04/20/2021
Repost from .holistic.psychologist
Trauma responses are adaptive behaviors that take place when a situation is too stressful + overwhelming for us to regulate ourselves.
Our nervous system responds to the situation as if it’s a threat to our lives (we have evolved this way to survive)— the activated nervous system is attempting to allow us to find safety from the event:
These protective behaviors are patterns— ways that we typically cope with being overwhelmed. Everyone responds differently. This includes: defensive/combative behaviors, shutdown or avoidance, people pleasing, self betrayal, dissociation etc.
All are attempts to self sooth + regulate our nervous system.
After a trauma response there are symptoms from the mind (mood shifts, cyclical thoughts, fears, anxiety, depression, despair, hopelessness, paranoid) + from the body (aches, pains, exhaustion, headaches, inability to concentrate, brain fog, restlessness.)
Awakening is the process of becoming conscious to these responses. Understanding that they are protections. Having empathy for ourselves as we go through them + taking steps after to care for ourselves.
After we process them, we can then begin to communicate what happened to the people we love. We can also be there for people we love as they express their own trauma responses.
While all trauma responses are protections, it’s important to remember they can also be harmful, hurtful, + scary for ourselves + those around us. If we are especially activated (meaning our core wounding has been deeply touched) sometimes these responses can be very extreme.
It’s our own responsibility to be conscious to our reactions + aware of their impact.
It’s also our responsibility to set boundaries around how other people’s trauma responses impact us
