How does the safe and sound listening program work to help with anxiety and protracted withdrawal symptoms?

Protracted withdrawal from benzodiazepines and other psych drugs is very difficult to tolerate. A person going through protracted symptoms will have disturbed sleep, restlessness, anxiety, and altered social behavior.

Polyvagal theory relates to the anatomy and functioning of the nucleus ambiguus in the brain and the vagus nerve. Protracted withdrawal alters the autonomic state of the person who suffers from this iotrogenic trauma.

It makes sense that a therapeutic system can work through the auditory system. A great deal of stress is related to background noise and environmental sounds.

Safe & Sound Protocol is the brain child of Dr. Stephen W. Porges.

Research scientist, Dr. Stephen W. Porges, became aware of what he referred to as the “vagal paradox” in the 1990s, while studying respiratory sinus arrhythmia. He based his polyvagal theory on this paradox, and developed this sound therapy for healing trauma, Safe & Sound, based on his research of the vagal mechanisms and their evolutionary functioning.

It is possible for therapists to seek training in polyvagal theory and associated therpaies at the Polyvagal Institute. This non-profit institute is dedicated to promoting polyvagal theory and certifying new practitioners.

While other proven sound therapies use brain wave entrainment with pulsing sounds, the safe and sound system is based on polyvagal theory. Polyvagal theory describes the functioning of the vagal nerve and vagal tone.

Safe and sound therapy is often offered in conjunction with eye movement desensitization and reprocessing therapy, also known as EMDR therapy, and also yoga therapy. These therapies can help with complex PTSD, helping people who have been through past trauma to work on developing improved prosocial behavior.

The Safe & Sound Method works on the vagus nerve to promote a safe state.

There are various vagal pathways, such as the dorsal vagal complex, and the ventral vagal complex. Safe and sound accesses the autonomic nervous system, including the sympathetic nervous system and parasympathetic nervous system using specialized music tracks.

Increased ventral vagus tone is associated with improved social interaction and social engagement. The goal is to reduce sympathetic activation and increased tone of the dorsal vagus, which is associated with the more primitive fight or flight response.

Safe & sound is designed to optimize vagal tone, avoiding mobilized and immobilized states. The safe state, which supports social engagement, is the preferred vagal state.

Protracted withdrawal from benzodiazepines is a form of trauma. It is trauma to the central nervous system, caused by prescribed drugs.

While this microtrauma to the central nervous system can cause many symptoms, one of the most feared is akathesia. Akathisia symptoms include feeling as if the skin is crawling, and the person is unable to sit down and stay still.

How well does Safe And Sound protocol work for trauma?

Victims of trauma, such as prolonged withdrawal from prescribed drug use, who may have developed a sensory processing disorder, will respond well to the safe and sound protocol. Safe and sound protocol practitioners are seeing significant results, showing improved communication and improved physiological state of their clients.

Even if the client suffers from severe akathisia, SSP may be helpful to make the movement disorder more tolerable. Safe and Sound protocol may improve symptoms of motor restlessness.

The safe and sound protocol, developed by Dr Steven Porges, helps to improve emotional regulation by reducing the heightened alert state of the autonomic nervous system. Successful therapy with the safe sound protocol involves improved performance in social situations, including positive spontaneous social behaviors.

Benzodiazepine use, and subsequent post acute withdrawal symptoms, can lead to significant issues. These include mood swings, mental health issues, and cognitive impairment due to the ongoing physical symptoms and psychological symptoms.

Safe Sound Protocol exercises the middle ear muscles with specially filtered music.

Safe sound protocol addresses auditory sensitivity with an integrated listening system. It involves a five-hour listening program with filtered music. During therapy, the brain builds new, positive connections.

Safe sound therapy requires a period of daily listening to music filtered to be in the frequency range of the human voice. By working on the middle ear muscle, the vagus nerve can be accessed.

Successful therapy with SSP intervention results in improved social interaction. Clients learn to maintain nervous system regulation in the presence of sudden loud noises.

