What Is Stress?

“Compassion crowns the soul with its truest victory.”― Aberjhani

“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

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:

High infant fevers
Falls
A sudden or unexpected loss
Being bullied by peers
Being ostracized by other children
Humiliation from a teacher
Pressure from being the teacher’s pet
Sports accidents
Minor medical procedures
Exposure to toxic substances
Suffocation
Birth trauma

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:

Panic attacks or feelings of occasional anxiety
Sleep disorders, nightmares or poor sleeping
Dissociation or spacing out
Chronic tension or uncomfortable body pains
Stress headaches/migraines
Anxiety or nervous feelings that come out of nowhere
Repetitive fear of particular situations or Agoraphobia
Hyper-vigilance or restlessness
Clinging, frequent crying or irritability,
Difﬁculty trusting others,
Increased risk- taking behavior,
Amnesia or forgetfulness,
Difficulty talking to people, feeling isolated and detached, avoiding others
Inability to stay focused,
Increased sensitivity to light and sound,
All types of addictions,
Sexual dysfunction, not liking to be touched on certain body parts
Shame & guilt
Digestive problems/spastic colon,
Diminished capacity for pleasure,
Asthma or constricted breathing
In some fundamental ways, all of these symptoms reflect the Autonomic Nervous System’s incomplete response to a previous stressful or traumatic event.