FILM/VIDEO-BASED THERAPY,™ TRAUMA BACKSTORY, AND CHAPTER SUMMARIES
When I started work on this book, it was 2016, and I was looking at trauma through the lens of psychological problems. At that time, people had survived 9/11, the war in Iraq, and the U.S.’s extended conflict in Afghanistan. All the traumas at that time had to do with terrorism and the military. We didn’t expect a medical crisis. The global coronavirus pandemic forced us to confront the medical issues in our communities as people focused on the health of their families while relatives, friends, and strangers died slowly, and the world shut down. But nothing could prepare us for what happened to mental health in the aftermath of the pandemic. From a mental health perspective, trying to jump-start a system that was already broken was horrifying, challenging, and almost impossible.
While it is a continuation of Video and Filmmaking as Psychotherapy: Research and Practice, this book is centered on the concept of psychological trauma. I chose this topic because of the possibility for inspiration it can foster when associated with post-traumatic growth. Unlike physical trauma, psychological trauma has particular qualities. Whereas physical trauma is about the incident, psychological trauma is unique to the response. Psychological trauma is less about what happened and more about one’s reaction to that. Hence, it leaves room for post-traumatic growth. If you have psychological trauma, you can neither fight nor retreat from a situation. To use an automotive analogy, it’s like simultaneously flooring the gas pedal and slamming on the brakes.
For years I studied Peter Levine’s methods, taking his classes on Somatic Experiencing, but became ill before I could obtain the final credential. COVID-19 interfered with much of the progress I had made. Levine’s work coincided with that of Bessel van der Kolk, who published a New York Times bestselling paperback titled The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma (2015). Levine and van der Kolk had collaborated before and supported each other’s work in the past. Although different in method and theory, each upholds the tenet that trauma resides in the body and requires techniques designed to stabilize a person who has undergone a horrendous, life-changing experience.
This book, while it is about technology, is focused on using technology to better explain—in my interpretation through the author’s lens—the concept of the body, its role in processing trauma, and how we deal with trauma to make things better. I originally intended the book’s subtitle to include the words “post-traumatic growth.” As you explore the different chapters, you’ll see that they all overtly or covertly incorporate Peter Levine’s principle of somatic experiencing as well as those of similar theorists.
From a global perspective, the concept of how trauma can have a ripple effect on the world starts with the individual. An individual can influence a person’s family, and they can influence their community. That community can influence the city, which will affect the state, the country, and eventually the world. This is how the book is organized, based on Natalie Rogers’s concept of person-centered peace (Rogers, 2012).
The concept is inherently bipartisan because all mammals have a nervous system. The parasympathetic and sympathetic parts of the autonomic nervous system focus on Somatic Experiencing and, to some degree, all trauma work. In this book, we will be using storytelling through Film/Video-Based Therapy™ and Virtual Reality to regulate people suffering from trauma and to have a ripple effect on the world.
This researcher believes that all parts of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual have to do with dysregulation of the autonomic nervous system. Throughout the book, we will learn more about the influence of both Levine and van der Kolk and their influence on this field through other theorists who have worked with them.
PART II: TRAUMA IN THE HOME, CITY, STATE/PROVINCE
Dr. Valentina Stoycheva explores how trauma work brings up the use of metaphors. She provides background on biological work like that of Stephen Porges and the polyvagal theory. She ties the theme of trauma Film/Video-Based Therapy™ via storytelling and the veteran population. She also presents a couple of cases as examples of how her metaphors and trauma connect with certain veterans as she works with that population.
Bronwyn Robertson writes about a relatively new concept called neurocinematics. She draws from integrated practices like neuroscience, brain imaging, and the body. This chapter explores how neurocinematics, a specific branch of neuroscience, can be effectively and ethically applied within trauma therapy. Robertson highlights cases in which neurocinematics were applied within integrative trauma therapies, mindfulness-based and Somatic Experiencing (SE) practices.
Dr. Chris Harz uses virtual reality (VR) to discuss how VR games can produce a healthy environment for dealing with various conditions, including post-traumatic stress disorder. Chris has worked with the military on research, including the RAND Corporation. He notes, “A number of videogames exist for phobias such as fear of flying or claustrophobia, involving the use of VR for exposure therapy …. However, experience has shown that one-size-fits-all game worlds may not be optimal, and that user input and some customization of the virtual sets could make the therapy more immersive …. Addictions to drugs, gambling, and other repetitive stimulants tend to involve a failure to recognize patterns and denial of the likely consequences of a behavior pattern.”