Interpersonal interactions are improved over time with the safe and sound protocol therapy. It is an auditory intervention that works to improve the social engagement system.

Dr. Porges has created this non-invasive intervention to help with sensory sensitivities by addressing auditory processing issues and related challenges, such as dysregulation.

After SSP therapy has been completed, the client is often able to socialize, sleep better, and eat with less gastrointestinal distress. It is a safe and effective therapy for making protracted withdrawal syndrome trauma more tolerable.

How can I find a safe & sound protocol provider near me?

While you may have a local SSP clinic in your area, the therapy may be offered as a telemedicine service. Treatment can be provided remotely, in conjunction with online therapy.

SSP is offered by licensed therapists and psychiatrists to help patients with trauma recovery, to improve social connection, or to help deal with a psychiatric disorder. There are many clinical applications of the safe and sound method.

Because it is possible to provide Safe and Sound treatment over the internet, there is no need to rely on a local SSP practitioner. The SSP therapist does not even have to reside in the same state.

Another benefit to remote telehealth therapy is that people going through protracted benzo withdrawal often do not want to leave their homes. They are not going to want to sit in a busy waiting room.

People with heightened neuroception, being in a state of detecting danger in routine social interactions, will benefit from remote treatment. Additionally, ongoing safe and sound method treatments may help with improving social interactions.

How can I find a safe and sound protocol practitioner in my area?

While you can certainly use Google to find a local center that provides SSP, it is important to try to find a clinic that uses licensed doctors of psychology or psychiatry to implement treatment plans. Safe and Sound Protocol coaches may not have the same level of medical expertise and training.

Additionally, you may want to verify that the program you are attending has a certification from the Polyvagal Institute. One way to find a practitioner with this certification may be to contact the institute directly to inquire about local practitioners.

Online therapy and telemedicine is great for many people who do not want to leave the safety of their homes. Yet, there is something to be said for visiting a facility where safe and sound treatment can be provided directly, onsite.

Are there other therapies based on polyvagal theory?

If you look around, you will find a variety of feedback devices and electrical stimulators. The marketing campaigns invariably mention polyvagal theory. There are ads for gammaCore, Apollo Neuro, Fisher Wallace stimulator, and courses on how to train the vagus nerve for better vagal toning to heal trauma.

Some of these ads are specifically about depression, migraine headaches, relaxation, focus, or better sleep. There are even vagal nerve stimulator magnets.

In addition to these consumer products, there is serious research going on at Stanford University, where electrical stimulators are implanted directly to access the vagus nerve. This experimental therapy is being used to treat depression, with some success.

In an interview with psychiatrist, Dr. Karl Deisseroth, on the Andrew Huberman Podcast, there is a long discussion about this specific therapy, implanted vagal stimulators. These devices must be calibrated and set carefully to avoid causing difficulty breathing or swallowing.

Is it possible to improve mood using stimulation of the vagal pathways without going in for expensive therapy or buying a device?

The vagus nerve passes through the neck and can be affected by breathing and vocalization. There are breathing techniques that involve vocalizing to produce vibrations with the vocal cords.

These techniques can help to vibrate the vagal nerve bundles, resulting in a calming effect. Imagine, if you are in public, and feeling stress from the crowds of people around you, and you start to breath deeply and hum quietly.

Could focused breathing and vocalization make a difference? Is it possible to change your state of mind with singing or humming?

It can’t hurt to try various vocal sounds, along with deep breathing, to see how it makes you feel. You may discover that simple practices that did not occur to you previously can make a difference.

What about screaming into a pillow, guided screaming, or silent screaming?

Does screaming help to stimulate the vagus nerve? The benefits of screaming therapeutically likely work through other mechanisms.

There are a variety of therapies based on screaming. There is primal scream therapy, silent screaming, where you scream in your mind without screaming out loud, and controlled aggression therapy, where you scream into a pillow.

You may wonder why you would want to visit a therapist who specializes in scream therapy. Why not just scream?

The therapist may help to guide the screaming activity and help with specifically discussing past traumas. On the other hand, people do have the right to make noise without the approval of a therapist.

