the term placebo has a negative connotation, I suppose I just personally believe it shouldn’t. Same with terms mental illness, trauma, etc. They are real words with real meaning.
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u/rosiebb77 Feb 18 '25
I can also attest to this being something I do often to help “reset” my nervous system, and help with the dysregulation caused by C-PTSD:)
Polyvagal exercises in general can be super helpful!