Resolving Trauma Through the Body & Mind
Trauma can be resolved and transformed
The experience of trauma is common and yet the understanding of trauma symptoms is only beginning to enter the collective consciousness. Trauma is an injury to the entire system. It can be caused by a single event, or repetitive experiences that leave us feeling overwhelmed, powerless, confused and dis-regulated. The seeds of trauma begin with a boundary breach. It's often the result of something happening in a sudden and unexpected way, often described as too much and too fast. In response to such an overwhelming event, the body wisely mobilizes an immense amount of energy to help deal with the threat of the event. This physical response of arousal is the universal survival response of all animals. |
In our bodies, in this moment, there live the seed impulses of the change and spiritual growth we seek, and to awaken them we must bring our awareness into the body, into the here and now. Pat Ogden |
Trauma is in the nervous system, not in the event. It lies in the instinctual fear response that
becomes stuck in our brain and nervous system.
These instinctual responses are known as the fight, or flight or freeze response. Arousal can either prepare the body to fight danger, to run from danger or to numb the pain response if escape is not possible. After a traumatic event, the body's natural inclination is to release the trapped energy through shaking, crying, sweating, or other forms of discharge. Trauma symptoms can occur if there is activation without deactivation. Trauma is an experience that overwhelms the normal capacity of our nervous system and we are therefore unable to integrate the experience.
Stuck "ON" fight or flight energy can cause a long list of distressing, chronic symptoms such as anxiety, panic attacks, sleep problems, intrusive thoughts, irritability, rage, phobias, forgetfulness, headaches, body tension and more. We can also get stuck in an "OFF" freeze response leading to equally distressing symptoms like confusion, numbing, disconnection, loss of motivation, indecision, fatigue, depression, dissociation and even collapse.
Trauma symptoms can show up immediately following an event but often go unrecognized, sometimes taking years before they suddenly manifest.
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There are two main categories of trauma. Shock trauma and developmental trauma.
Developmental trauma can predispose us to being more vulnerable to shock trauma.
Developmental trauma can predispose us to being more vulnerable to shock trauma.
Shock Trauma includes but is not limited to:
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Developmental Trauma includes but is not limited to:
• birth trauma • early childhood neglect • early childhood emotional abuse • childhood physical abuse and/or witnessing violence • childhood sexual abuse • growing up in families with addiction • being the victim of prejudice, discrimination or bullying • being publicly humiliated, especially in early childhood |
When it comes to symptoms of trauma and PTSD, talk therapy alone has limitations. Cathartic methods that have us re-live a traumatic event may be re-traumatizing to our nervous system. Cognitive therapies can only help change behaviour with techniques using the higher brain centers, the "thinking" part of the brain. Trauma symptoms are challenging to try to address this way because their original causes are etched in the primitive brain centers which mediate survival energies. By holding a holistic perspective, including a somatic sensing approach we can utilizes the whole brain in the process of trauma resolution, helping us make sense of our experience and release stuck emotion as well as regulating the nervous system. |
Trauma can be hell on earth; transformed, it is a divine gift. ~Peter Levine |
My approach to shock trauma resolution is somatic and mindfulness based. It includes working with all three levels of your brain: brainstem (behavioral), limbic (emotional) system, and cortex (thinking.) As a foundation, we first work on getting in touch with your resources. From there I help you learn to track sensation, a key aspect of the process. I'll guide you in becoming curious about your bodily sensations. This exploration and connection with sensation will aid in creating new neural pathways, allowing stuck trauma energy to begin to deactivate in small manageable increments. We will move mindfully and slowly, allowing time and space for the nervous system to heal and build resiliency, aiding in the restoration of self regulation. As the work progresses, overtime you may begin to notice you feel more connected, more alive and more empowered.
My approach to developmental trauma, particularly pre verbal trauma will also include the added element of touch-based methods for supporting and restoring resilience and self-regulation.
...more on the Somatic Experiencing approach
My approach to developmental trauma, particularly pre verbal trauma will also include the added element of touch-based methods for supporting and restoring resilience and self-regulation.
...more on the Somatic Experiencing approach