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| “Traumatic symptoms are not a result of the event, but of how a particular situation is perceived, assimilated and processed by one’s nervous system.”-Peter Levine PhD, creator of Somatic Experiencing |
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Most people think of trauma as something shattering or extraordinary like natural disasters, war, violent assaults or terrorism. However, even ordinary everyday occurrences are capable of leaving us in a vortex of trauma. |
As an example, a simple over-night in the hospital for a medical procedure is capable of setting up a terrible series of long term symptoms or a loss of resilience. It is important to recognize that this is not the result of a horrible procedure but basically due to the fact that the child’s developing nervous system was overwhelmed with fear which was never allowed to be expressed and released from the body.A few other examples of everyday ordinary events that could lead to traumatic symptoms:
Neglect and difficulty bonding with one or both parents can also lead to traumatic symptoms in the body In order to heal stress and trauma symptoms in the brain and body, it is necessary to work not solely with the cognitive part of the brain (neocortex) but with the Reptilian (survival) part of the brain. It is this earlier evolutionary brain, the survival brain, (Reptillian Brain) that controls how we react in the moment of danger. This survival brain translates a sense of threat or danger into a chemical reaction that triggers the body to fight, flee or if failing that, becoming immobilized or frozen in fear. After dangerous or shocking experiences are finished, it is our cognitive reasoning abilities that helps us return to managing our lives. But in time we might begin to notice symptoms that we just can’t release. |
These symptoms might include:
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