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Trauma and PTSD Important
Disclaimer: For my protection and yours, I want you to
know the following information: We There seem to be four factors that cause
a trauma These can be as simple as a small child finding herself alone and lost in the grocery aisle, or a woman discovering that her husband has been cheating on her and wants a divorce. Here are those four factors: The wife never saw it coming. Her identity as a happily married woman is shattered. She has no way to deal with it and doesn’t want anyone to know because she’s ashamed. This is a trauma! Traumatic situations often trigger our freeze response. If we react with fight or flight, we tend to shake it off more easily. But when we freeze, the entire experience tends to be encapsulated. In fact, we call this the “trauma capsule” and it contains a snapshot of both our internal and external environment. The external snapshot includes all the sights, sounds, smells and sensations at the moment of the trauma. This might mean a certain color, or facial expression, or the smell of cologne or the sound of brakes screeching. The internal snapshot includes our emotional reaction and whatever was happening in our body at the time. The purpose of the capsule is to keep this trauma at bay, to protect us so we don’t ever fully experience it. The whole thing is held away from our body, in a local field of our energy system. In a very real sense, a part of us splits off when this happens, to hold the trauma for us. And that part of us never stops experiencing the trauma. It’s frozen in time; stuck at whatever age we were when it happened. The trauma capsule provides protection, so we can escape the trauma and continue on. But it was never intended to be a permanent solution. Wild animals will discharge their trauma simply by shaking, once they reach safety. Civilized humans haven’t been so lucky. We tend to accumulate many of these trauma capsules until our energy system is overloaded. As we age, and our natural vitality declines, we may not have the energy to keep the capsules separate from our bodies and sealed up. This may be one source of chronic degenerative disease. Also, when we have a big-T trauma, it may take a great deal of energy to keep it contained. The capsule may become transparent or start to leak. Certain sights or smells may become triggers that activate the emotional contents of the capsule. For example, the smell of a particular spice in Vietnamese cooking might trigger an intense combat flashback for a Viet Nam Vet. With EFT we have a way of discharging the contents of the trauma capsule. Instead of shaking, we now have tapping—which sends a soothing message to the amygdala—the part of the brain that decides what is dangerous. Picture a dog barking when a stranger comes up to the door. When the dog’s owner pats him with reassuring words, he calms right down! This can be done very gingerly, with
procedures like The Tearless Trauma and the Tell A Story
techniques, which entail making a full stop every time the
emotional intensity begins to climb and then tapping until it is
released. There is no “toughing it out” or “being
brave and pushing through”. Relief tends to be immediate.
And permanent. I believe that a surprising number of people suffer from traumatic memories, great and small. The benefits of discharging these are life changing, and given how quickly the work can be accomplished, this is a tremendous investment in one's health and well-being. To discuss your own situation and find out whether EFT can help you, call me today for a free 20 minute phone consultation. For more information on trauma and PTSD keep reading, or check out the work of Dr. Robert Scaer in his excellent book The Body Bears The Burden (second edition). Trauma and Stress Situations that threaten our survival (or
our identities) set off a reaction in the most primitive part of
our brain—the famous fight, flight or freeze response. This
is what helped our distant ancestors survive all those saber
tooth tigers long enough to pass on their genes, and it is
literally hardwired into our brains. In some cases we may actually forget all
about the memory, until some external event or wayward thought
gets a little too close to home and then we get triggered. We may
end up having anxiety, a panic attack, insomnia, a phobia
reaction or a violent outburst all out of proportion to the
actual situation. PTSD When the original event was just too
intense, and came with a feeling of helplessness, we may develop
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD. Instead of being locked
away, the original events tend to be re-triggered and re-lived
over and over, through flashbacks or nightmares. Even subtle
reminders of the original event can set off intense physical
reactions. This often leads to hyper-vigilance, difficulty
concentrating, sleep disorders like insomnia and panic attacks.
707-280-8134
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’re
used to thinking of terrible events like traffic accidents or
violent assault as causing trauma—the “big T
traumas”. But most of us carry a multitude of
“small-T traumas”, often without realizing it.