In the next chapter, Dr. Penelope P. Orr returns as an author for the second book in a row. She talks about her research as a Fulbright scholar and turns the lens on herself as she goes through a challenging breast cancer journey. It was a challenge; I imagine that it was grueling to write this chapter. Once you read it, you’ll have the opportunity to understand what a fantastic accomplishment it is by spending some time learning about her journey.
PART III: TRAUMA IN THE UNITED STATES
Dr. Leila Pereira and her co-authors focus on how storytelling through video is used with adolescent and young adult (AYA) cancer patients, who make video testimonials similar to those seen on YouTube as a way to process their cancer experience. The video stories and testimonials are similar to Carolyn McGurl et al.’s work in Video and Filmmaking Psychotherapy: Research and Practice.
Dr. Joanna Dovalis analyzes The Wolfpack, a documentary about children confined by their father in a New York City apartment who use filmmaking to stay alive. Joanna has been published in Europe, and she works with a collection of post-Jungian thinkers who use film to express and explain their approach to Jungian psychotherapy. She has a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute and has practiced under her MFT license for many years.
Nancy Mramor Kajuth’s chapter focuses on many different aspects of film and production. In her examination of Pete Docter’s Inside Out, she looks at emotions. She also introduces other films, including The Upside of Anger, about which she says, “As a psychologist and producer for PBS-TV, creating a window into the world and the mind for viewers was a rewarding task. The production of psychology segments for an evening news show brought the elements of understanding the self and how we become who we are to the screen.”
PART IV: TRAUMA IN THE WORLD
The next chapter is a story told by Sascha Schneider about how his parents never got married after they survived the Holocaust. Schneider is a film and television producer who produced shows in the 1980s, including Hill Street Blues and many films. In this case, he turned the camera on his own family. His documentary, Chuppah (The Wedding Canopy), won several awards for the inspiring way he portrayed how his mother and father married 50 years after surviving the Holocaust. The film depicts his family and their survival in overcoming German oppression during the Holocaust.
Dr. Gaetano Giordano talks about video movie therapy in Italy. First, he gives a history of Italian cinema, including Italian comedies, up to the current age. In his practice, Giordano uses video technology to tell the story of the group and client. He does so as a clinician in the service of the client, not the audience. Ethically, this approach does not violate patient confidentiality. He strictly recommends that all video movie therapy participants also stay involved in individual therapy. What makes his process work is the enjoyment aspect.
In the next chapter, we turn to Nerea Rodriguez Pérez’s work, which considers an art therapy and video approach to Gestalt therapy, psychoanalysis, and holism. She looks at it as the driving force of the process: this has been confirmed in the description and analysis of practice. It is essential to pay attention to the position from which each participant viewed the process and address what they chose to focus on. It took into account the gaze of both the patient and the video art therapist, and the view each took of the production. Dr. Pérez and her work in Spain allowed her to get a different perspective. In her country, as they developed video therapy in universities and her particular form and take on it, they also enacted other laws and regulations ethically, which give a different perspective.
In the next chapter, Mal Williamson describes the use of EMDR and eye movement therapies as a way of regulating the nervous system. He connects eye movements to the biological aspects of the body and explains these through the techniques of EMDR, which is one of the best treatments for PTSD. He also tracks the biological and neurological responses to EMDR. Williamson then delves into case studies from his clinical practice and ties them to film.
Yarden Kerem is also returning from the previous book and demonstrates her philosophy of how documentary filmmaking can be therapeutic. For her, its medicinal power lies in personal documentary filmmaking for the sake of the filmmaker, not the subjects or audience. It’s essential to look at the filmmakers’ bias, as they’re the ones going through the healing process.
Brooke Campbell writes about drama therapy. In her chapter, she discusses the aesthetics of theatre and how it relates to trauma. To support her theory, she also describes an interview with Robert Landy. Landy is famous in his field for his work with drama therapy and some of the positive educational outcomes of working with the theater and clinical practices and evidence-based outcomes.