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Mind-Body and Neural Circuit Therapy

My work integrates contemporary neuroscience, trauma-informed psychotherapy, and emotional awareness and expression. Many clients experience neuroplastic symptoms: symptoms that are REAL, yet shaped by patterns of stress and nervous system activation rather than ongoing physical damage. Therapy focuses on nervous system desensitization by radically changing your behavioural and emotional response to physical symptoms. In time, this leads to a reduction – or elimination – of symptoms altogether.

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How Symptoms Start

Neural circuit conditions—often called mindbody symptoms—occur when the brain misinterprets normal bodily sensations or emotional stress as dangerous, triggering chronic physical pain, dizziness, fatigue, gastrointestinal distress, or other symptoms (see list below).

 

Think of your brain’s danger response system like a highly sensitive home alarm: an emotional stressor, a period of prolonged pressure, a physical event or injury turns the alarm on - but the brain becomes hyper-vigilant and gets stuck in a loop, continually broadcasting pain or distress signals long after the physical tissue has healed.

Mind-body Conditions

Some common conditions that are likely neural circuit or have a mind-body component include

Common Pain and Musculoskeletal Conditions

  • Back, neck, arm, and leg pain (when tests rule out fractures, tumors, or infections)

  • Fibromyalgia

  • Tension and migraine headaches

  • Chronic tendonitis and repetitive strain injury (RSI)

  • Plantar fasciitis and foot pain

  • Temporomandibular joint (TMJ) dysfunction

  • Coccydynia (tailbone pain) and face pain

  • Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS)

Psychiatric, systemic, and neurological conditions

  • Anxiety and depression

  • Post-concussion syndrome

  • Insomnia

  • Functional neurological disorders (FND)

  • Chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS)

  • Long COVID

  • Chronic Lyme disease

  • Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS)

  • Hypersensitivity syndromes (touch, sound, smells, foods, chemicals, electrical waves, medications)

Vestibular and Auditory Conditions

  • Persistent Postural-Perceptual Dizziness (PPPD)

  •  Mal de Débarquement Syndrome (MdDS)

  • Vestibular migraine

  • Tinnitus

  • Misophonia

  • Hyperacusis

Skin conditions

  • Chronic hives

  • Eczema

Gastrointestinal and Pelvic Conditions

  • Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)

  • Chronic abdominal pain

  • Painful bladder syndrome (interstitial cystitis)

  • Pelvic floor dysfunction

  • Vulvodynia

How to Break the Symptom Loop

To break this cycle, my therapeutic approach integrates Pain Reprocessing Therapy (PRT), Internal Family Systems (IFS) and Emotional Awareness and Expression Therapy (EAET). Through PRT, we use somatic tracking and mindfulness to help you reappraise these physical sensations as safe, retraining your brain to turn off the false alarm. 

We simultaneously use IFS and EAET principles to safely explore, process, and express the hidden emotional stressors and unresolved conflicts that initially triggered the brain's danger response.

By addressing both the neurological loops and the underlying emotional drivers, I help you deactivate the overactive neural pathways, restore safety to your nervous system, and find lasting relief from chronic symptoms.

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