trauma introduction

what is trauma?

an event that wounds our sense of safety and well-being and leaves us with false or destructive beliefs about ourselves and the world.

Joan Lovett

the word “trauma” stems from the Greek word for “wound.” trauma has three common elements: the event was unexpected, the person was unprepared, and there was nothing the person could do to change circumstance.

being traumatized means continuing to organize your life as if the trauma were still going on — unchanged and immutable — as every new encounter or event is contaminated by the past. after trauma the world is experienced with a different nervous system. the survivor’s energy now becomes focused on suppressing inner chaos, at the expense of spontaneous involvement in their lives. these attempts to maintain control over unbearable physiological reactions can result in a whole range of physical symptoms, including fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, and other autoimmune diseases.

Bessel van der Kolk

we live in a time of immense personal and collective trauma. despite calling ourselves civilized, we are psychologically wounding to one another, and to ourselves. although technologically advanced, we have not grown in emotional intelligence. if we don’t understand our mind and the impact of trauma, we cannot heal. those who do learn to heal from trauma often report that they would not have had it any other way, even if they could go back in time and magically prevent the trauma. the unexpected and unwanted does not mean that we lose our capacity, and for those who have healed from trauma, the trauma itself is also seen as a gift; the very source of their capacity.

experiencing trauma has a profound effect on our bodies and minds, meaning that we end up feeling unsafe in situations where most people would feel safe. we have more triggers than the untraumatized person, and when we get triggered, our reaction is way out of line with the cause. we over-react.

when something reminds traumatized people of the past, their right brain reacts as if the traumatic event were happening in the present. but because their left brain is not working very well, they may not be aware that they are reexperiencing and reenacting the past — they are just furious, terrified, enraged, ashamed, or frozen.

Bessel van der Kolk

in the most general sense, a trauma is a watershed experience. this can come in the form of natural catastrophe, accident, abuse, or ignorance of emotion by caregivers during early development. there is a sense of a “before event self,” and an “after event self.” trauma is sometimes horrific, and at other times more insidious. to live in an environment where one feels constantly unsafe is a deeply scarring trauma. many of us grew up that way. we feel changed by trauma, not necessarily in being haunted by memories, but also in being haunted by shame and the idea that we are broken or lost.

many people feel deep shame when they’ve been traumatized. they feel somehow responsible for the event, or feel ashamed of their fear of standing up to the abuse. ongoing trauma in the developmental years leads to negative thinking patterns that become so much a part of the person that they’re not aware of it. terror, shame, guilt, self-blame, fear, and helplessness are feelings associated with a state of trauma. of course, these feelings make us withdraw and avoid, and consequently, we deepen the traumatic beliefs. where an untraumatized healthy person will attempt to do something (be it apply for a job, have a conversation, open up about their needs in a relationship, or any number of things), the traumatized person may not, and therefore the avoidance and lack of adjustment leads to deeper psychological problems.

trauma and its effect on the whole body-mind system is insidious, affecting the full spectrum of health. the traumatized person is less likely to eat healthily, sleep healthily, and live with balance. the body is at greater risk for illness, autoimmune diseases, and inflammatory illness. the person is also more at risk for affect and cognitive disorders.

you feel little, fragile and helpless. everything feels too hard. life is too scary. being seen feels excruciatingly vulnerable… in the worst flashbacks an apocalypse feels imminently upon you.

Pete Walker: Complex PTSD 

i (Johann) am 58, and have done a lot of work with trauma in myself and others. it remains like a wound, even in the trained mind, where it is simply accepted and regulated. it is a long journey to self-regulation. it can also be a very lonely journey, because someone who does not know it, cannot know it, and their concern and advice can feel like pity that wounds even more deeply. it is hard for them too, because it is a space in their beloved’s heart where they simply cannot go, and when their partner or friend is in that space, they’re equally alone. the despair of trauma and its effects are felt by both.

that, in turn, again makes it more difficult for the traumatized. not only do they have to accept their reactions, oddities, exclusions, and no-go zones, but they must accept that their current being lands hard on those around them. what they once felt, in moments, becomes what they wreak, and what the other is now feeling. consequently, the shame deepens.

trauma is very complex territory, and there are many ways to successfully work with it. it takes immense dedication on the side of the person and the therapist/group/program. a traumatized person can be skittish, mistrusting, counterattacking, overwhelmed by emotion and flashes of memory, each intensely felt throughout the body. when all of that can be accepted, within oneself or within the program that one is doing, the shift is life changing. the feelings don’t go away as we hoped, but they are accepted and not reacted to. through mindful awareness and self-regulation, the person can be with the memory (response) rather than being the memory (reaction). the amygdala (part of our survival brain) still turns bright red, but that is the very first step of a deliberate movement towards harmony, grounding, and nowness; connection with self, other, and experience.

