Trauma was referenced as the word of the decade in pop-culture in 2022 by Vox in Highlight magazine. A previously weighty, diagnostic word has become a flippant word bandied about on social media to describe any old annoyance, e.g. being stuck in traffic.
Paradoxically, trauma can feel like too cumbersome and exaggerated a word to use when one is actually traumatised, and panicked, due to the possible depths implicit in the word. We can sometimes doubt our trauma experiences and want to keep things ‘low key’ believing trauma is only for ‘more serious’ experiences.
However, experts cite traumatic ordeals as ranging from pre-verbal experiences, grief, illness, accidents to bullying, war and everything-in-between. ‘Most of us have been traumatised, not just soldiers or victims of abuse or attack. Both the sources and consequences of trauma are wide-ranging and often hidden from our awareness…’ Dr. Peter Levine
In ‘The Body Keeps the Score,’ Bessel Van Der Kolk, Professor of Psychiatry, explains how the body remembers trauma, when at a cognitive level, we don’t. The body can therefore provide access to trauma, making redundant the need to remember and channel our brain’s ‘trauma story’ in order to begin our recovery path.
Co-originator of ‘Wholality®,’ Julianne Del Cano-Kennard, and author of forthcoming book ‘The Art of Human-ing: How to Lovingly Integrate Trauma and Reclaim Your Light,’ says: ‘…There are subtle and not-so-subtle messages being relayed from the body all of the time. A prolonged stress response comes to us via messages from the body….’
The body’s involvement in our experience of life is at the heart of living.
6 Fundamental Points about Trauma and the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS)
1. What Is Trauma?
“Trauma Is a Physiological Issue, Not a Mental Illness.” Dr Peter Levine.
Dr. Gabor Maté: ‘…trauma comes from the Greek word ‘wound’ “…it’s not what happens to you; it’s what happens inside you as a result of what happens to you …”’
Trauma is the imprint scarred into the body after overwhelming experiences. ‘…Trauma stems from the frozen residue of energy that has not been resolved and discharged; this residue remains trapped in the nervous system where it can wreak havoc on our bodies and spirits…the key to healing trauma is in our physiology…’ Dr. Peter Levine
Our lived experience begins in the body-mind system beneath the level of the brain. Biology’s doing it.
Julianne del Cano-Kennard: ‘It’s so important to bring your awareness to your body, as 80 to 95 percent of all information arises from the body to the brain.’
2. Some Trauma Symptoms
- Overwhelm
- Exhaustion
- Insomnia
- ‘On red alert’
- Brain fog
- Detachment
- Feeling unstable, disorientated
- Anxiety, worry, insecurity, depression
- Physical ailments
3. Trauma Keeps the ‘Past’ in the ‘Now’
The way we’ve viewed and instantaneously responded to traumatic experiences in the past gets locked into our body with related sounds, sights, smells, emotional states etc.
The body remembers, causing us to react to stimuli in our present that can be in some way reminiscent of our trauma. Triggers, impulses, sensations arise in the body as indicators, messengers. Giving our attention to the body’s messages helps us process and integrate trauma.
Dr. Glenn Patrick Doyle : ‘…Anyone who’s struggling with trauma is struggling with how the past intrudes on the present. It’s not about the past. It’s about how memories & symptoms are messing with us, today, right now…’
4. What is The Autonomic Nervous System (ANS)?
ANS is part of our central nervous system and acts autonomously regulating our essential organs – hearts, lungs, guts etc. It’s also connected to the longest cranial nerve in our body, the Vagus Nerve.
5. Our Lived Experience and Behaviour Emerge from Our Autonomic Nervous System (ANS)
An imperative fact is that as a zygote of 4-6 weeks, a tiny neural tube appears as our first line of defence, even before the heart, brain and spinal cord at 8 weeks.
Dr. Stephen Porges (Polyvagal Theory, 1994), associates ANS and the Vagus Nerve with our body’s protective responses to danger, holding them both responsible for alterations in ANS that generate three specific nervous states that express our conduct and how we are experiencing life, and reacting to a moment, in compliance with the level of safety or danger ANS detects.
6. The Three Nervous System States That Control Our Life
Every micro-second ANS, below our conscious awareness, is moving us, in a natural and necessary way, from one hierarchical nervous state to another. Problems ensue when we get stuck in our defensive, survival states 2 and 3.
