Trauma Article

The following post explains and addresses a rather serious topic, which many people do not fully understand, although most of us are affected by it at some point in our lives: trauma.

Mar 6, 2024 | Psychology

So, what is trauma?

A simple definition would be to say that trauma is a physical response to a distressing or disturbing event. However, there is a lot more to trauma than that, and it is important to understand it fully in order to resolve it effectively. Due to the way the brain responds to and processes a traumatic event, it means that trauma does not just affect us the moment the situation takes place, but it can continue to be triggered repeatedly until it has been properly treated. As such, it can cause ongoing problems which can end up being a hinderance to our daily lives. If left unresolved, a single traumatic event could potentially develop into issues such as panic attacks or PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) in extreme cases.

Before we get into what happens during a traumatic event, let’s get a sense of what is going on when the brain is functioning normally. As you go about your day, your five senses (sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch) are continuously taking in information from the outside world. This sensory information is then converted into mental data which is immediately reviewed by the amygdala. These are two almond shaped sensors located behind the eyes in the emotional centre of your brain called the limbic system. The amygdala’s prime directive is to scan the data to identify any potential threats. However, if no danger is detected, then no further action is taken by these sensors and the brain continues to make sense of the data in the prefrontal cortex. Once everything has been processed and understood, a new memory is formed in the hippocampus, which is structure that acts as a library, and is located next to the amygdala. If the event is deemed important (necessary to remember in the future), it will then be moved up into the cerebral cortex, which is where our long-term memories are stored. This is a very simplified explanation of what is happening from moment to moment on a typical day.

However, when you experience a disturbing or distressing event, the amygdala behaves differently. If it perceives the situation as a potential threat, it sends out a signal which activates the sympathetic nervous system and triggers the glands which release stress hormones into the body. This is the initiation of what we refer to as the ‘fight or flight’ response. In addition to this, the amygdala wants to document the event so that the danger can avoided in the future. It does this by taking a “snapshot” of the raw data coming from that unexpected event (how it looks, sounds, feels etc), and stores it in the hippocampus playing on a continuous loop. From that moment onwards the amygdala will be actively looking out for anything that matches the characteristics of that event, and if it identifies even a small similarity, it will sound the alarm and put the body back into survival mode. The problem with this is that the data that it is referencing is raw and unprocessed. This means that it can often make mistakes or be over cautious about what is a genuine threat, when it compares new situations with the loop of data it has stored.  

Example – Imagine you were bullied when you were a child. Twenty years later you have forgotten all about it, and you are currently in a supermarket going about your shopping. Suddenly your amygdala picks up the sound of a voice that reminds it of one of the bullies. It therefore fires, and suddenly you’re feeling severely anxious – heart beating hard and fast, sweating, breathing erratically, and feeling like you want to get out of the shop as soon as possible. This can be a terrifying experience because there has been no clear cause or explanation from your brain or nervous system. You are no longer in the rational part of your brain, and you will start to catastrophise as you try to make sense of what it is happening. This kind of thinking keeps the response going as more adrenaline is released into the system and can lead to a full-blown panic attack. The more often this happens the more a person’s life can become disrupted.

Why do we call survival mode – ‘Fight, Flight, or Freeze’?

This response, which is also known as an ‘acute stress response’, refers to a physiological reaction the body has to a stressful or life-threatening situation. When this happens, the body shuts down any non-essential systems (digestive, reproductive, immune system etc.), and focuses all its resources on addressing the threat. If we think of a cave man who was faced with a predator, he/she would either – fight, run, or hide, which is where the expression ‘fight, flight or freeze’ came from. However, there are two additional responses that many are unaware of, therefore, here is a more modern summary of each potential reaction:

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• Fight – to become angry, defensive, or physically aggressive.

• Flight – needing to escape, avoid, or completely remove a person or situation from your life.

• Freeze – feeling unable to communicate, work, socialise, or leave. Often confused with procrastination or a lack of motivation.

• Faint – In some extreme cases people can pass out. This is the equivalent of the body playing dead to avoid being attacked. It usually happens in response to injections or the sight of blood for some people.

• Fawn – this is when a person is subjected to an ongoing person or situation which is toxic or oppressive. To survive they become submissive or compliant to the needs and wishes of the oppressor and give up all their own rights, needs and boundaries. 

Important points to keep in mind:

It is important to keep in mind that there isn’t just one type of trauma. What’s more, we must remember that each person will experience an event differently, based on their internal filters (beliefs, history, personality etc). Even if two people both experience the same event at the same time, their perception and response may be very different. E.g. Person A may not be affected by an event, whereas Person B could be heavily impacted by it.