the stress response

trauma theory gives us a very clear picture of what happens in the traumatized or reactive mind. the person simply is unable to get the message through to the frontal cortex, where deliberation, reflection and objective thought occur, but gets stuck in the limbic system and in particular the amygdala, where they are flooded with past images and sensations of fear and despair. this gets projected onto the current situation. also called the fight-flight-freeze response (it is really a reaction), the stress response is the nervous system’s way of ensuring survival, and is very powerful. the amygdala lights up with an image of what is feared. this sends a message to the hypothalamus, where the secretion of stress hormones is triggered. the person now becomes hyper-aroused (fight/flight), or hypo-aroused (freeze). the heart is beating fast to provide oxygen to the main organs, cortisol and adrenaline release is triggered, and the person has no access to decision-making. all of this happens through the sympathetic nervous system. the body uses the parasympathetic nervous system to bring the system back to homeostasis (when the danger has passed), but this can take 10 to 15 minutes to occur. in a natural environment, where the fear can stem from physical danger, this process is very suitable. however, when it comes to our daily situations, for example being triggered in a meeting, it can have far-reaching negative consequences. we are not able to think clearly when deeply triggered, and we may even dissociate. for the people around us there is no danger, and they may perceive us as over-reactive and unable to self-regulate. when this happens continuously, the traumatized person is left with a sense of being “wrong,” or “broken.”

polyvagal theory

the polyvagal theory, introduced by Stephen Porges, provides us with an understanding of the biology of safety and danger. Porges also coined the word “neuroception” to describe the capacity to evaluate relative danger or safety in one’s environment. the theory provides an understanding for why certain people in a traumatic incident would lose consciousness, others go into a frantic panic and may stay there until well after the incident, and yet others remain calm and resourceful and can assist their fellows. Porges’s theory is based on the functioning of the vagus nerve, which helps to regulate blood pressure, heart rate, speaking, and listening. the autonomic nervous system regulates three fundamental physiological states, and the level of safety experienced determines which will be activated.

knowing these three states in ourselves, their triggers, and their antidotes, can help in trauma work. ideally, we want to function in the ventral vagal parasympathetic state. however, we understand that all three states are normal for the body, and the intention is to survive. we learn to recognize the sympathetic and dorsal vagal states, and do the work that is necessary to return to a safe and social state. when there is perceived threat, we instinctually turn to social engagement, calling for help or comfort. when no one responds, the organism reverts to a more primitive survival method, fight, or flight. when this fails, or we’re trapped and helpless, the organism shuts down into a state of freeze or collapse. freezing is a very natural way of defending for the person who has endured prolonged childhood trauma, and by recognizing it and applying the necessary technique, we can soothe ourselves back to an optimal state.

in the fight/flight response a sudden threat leads to an intense impulse to move and attack. the social-engagement system is turned off and we experience decreased responsiveness to the human voice, increasing sensitivity to other sounds. when we are unable to fight or flee, the ultimate and most primary defense is activated. there is now collapse and disengagement based on the parasympathetic system, slowing down the heart and inducing shallow breathing. once this system takes over, we, as much as others, cease to matter. the person may not even register pain.

the theory expands into mixed states, such as playfulness (social + fight/flight), stillness (social + shutdown), and fawning or appeasement (fight/flight + shutdown).

how do i work with this?

stimulating the vagus nerve through regulated slow and deep breathing allows us to return to our senses and objective thinking. a slow walk can also help to regulate. we can bring about sympathetic activation through shaking, crying, hitting a pillow, or running in place. ventral vagus stimulating activities tell the body that you’re safe. you may sing, hum, breathe mindfully, have a drink, or relate to a pet. when we are with a partner or friend, they can also help us to co-regulate. Justin Sunseri provides some more information around this on his free source website:

https://www.justinlmft.com/fileshare

simply learning to have your first response to “danger” be a deep breath is very helpful. it may need to be more than one if you’re caught in a reaction, but the point is that you have time. it takes about 16 seconds for people to become awkward with non-responsiveness, and in that time, you would have had time for at least one full box-breath. the method people who work in the armed forces are trained in to prevent over-reactions is as follows:

breathing in for 4 full counts
holding breath for 4 full counts
breathing out for 4 full counts
4 full counts before the next in-breath.

a healthy nervous system will experience all the states described above. we don’t need to avoid them, but can pay attention to the intensity, and become able to shift between them to fit our environment.