Trauma is part of the human experience, which, due to its discomfort and drastic consequences for the individual, invites us to explore our personality and leads to personal and community development.
The history of humankind speaks of centuries of incredibly stressful events, such as poverty, famine, wars, and genocides, which people as individuals and as a community were forced to face. As those are periods of struggle for survival, the next generations are forced to deal with the consequences of these extremely stressful events. We all carry a part of this experience within us, which invites some to explore themselves more, and others less. The experience of trauma carries at its core the need for resolution, as the body has a natural tendency towards equilibrium; therefore, the trauma is transmitted from generation to generation and waits for someone in the family to notice and solve it, thus contributing to the development of the entire family.
In the following, I want to shed light on various aspects of trauma, its impact on the individual and their functioning, and the path of trauma treatment.
What is trauma?
Trauma (a word of Greek origin, meaning wound, or injury) is an emotionally intense event that exceeds our ability to cope with it.
When the event happens, we feel the threatening emotions of fear, helplessness, horror, and loss of control. The sense of security is destroyed.
Emotions are so intense and overwhelming that we cannot process them, so because of a need to survive, we push them into the subconscious and freeze them in certain parts of the brain along with everything we experienced at the time.
This allows us to continue our lives, but it unconsciously affects our entire functioning and can be expressed in various physical and psychological symptoms. These can occur immediately or several years after the event.
Trauma is, therefore, what we experience in the body during an unpleasant external event, and how our entire system copes with this experience.
Trauma is about the moments in our lives when we were forced to disconnect from the life energy within us due to the need to survive.
How do we experience trauma?
- Acute trauma: directly experiencing abuse, neglect, violence, war, physical assault, natural disaster, traffic accident, sudden loss, medical intervention, or facing the diagnosis of a life-threatening illness.
For acute trauma, some authors use the expression ‘trauma with a capital T.’
- Cumulative trauma is the result of many micro and mini-traumatic events that accumulate like drops and affect one’s experience of oneself. We can define cumulative trauma as developmental trauma when we talk about the upbringing method in the family. For example, the parents are caring and take care of the child’s physical well-being, but they are emotionally cold, humiliating, and overly critical towards the child. In the therapeutic process, the clients often face a conflict within themselves, as the parents were caring, but at the same time, they feel discomfort and insecurity when thinking about the parents’ attitude.
- Signs of cumulative trauma: these people do not trust themselves, others, and life, they have deep-rooted feelings of shame, guilt, and inadequacy, take too much responsibility for others, are intensely alert to any signs of rejection, avoid intimacy, suffer from feelings of dissatisfaction, emptiness, separation from others, and loneliness.
For cumulative trauma, some authors use the expression ‘trauma with a small t.’
- One can be traumatized as an observer of another person’s acts of violence, death, or serious injury. For example, a child watches helplessly as his father beats his older brother, or as his parents are violent towards each other, etc.
- Secondary traumatization: if a person remains alone with their experience after the event, i.e. does not have emotional support with which they could process the event and integrate it into their life, they can experience secondary traumatization.
- Developmental trauma is usually the result of transgenerational trauma, where family members try to cope with a heavy emotional burden over several generations, which they are not aware of and thus pass it on from generation to generation. Unprocessed family trauma is usually the result of severe suffering in the past (wars, natural disasters, famine, etc.) when there was no room for healing because the need for sheer survival was in the foreground. It affects the functioning of the entire body and brain. The latest research shows that the chemical changes that are the result of unprocessed trauma are transmitted through the DNA code, which is the carrier of genetic information about the individual, and not just unconsciously through upbringing. It is transmitted through several generations (7) and is expressed differently; pay attention to diseases, problems, and repetitive behavior patterns that appear in the extended family, maybe only in the female or male part of the family, etc.
