Ruzanna Avetisyan, LMFT

02/05/2025

While continuing to enhance the trauma lens I utilize in working with individuals from all walks of life, it's more apparent that nothing can be achieved unless the person feels safe. We all have these biological systems that motivate us into action in order to attain survival. And when faced with trauma our autonomic nervous system needs to be slowly restored. Otherwise we continue to perpetuate the avoidance of certain memories or difficult feelings. In addition, we keep these walls up as defenses and as a result "feel good" or tell ourselves we are ok when we escape into strategies that have become adaptive for us.
Social media is one of those examples of having the urge to escape the trigger of some sort(a thought, feeling) and then getting the relief we were seeking. Addiction of any sort has this same flavor.

01/25/2023

Some of these are very obvious and others can be subtle things in healthy relationships: Being able to trust one another, foundation of respect (In other words treating each other as equals), being able to communicate well, sharing healthy boundaries, being comfortable spending time apart, making decisions together, enjoying spending time together, appreciating each other, having a strong emotional connection, and supporting each other's goals! 💗

How do you know that you are in a healthy relationship? Sometimes the signs are as subtle as a gut feeling. Other times they are glaringly obvious.

02/11/2022

Want to be more creative in your professional world, start practicing mindfulness and/or meditation. You only need 10-12 minutes to get positive results.

Google, Goldman Sachs, and Medtronic have all introduced mindfulness practices.

07/27/2021

This is so cool - a child on TED talk speaking about the essential ingredients of brain development for 0-5!!!

https://www.facebook.com/29092950651/posts/10165545877500652/

07/08/2021

This is music to My ears and perhaps some of Yours 🤗- According to some recent studies, Anxiety, Depression, and PTSD are not considered disorders we inherit but rather are adaptive responses to adversity. Neuroscientists have increasingly mapped these three disorders to branches of the threat detection system (flight, fight, freeze, faint). Anxiety may be due to chronic activation of the fight or flight system. PTSD may occur when trauma triggers the freeze response which helps animals disconnect from pain before they die, and depression may be a chronic activation of that same freeze response. Again Sensorimotor Psychotherapy at its best, working with this approach makes more and more sense.

What if mental disorders like anxiety, depression or post-traumatic stress disorder aren’t mental disorders at all?

04/03/2021

For those interested in how Complex Trauma looks, and can be treated, this video provides the basics of how our nervous system works. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uH5JQDAqA8E&feature=share&fbclid=IwAR2c69SHRN0yD0FdILsXBbubWeqwQVJtmVZTR0xobc2yqOyFQKwxbZUBTpY

11/15/2020

Worrying about something that is out of our control can feel helpless. I know many of us filled with a plethora of emotions are doing just that - trying to solve what is beyond our reach at this current moment because worrying helps us not feel. This article suggests some evidence based strategies on how to approach all worries. What ultimately helps is being present, even if that means sitting with uncertainty, sadness and, yes, a certain amount of worry — approached intentionally.

It’s possible. Here’s how to cope when stressful thinking seems constant.

10/25/2020

As I continue with my journey as a psychotherapist, last weekend I embarked level II of Sensorimotor Psychotherapy training. This time with the atrocities occurring in Armenia I am both experiencing and and sensing the topic of Developmental Trauma through a very sensitive lens as you can imagine. I think most people can relate to our bodies responding to any physical or emotional threat by either freezing (anxiety), wanting to fight(anger), run(fear) or just give up(sadness/depression). Armenians and those who have been directly affected by the current War have been feeling all of the above and this dysregulated state of being is the result of multiple generations who were raised in a perpetual need to be seen, to be heard in order to survive. All people who go through trauma, pass on ways of reacting, coping, rationalizing, through not only their interactions with their offspring, but also through their experiences in their environment they grow up in (war-zone, violence, oppression). This of course is unfortunate, yet it does not need to be hopeless. Recognizing all this and identifying what resources we as individuals need to continue being resilient is essential. Let's continue using not only our voices but also our skill sets to become stronger and more unified as a nation! I offer being there for all those whom I can support emotionally and mentally.

09/17/2020

Labels are one thing and letting clients know that often our mental health concerns can be viewed as merely a way for us to learn how to address adversity in our environment is the perspective I prefer. https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10223689498888164&id=1313135562

A new paper by anthropologists argues that disorders are responses to adversity.

06/23/2020

It was a dream of mine to be able to incorporate some work with the body, sensations, and movement, when working with Trauma. Looking forward to continuing with level 2 this fall.

08/14/2019

And officially certified as a Child Parent Psychotherapy clinician and supervisor!