Your brain is unique to you, so every experience you have is completely subjective. Do not disregard your own feelings by comparing yourself to another person. People often avoid or ignore trauma, because they don’t feel justified in asking for help when they think of what other people have been through in their lives, because in their eyes, it is much worse than what happened to them. Trauma is relative to the individual, and if you are regularly being triggered, don’t suffer in silence – seek professional help!

An important point that most people are unaware of is that our brain cannot tell the difference between imagination and reality. In other words, if you imagine or remember a distressing event, the brain will believe that it is really happening now, and the body will react accordingly. So, we can actually trigger the ‘fight or flight’ response just by thinking about what happened. This is why some people feel worse when they have a counselling or talking therapy session, because they start to describe a traumatic event. By talking about it they have started to play the event in their mind, and the amygdala thinks that it is happening again, and therefore sounds the alarm. Within seconds they can find themselves in ‘fight or flight’.

IMPORTANT – Trauma cannot be resolved consciously. In other words, you can’t release it by talking about it. You may feel slightly better to share your experience or express your feelings, but if you don’t release the trauma safely from the memory, it will continue to be triggered no matter how much counselling you have. I am not saying that counselling is a bad thing, I am simply saying that it is the wrong tool for the job when it comes to resolving trauma. However, once the trauma has been released, I would highly recommend counselling as a way of processing what happened, once the memory is safe to revisit.

Different types of trauma:

There are three main types of trauma: Acute, Chronic, or Complex

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• Acute trauma results from a single distressing incident.

• Chronic trauma is repeated and ongoing, such as domestic abuse.

• Complex trauma is exposure to varied and multiple traumatic events.

I am choosing not to elaborate on these in this article because I want to keep things simple, as well as make it clear that no matter which type it is, the principles/mechanics are the same.

Is a phobia the same as a trauma?

The short answer is yes. The person will have experienced a traumatic event/s that was brought on by a specific stimulus (E.g. a spider, heights, an injection…). The amygdala has now documented this as a serious threat, and now the person gets triggered into ‘fight or flight’ any time they encounter that same stimulus. However, in addition to the phobia, the person may have also developed an anxiety pattern about the prospect of encountering the stimulus (negatively anticipating it), rather than only being triggered when it is actually present. Therefore it is important for the therapist to not only release the trauma, but to also collapse the anxiety pattern, or they will continue to feel distressed about the future, even though they have released the trauma of the past event.

What are PTSD and CPTSD?

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD is an extreme form of the trauma we discussed earlier in this article. The difference in this case is that in addition to experiencing a particularly disturbing event (usually involving a death or loss of some kind), the person also continues to be tormented by the real or imagined implications of the event. They will be haunted by both the event, and what may happen as a result (the knock-on-affect). Even if it was only a near miss and the outcome was positive, a person can experience PTSD in relation to what COULD have happened and may still happen. Symptoms can include – flashbacks, intrusive thoughts, severe anxiety, and insomnia.

The additional “C” at the beginning of CPTSD stands for complex, and simply means that the person has experienced multiple traumatic events in close succession before their body has had a chance to recover from the previous ones. For example, a person has a car accident and then gets home to find their house has been burgled and the thieves have killed their dog.

How do we release trauma safely?

Trauma specialists use techniques specifically designed to enable their clients to revisit these experiences without triggering the amygdala, so that they can release the intense emotional charge from the memories safely. Once the emotion (trauma) has been released, the person is no longer triggered, and can now analyse it comfortably from the logical/rational part of the brain (the pre-frontal cortex). This enables them to make sense of what happened and overcome any anxiety or limiting beliefs that have accumulated as a result of the event.  

This is especially important in the case of a sudden or unexpected loss of a friend or loved one. If the death was a shock and therefore traumatic, it can be very difficult for the person to grieve. This is because whenever they think about it, or someone brings it up, they get triggered into the ‘fight or flight’ response. We need to be able to talk about these experiences and process what has happened, so that we can come to terms with it. But if we can’t even think about it without being triggered, this can cause a bigger problem long term – panic attacks, PTSD, depression, and people often turn to unhealthy ways to cope like drugs, or alcohol, which can lead to addiction. Therefore, in a situation like this the therapist would release the shock/trauma surrounding the death, so that the person could then grieve healthily.

The good news…

To end this post on a positive note – trauma, when understood and safely facilitated by a qualified practitioner, is actually a fairly straightforward condition to overcome. There are a range of very effective techniques that can be used to permanently release these emotional responses in just a few sessions. So, you don’t have to try and solider on alone, get in touch with a specialist if you need some support. With some types of therapy (E.g. NLP, hypnosis), the therapist doesn’t even need to know the content/details of an event, to help you release the trauma. You can therefore keep your privacy and not feel any shame or embarrassment.

Clients that I have worked with have described the results of this type of therapy as, “getting my life back”, or “I wish I had done this years ago”. But please make sure you do your research and find a suitable practitioner that has experience in this type of intervention.