Factors that impact how we experience and cope with a threatening event/trauma:
- The period of life in which the traumatic experience occurred
- Duration of the event: a single event or repeated events that lasted longer (several months, several years)
- The intensity of the event
- Character traits of the individual
- The emotional support the person had during this event
- The ability to cope with stress
- The ability to deal with emotions
- Self-esteem
- Whether the event is stigmatized in society/family.
The consequences of an unprocessed, repressed traumatic experience can be observed in all our functioning:
- Physiological symptoms: the feeling of being constantly alert, excessive excitability or caution, inability to relax, reduced impulse control, insomnia, chronic pain, chronic fatigue, exhaustion, confusion, attention and concentration disorders, problems with memory, digestive problems, psychosomatic illnesses.
- Changes in emotion: extreme emotional swings, emotional overwhelm or emotional numbness, feelings of anxiety, fear, shame, guilt, uncertainty, panic, depression, feelings of loneliness, emptiness, worthlessness and loss, outbursts of anger/hatred, difficulty in perceiving bodily sensations, emotions, and needs in oneself and others, and thus the inability to fulfill these needs.
- Negative self-perception: the feeling that something is wrong with me, I am not good enough, I am bad, inadequate, unimportant, unworthy; a high level of self-criticism, a tendency towards perfectionism, mistrust of oneself and others, an excessive need to please, to take care of others.
- Reliving the traumatic event: intense, intrusive memories and images; dreams and nightmares; flashbacks, compulsive exposure to situations reminiscent of the traumatic event in the desire for a different ending to the event; intense emotional and physical reactions reminiscent of the event.
- Avoidance of anything that reminds of the traumatic event: thoughts, emotions, body sensations, places, and situations; reduced interest in normal activities, withdrawal from activities or roles.
- Escaping into various addictions and risky behaviors.
- Disconnection from the life force, with one’s essence and all the qualities it contains: the feeling that life has betrayed us, that we are not supported by a higher power/universe, and that we are utterly alone and separated from life.
When do we speak of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)?
We speak of post-traumatic stress disorder when an individual has a set of symptoms that are the result of one or more traumatic experiences, and when these symptoms appeared immediately after the event or years after the event when something in the individual’s life awakened an unprocessed traumatic experience. Symptoms appear in all areas of an individual’s life, overwhelming them and preventing them from functioning. Untreated symptoms increase the problems and can lead to the development of mental illnesses.
What does science say about trauma?
In recent decades, science has made great progress in understanding the functioning of human neurobiological system and what happens in it when we experience trauma. Understanding what happens in the body and brain when we are faced with an extremely unpleasant situation outside of ourselves contributes to the development of more effective treatment methods and forms of help in the community.
The latest insights into the body and brain response to a traumatic event
When the body is in a state of overwhelming, threatening sensations that it cannot cope with on its own, and there is no suitable person around to help it calm down, the amygdala is activated. The amygdala is responsible for detecting danger so it activates the body/brain in survival biological reaction to protect us.
- All functions that the body does not urgently need for survival at that moment are turned off. Among others, the neocortex, i.e. the cognitive part of the brain that is responsible for thinking, organization, planning, and speech, is also switched off.
- Primitive, deeper areas in the brain (limbic system and brainstem) are activated, which activate the body into a state that the amygdala deems safe at that moment through primordial defenses such as freeze, fight, flight, dissociation, and through the activation of hormonal pathways. For example, when we are on the road and a car is coming towards us, it selects flight mode, so we will automatically jump to the pavement. The body goes into freeze mode when the amygdala judges that the outside is so dangerous that it is better for our safety if we remain motionless. Such reactions are automatic and unconscious.
- When the external danger has passed, due to the too-intense activity of the body, the usual hormonal pathways are unable to calm the body down, and the brain is unable to process the experience and integrate it into all its parts; consequently, the experience is suppressed into our unconscious so that we can go on living. The experience thus remains unfinished and unintegrated in the body and brain, awaiting resolution.
How does a traumatic event affect a child’s brain?
