Having been a trauma therapist for nearly 35 years, many things have changed. The word is now used regularly by most everyone. The other day someone said to me that the word doesn't seem to have much meaning anymore because it is thrown around so often. I'd like to clarify what it is from a relational neuroscience perspective, or more simply, how our relationships to other humans changes our bodies and brains.
Trauma can be physical or emotional. Our bodies are built to handle everyday traumas: the upsets and distresses of daily living. We have many built in mechanisms that allow us to "digest" or process traumatic incidents so that eventually the overwhelming event can be stored in our brains and bodies as simply an upsetting memory that FEELS like a memory. We know it was upsetting, but it no longer feels disturbing. We experience it as something that happened in the past and is over now.
When we face an overwhelming experience that is so distressing our nervous system cannot process it, that experience is held differently in our brains and bodies. It does not get digested and then stored as a memory; it is stored as an unprocessed, "embedded trauma". People often refer to having flashbacks...a re-experiencing of a traumatic event, which feels like it is actually happening in the NOW. The manner that the brain and body stores these embedded traumas is in the part of the brain that only experiences the present; it does not register "past" or "future". That is why unresolved or embedded traumas can make a person feel as if their present lives are being hijacked by their past.
My training in interpersonal neurobiology informs how I assist people in resolving trauma. This many faceted field of science has shown us that most harm comes to us during a traumatic if we were cared for and helped right after the overwhelming event. In other words, the experience of being all alone, with no one to care for or help us, is worse than the actual events. Our very development as human beings is dependant on caring and connected relationships to other humans, so when we are in danger, finding our way to safety and nurturance is essential. If the traumatized person cannot find their way to any felt sense of safety with a responsive person, the trauma experience cannot be digested and integrated, instead becomes stuck, unable to be processed and properly stored. The body will continually try to bring awareness to this undigested trauma when it is "touched and awakened"*(some people use the word "trigger"). When similar circumstances enter our awareness that remind us of that old trauma, the body brings it forth, wanting to finally deal with it. What is needed is the presence of a safe and caring other, who can provide stability and security while the brain and body learn it is safe enough to ride the waves of emotions and sensations. This allows our bodies and brains to integrate and digest these old experiences until they are properly stored....finally just a memory. This extremely condensed and simplistic explanation only hints at the richness and profundity of the process of resolving unhealed trauma. The importance of warm, responsive relationships are an essential component in this journey.
Some of the specialized tools I use in my work with trauma are sandtray therapy, EMDR, and art therapy. These methods are ways to access one's inner world and assist the brain and body to process the trauma in gentle and safe ways.
(*thank you Bonnie Badenoch, for renaming the word "trigger!" "Touched and awakened" is a more gentle word, and much more descriptive of what actually happens when we are reminded of an old trauma memory.)
Women's Psychotherapy Centre of Wisconsin, LLC Madison, WI 608.255.4747