Why So Many People Wake Up at 3 AM?
Understanding Nighttime Cortisol Rhythms: Gentle Ways to Help Your Nervous System Settle Back into Sleep For a period of time, I kept waking up at almost exactly 3:12 in the morning. Not 2:45. Not 3:30. Three twelve. Night after night. At first I assumed it was random. But after a while the pattern started to feel almost uncanny. I would wake up fully alert, and suddenly my brain wanted to review everything—my schedule, conversations from the day, the future of humanity… you know, the usual middle-of-the-night material. Eventually I learned that this timing is actually quite common. In the early morning hours the body naturally releases a small rise in cortisol, a hormone that helps us wake up and mobilize energy for the day. [...]
Your Traitor Within Podcast with Dr. Eva Altobelli: Healing the Parts That Learned to Survive
Your Traitor Within: Healing the Parts That Learned to Survive with Dr. Eva Altobelli In this episode of Your Traitor Within, Jessica Anne Pressler, LCSW sits down with Dr. Eva Altobelli, MD, addiction psychiatrist and founder of Home-LA, a holistic mental health center in Los Angeles that integrates psychiatry, psychotherapy, and ketamine-assisted therapy. Dr. Altobelli shares how childhood experiences can shape the internal survival patterns we carry into adulthood — patterns that sometimes become what Jessica calls the “Traitor Within.” Together they explore how automatic reactions formed in childhood can quietly guide our behaviors, relationships, and sense of safety long after the original circumstances have passed. Drawing from over two decades of work in addiction psychiatry, trauma recovery, and psychedelic-assisted therapy, Dr. Altobelli discusses the [...]
AAAP newsletter, Addiction Psychiatry Insights
Featuring Eva Altobelli, MD Brave New Medicine: Ketamine’s Promise and Pitfalls (page 22). Excerpt: "Ketamine has undeniable therapeutic potential. When delivered within a structured, multidisciplinary framework—including careful preparation, guided administration, and integrative psychotherapy—it can be profoundly transformative. It offers individuals the possibility of loosening rigid patterns of thought, healing trauma, and reconnecting with meaning. However, when ketamine is prescribed or distributed without context—especially in the form of at-home lozenges or mail-order businesses —it risks becoming another agent of sedation rather than liberation: a pharmacologic shortcut that soothes symptoms while bypassing deeper work." Read Full Article AAAP Newsletter: Addiction Psychiatry Insights
Inside the Nervous System: Integrative Psychiatry & Polyvagal Healing | Dr. Altobelli on Recalibrated Vision with Bianca Ariel, MBA
Inside the Nervous System: Dr. Eva Altobelli on Integrative Psychiatry & Polyvagal Healing — Recalibrated Vision with Bianca Ariel, MBA Jump to: About Dr. Eva Altobelli Integrative Psychiatry Explained Polyvagal Healing & Nervous System Insights Practical Tips for Mental Wellness Listen to the Full Podcast About Dr. Eva Altobelli Dr. Eva Altobelli is a leading integrative psychiatrist based in Los Angeles, specializing in treating complex mental health challenges through a holistic, patient-centered approach. With a focus on understanding the interplay between the mind, body, and nervous system, Dr. Altobelli integrates conventional psychiatric treatments with innovative modalities that promote long-term wellness and nervous system regulation. Integrative Psychiatry Explained Integrative psychiatry combines traditional psychiatric approaches—such as medication management and psychotherapy—with [...]
Resilient by Design
When things break down, it can feel disorienting, painful, or even like failure. But breakdown also carries within it the possibility of rebuilding into something stronger and more resilient. We see this in simple ways: when we exercise, muscles “break down,” sometimes to the point of shaking, and yet it’s precisely this process that allows them to rebuild stronger than before. Embracing imperfection, change, and transformation This philosophy is beautifully illustrated in Kintsugi —the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery with gold-tinted lacquer. What was once considered broken or flawed becomes even more beautiful and more valuable, carrying a history that includes both fracture and repair. The deeper lesson is about embracing imperfection, change, and transformation. Of course, when we’re inside the experience of loss, [...]
Balancing Intuition and Knowledge
Recently, I have been exploring Taoist philosophy, which dates back to 300 BC. A central theme in Taoism is the importance of maintaining an open awareness of the world and trusting in one’s inner self. When this state of being is lost, we may begin to look outside ourselves for answers, potentially creating systems that restrict our personal freedom. “When they lose their sense of awe, people turn to religion. When they no longer trust themselves, they begin to depend on authority.” —Stephen Mitchell, Tao Te Ching Senses vs Measurable Scales This is an interesting idea to contemplate. Reflecting back on the Age of Enlightenment, which sounds ideal in many ways, I’ve come to understand it as a time when we stopped relying on our [...]
ARTICLES:
Analysis of the concept of Psychedelic Integration and its practice. (15-20 min read)
https://www.frontiersin.org/