1) Social Engagement/The Ventral Vagal Response
This is our newest autonomic state brought to us by the Polyvagal Theory.
In this state we feel safe and able to connect to ourselves and to others. We move with ease and security with no need to defend ourselves.
This ventral pathway in our Vagus Nerve begins in the brain stem, circling the face muscles, throat and head, moving to the heart and lungs. Our facial expressions, tone of voice and other bodily cues indicate to others if we’re safe to approach.
This pathway evolved from our dependence on each other for safety and sustenance that resulted in us cohabitating in groups. A prerequisite to safety and well-being is having opportunities to give and receive cues of safety, supporting others to feel safe, and in turn, being supported.
This system has been a critical survival mechanism, permitting us to sense safety and danger, and communicate quickly and non-verbally.
Being alone is sometimes traumatic for mammals. Dr. Stephen Porges: “…Our quest for safety can be reached only through successful social relationships in which we co-regulate our behavior and physiology…” It’s instinctual to want connection and relationships with sentient beings to help us feel safe.
When we’re in a state of overwhelm, the social engagement pathway goes offline and we’re no longer able to connect or feel safe, our defence and survival states take over.
2) The Sympathetic/Fight-Flight Response
This state’s vagal pathway extends from the brain stem to below the diaphragm.
Fight-flight expresses a natural reaction to danger and has been hard-wired into us from our ancient ancestors where the choices were to fight off the predator or run away. It was crucial for survival by both physiologically, (releasing energy into body), and psychologically, readying the body for danger.
Dr. Glenn Patrick Doyle: ‘a ‘fight’ response might look like being “difficult” “stubborn “ … “combative.” …We snap at people. We push back … it might be passive aggressive… or verbal aggression…’
A ‘flight’ response could involve excessively exercising, feeling fidgety or tense or trapped, physically walking away from stressful situations.
These are necessary states. They inject us with energy to participate in the world – work, study, do hobbies, be creative etc. Problems emerge when we become stuck in an overly active state caused by chronic or repeated stress, possibly from past triggers, resulting in high blood pressure, excessive stress hormones, anxiety etc
3) Immobilisation/ Dorsal Collapse and Disappear
Our most ancient response evolved over 500 million years ago to keep us safe and alive from predators. It’s the dorsal part of the vagus nerve, travelling from our brain stem down our backs to below the diaphragm area to the digestive system.
We share these ancient pathways with reptiles. Reptiles’ main form of defence trigger is immobilisation. Reptiles shift naturally back into homeostasis (stability) after being immobilised, but mammals don’t.
The tiny reptile gecko on my ceiling goes automatically into immobilisation when anyone enters her area. She plays dead when she senses danger. She stays like that until we leave. Is it possible to lure or poke the gecko out of immobilisation? No. Nothing will tempt her into acting alive again until she feels safe. It’s the same for us.
It’s natural and necessary for us to go into immobilisation at different stages of the day, e.g. reading a book, retiring to bed early, meditating etc.
Problems surface when we no longer feel safe and get stuck in immobilisation with fear. Psychological problems can arise causing us to disconnect from our feelings, memories and bodies. We avoid, feel blocked, can’t communicate, and want to disappear. There can also be physiological ailments related to our organs.
Our lived experience and behaviour arise from one of these three states.
Acknowledgements
Acknowledgement and gratefulness to Innate Evolution Accredited Training Academy (Rudi Kennard and Julianne Del-Cano Kennard) for their courses on Wholality® (wholeness of being) and Trauma).
Bibliography
- Deb Dana, LCSW – https://www.rhythmofregulation.com/about
- Julianne Del-Cano Kennard – https://innateevolution.com https://facebook.com/reel/457159253463542 – https://buff.ly/3V4pIX1
- Glenn Patrick Doyle – https://www.insighttherapysolutions.com/clinicians/ glenn-doyle
- Stephen Porges – https://www.stephenporges.com https:// www.polyvagalinstitute.org/whatispolyvagaltheory
- Peter Levine – https://www.somaticexperiencing.com/home
- Gabor Maté – https://drgabormate.com
- Bessel Van Der Kolk MD – https://besselvanderkolk.com
- https://vox.com/the-highlight/22876522/trauma-covid-word-origin-mental-health
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