We often think of trauma as dramatic events like war, assaults, or major accidents, but it can be much broader. “I think a more helpful way to look at trauma is that it can be anything that is too much, too soon, or too fast for our nervous system to handle without being overwhelmed,” explains Prema Mckeever, somatic therapist and Biodynamic Breath & Trauma Release System® training facilitator. “The potential causes of trauma are endless. It could be a child feeling bullied at school or neglected by their family at home, or it could be adult realities such as severe work, financial, or relationship stress. Anything that gives us a sense of being unsafe or even threatened can cause trauma and create a lasting impact.”
Trauma & the Body
Trauma isn’t just about what happens in our minds; it is stored in our bodies and affects our entire being, this is why we can’t talk or reason our way out of it. At the heart of trauma lies the autonomic nervous system (ANS), which governs our fight, flight, and freeze responses. During a traumatic event our body experiences, at the cellular level, a surge of intense fight or flight energy and stress hormones. We need to feel safe and our body needs to sense that the threat is over, in order for our nervous systems to come back to a state of rest and balance. However, if we don’t feel safe enough to process the trauma, we can become stuck in either the fight/flight, or the freeze response.
The Fight/Flight vs the Freeze Response
Many individuals grasp the concept that trauma can trigger the fight/flight response, however, trauma can elicit an even more extreme reaction known as the freeze response. While the fight/flight response involves a sense of readiness to mobilize and protect oneself, the freeze response entails a profound state of powerlessness and overwhelm, where the situation is so severe, the only perceived option is to shut down. Freeze can also stem from prolonged periods spent in the fight/flight mode, as the body eventually exhausts itself from the continual release of stress hormones. While all of these responses serve an evolutionary purpose in the short term, chronic activation can lead to several long-term issues.