It is, however, a good idea to let people around you know that you are engaging in personal scream therapy, so they do not think you are in trouble. Screaming into a pillow may help to reduce the noise level, while allowing you to scream as loud as you like.

Is there any controversy surrounding the Safe and Sound Protocol?

Is it possible that SSP is a scam? Is polyvagal theory a scam? Could the safe and sound protocol be snake oil?

Dr. Stephen Porges is a doctor of psychology with an impressive list of publications. His academic credentials are impeccable.

Yet, some people have compared him to a snake oil salesman, promoting treatments to improve public health with minimal evidence to support his claims.

Is it possible that a respected scientist came up with a hypothesis, upon which he based an entrepreneurial adventure? Safe and Sound Protocol therapy is a lucrative business, some centers selling a course of therapy for $1000 and up.

Does the polyvagal evolutionary model of social mammals make sense?

Some experts claim that the evolutionary model described by Dr. Porges is not consistent with what we know about evolution. Others state that there is not enough evidence of this sound protocol being effective.

Still, because of Dr. Porges credentials, it is worth taking his ideas seriously. There are other treatment modalities that have not been properly studied yet, but clinicians know that they work. While the healing power of SSP may not work for everyone, and it may not solve all problems, many providers claim they are seeing benefits for their clients.

If SSP did not work, the therapists who offer it would probably stop offering it. Why continue selling a treatment that does not get positive results?

I have not personally tried the safe and sound protocol, so I cannot give a personal testimonial about its effectiveness. However, I have spoken to reliable therapists who provide SSP to clients, and they claim that they are getting very good results from it.

Would it be possible to recreate the effects of the safe and sound protocol at home without buying a package?

Generally, we must be careful with home remedies. However, sound therapies are particularly interesting with respect to recreating specific sounds at home.

Decades ago, sound processing was an expensive endeavour. Studio grade equalizers, filters, and other sound processing equipment were not accessible to the average person.

While hobbyists could purchase affordable versions of studio equipment, the electronic devices could still cost many hundreds, or even thousands of dollars. And, there would have to be space for the electronic boxes and wires to be set up.

Today, things are different. For example, when you buy an Apple Mac computer, it comes with an entire sound studio included. Garage Band is a free program that is essentially an entire music studio, built into the computer.

It is possible, using software, to create many interesting sound effects. You can alter the pitch of your voice, or add echos and reverb to sounds.

Modern sound processing software makes it possible to create interesting therapeutic audio tracks.

I have found that I can produce binaural beats recordings in my computer, using a sound program named Ableton Live. I took a brief online course that demonstrated how to produce binaural tracks.

It seems like it would not be difficult to create templates in these digital audio workstation programs, such as Ableton, Garage Band, or Logic Pro, to reproduce the effects of the Safe and Sound Protocol. While I am not suggesting that people start filtering their favorite music to fall into the frequency ranges of prosody, or spoken language, it should be relatively easy to do.

Of course, Safe and Sound is a protected trademark, and Dr. Porges has filed many patents, so any home experimentation with sound should be done with care and not distributed without researching the legality of doing so. Yet, it would be hard to imagine that anyone could patent or trademark the act of filtering frequencies out of music.

Another possibility would be to create original music targeted for frequencies that achieve a similar effect. I would expect that others have already engaged in such musical and sound experiments.

Should I find a safe and sound protocol provider around me to see if SSP is right for me?

I would recommend starting with a doctor or therapist whom you trust and ask their opinion. They may have recommendations or referrals they can make to help you get to a trusted provider.

For example, you might want to ask your family doctor if they have an opinion on SSP. Even if they have not heard of it, they can research the science and give you their opinion.

As stated earlier, if you do decide to visit a safe and sound clinic, be sure to check their credentials first. Be careful not to go to a treatment center that is only staffed with coaches, and no licensed healthcare professionals.

Safe and Sound Protocol therapy is intriguing, and it may be helpful for many people. While people should take care in starting new therapies, the use of sound therapy is generally very safe, and a great alternative to traditional drug-based medical therapy.