The child’s brain does not have sufficiently developed capacities to cope with a traumatic experience, so in an unsupportive environment with emotionally absent parents or guardians, primitive, deeper areas of the brain with basic defensive behaviors, such as fight, freezing, dissociation, and flight, take care of the safety and calming of the body.
The consequences of excessive activation of basic defenses in early childhood and the reduced capacity of the brain to process a traumatic event play an instrumental role in storing the experience only in the nervous system, and this way of coping with stress can become the basic form of coping with stress later in life.
When do we speak of developmental trauma?
We talk about developmental trauma when the child grew up in an emotionally cold, unsupportive environment; there was no basic sense of security in the relationship with the caregivers, which would allow the child’s body to develop its capacity to cope with stress. Due to the absence of an emotionally supportive person, the child’s body copes with the stress it experiences on its own. In doing so, it uses the basic coping abilities: freeze, dissociate, fight, or flee.
The child’s brain forms a “realistic” picture of the world, relationships, and themselves based on this experience because this is the first experience in a relationship; therefore, later on, it has a strong influence on the individual’s development and functioning.
Consequences of developmental trauma
- The individual’s experience of himself, others, and the world is distorted and influenced by early experience, so the individual has problems with self-care and interpersonal relationships
- Has problems recognizing and regulating emotions and bodily sensations.
- Is less equipped to cope in stressful situations.
- Has more frequent health problems.
- Has problems at school and work.
What happens to a repressed traumatic experience later in life?
The traumatic experience still lives within us, and the same survival reaction (fight, flight, freeze, or dissociation) is activated again and again when something reminds us of it because the body and brain do not want to experience the overwhelming feelings again, so they start to defend themselves against something that could happen.
The repressed traumatic experience remains frozen in the time and space in which it occurred and maintains the same defense mechanisms because in the frozen experience there is no awareness of the individual’s present life as a 30-, 40-, or 50-year-old.
Since we experienced the event with all our senses and with our whole body, the triggers of the survival response are unconscious, at the level of the senses and the body: for example, an increased heart rate, the smell of certain food, etc.
If this response is common in early life, the body adopts it as a way of coping with stress.
When do we talk about a trauma-based response?
We refer to a trauma-based response when you are aware that the external event you are experiencing is not dangerous, but you have either a) extremely strong feelings of fear, threat, and panic in your body, or b) your body is in a state of freezing or paralysis, or c) you feel as if you were not present at all. Despite knowing that the event is not dangerous, the body reacts in its way and it feels as if you cannot in the least influence what is happening inside you. The response in the body is a reliving of the external situation based on an unprocessed repressed traumatic experience.
“Trauma bonding” – connecting with another person based on an unconscious traumatic experience
When the first relationship with an adult (parents or guardians) is characterized by emotional absence, manipulation, and/or abuse, the child is forced to cope with this unfavorable situation in their way. They perceive it as a “normal relationship” and attribute the problems they face in this relationship to their inadequacy. They develop a distorted idea of what love and respect are and what a loving, safe, and supportive relationship should be.
Later in life, this individual feels a strong attraction to people who unconsciously remind him of his relationship with their mother or father, even if they realize that this person is not healthy for them. They feel this strong attraction very physically, as indispensable for them to live, and it comes from an unconscious “childhood” need for a different outcome.
Repeatedly entering unhealthy relationships brings enormous pain and re-traumatization of oneself and is often the reason for seeking professional help in resolving repeated unhealthy patterns of relationship with oneself and others.
Consequences of unawareness and untreated trauma in adulthood
A person who does not become aware of the fact that the cause of his behavior and feelings is within them and denies that they have problems that are the result of a traumatic experience transfers the responsibility for their feelings and behavior to others. Such individual perceives others as the culprits for their well-being and behaves accordingly, hurting others with their behavior and, as a parent, passing their trauma on to their offspring.
With years of denial of the trauma and its consequences, the pain of the trauma deepens, so the person creates more and more defensive behaviors to keep the trauma hidden and unconscious, which leads to serious health issues and problems in interpersonal relationships.
