Dr Arielle Schwartz (drarielleschwartz.com), a clinical psychologist specializing in trauma recovery in Boulder, Colorado, has lots of stories to tell about trauma and the health effects of vagal nerve stimulation.
For example, one patient who had to identify her father’s body after he died by suicide developed gastroparesis afterward—a debilitating condition marked by nausea, vomiting and abdominal pain. Eventually die condition got so bad, she couldn’t leave her house.
“When she first came in, she couldn’t drive her own car,” says Schwartz. “During the session she was feeling so anxious and nauseous, we didn’t even talk about any of the trauma. We couldn’t.
“Instead, I taught her diaphragmatic breathing (which stimulates the vagus nerve), and we did that together. Within that single session, she was able to cut the level of anxiety and that physiological trouble