The healing of trauma
The path of healing trauma is very individual, depending on where you are in life, when the trauma happened to you, how long it lasted, and what your abilities are to cope with it. This path leads you across various levels of your personality, and on this path, you need different forms of help that are intertwined:
- Informing yourself about trauma and its consequences.
- Understanding what is happening inside yourself.
- Developing strategies for perceiving and regulating your emotions and feelings.
- Bringing into awareness body sensations and needs, developing a caring and nurturing relationship with your body.
- Taking the path to the origin of the trauma, healing it, and renewing connection with the life force.
- Integrating experience into life and building your life on new, healthier foundations.
The latest research shows that a body-oriented approach is the most effective for treating a traumatic experience, as it accesses the source of the trauma through sensations in the body.
Body-oriented approaches are Somatic Experiencing, EMDR, and Brainspotting.
A body-oriented approach, such as Brainspotting, enables access to the source of trauma in the unconscious and thus healing of the trauma from the source onwards. It supports the ability to self-heal emotional pain in the same way as physical pain. Brainspotting treatment allows:
- Access and release of trapped survival mechanisms, such as freezing, fight, flight, dissociation, etc.
- Connection with repressed emotional pain and the processing and integration of the traumatic experience in all areas of the brain, which increases integration within the brain and body.
- Reconnection with the body and with life energy within it.
- Development of a new identity that is no longer associated with trauma.
Why is it so difficult to heal trauma?
- Healing trauma means returning to the repressed emotional pain and to the entire system of behaviors, thoughts, and feelings that kept you from feeling that pain. Returning also means perceiving the world within yourself that froze when the trauma froze your body and brain.
- During the trauma healing process, there may be periods when you will feel worse than before the process began because you will start to feel all the things that had to be repressed so that you could resume living. It is important to realize that a period of feeling worse is only a period and is part of the journey to reconnect with the life within.
- The healing process also repeatedly confronts us with the depth and breadth of consequences later in life, and these too need a process of mourning: for example, repeated unhealthy relationships, staying connected with an abusive person, etc.
What can support you as you step into the trauma-healing process?
- The awareness that this experience has passed, that survived it, and that the feeling in your body is the feeling of a memory.
- The awareness that you have significantly more capabilities, abilities, and skills to deal with the trauma today than when it occurred.
- Knowing that you have the option of professional help and you do not have to relive these feelings alone again.
- Realizing that on this path, you get to know and develop a supportive relationship with yourself.
How do you feel when you release your body from a traumatic experience?
You feel life force again, you get in touch with your essence again, and you feel confidence in life.
- You feel peace, lightness, freedom, openness, security, groundedness, balance, joy, and self-love in your body.
- The need for greater self-care on all levels arises.
- Improvement of concentration and attention, improvement of memory, thoughts are calm, and no longer distract you from your work.
- Memories that were painful before treatment become just memories that no longer evoke emotions.
- Desire for physical and mental activity arises.
- You feel life force again, connect with your essence again, and start trusting life.
You will initially perceive the changes in feeling as short moments, but as the process continues, these feelings will become more and more a part of you.
Trauma Healing and Life Force
Trauma disconnects us from our life force because of our need to survive. Perhaps it was very important for us not to express our life force and will. Thus, from the need to survive in a relationship, we conclude that there is something wrong with our life force, that it is forbidden, and the like.
By healing the traumatic response in the body, our relationship to the life force within us also begins to change. We are starting to feel it again, get to know it, and recognize its support in the process of healing trauma. During the treatment, this contact deepens, and instead of feeling fear and anxiety in the body, we feel security and abundance. This allows us to feel more and more secure with our life force, to open up to our potential, and to begin living it.
Trauma is something that happened to you and does not have to stay a part of your life. It can be an opportunity for a different, better life. Today, you have the power, the choice, and the appropriate forms of healing to allow you to reconnect with yourself beyond the trauma.