Trauma is a Threat to Life
in a State of Helplessness
Trauma is a real or a perceived life threat in a state of helplessness. This triggers a series of message systems in the limbic or mammalian brain that allow us to evaluate a danger and then institute a response of self-preservation. It does this mainly through the amygdala, the fight-flight center in the mammalian brain, which helps us assess danger and then begin a response to overcome a threat.
Sometimes, however, one cannot escape the threat. Then the brain initiates what’s called a freeze response, which has some survival benefits: it allows us to not feel the pain of injuries. In nature, it can also fool a predator into thinking that the prey animal is already dead, which it may then ignore walk away.
A problem develops with this helplessness when the normal recovery from the freeze response–a discharge of autonomic and physical energy–doesn’t occur. Then we have a conditioned response whereby all the body memories and sensations of that experience are stored in the survival brain.
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Understanding Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
Somatic Experiencing, which was developed by Peter Levine, can vanquish PTSD symptoms such as depression, nightmares, panic attacks, aggressive outbursts, and hyperarousal. The primary way of doing this is by increasing the ability of sufferers to track their body sensations, which helps reduce the symptoms of trauma and stops the body from reacting as if the trauma were still occurring. Instead, the victims of trauma live more in the present moment and gain the ability to work with other elements of trauma, such as the meanings attached to the event (shame, disgust, etc.) and the dissociation that overrides their ability to self-regulate–calm themselves–more effectively.
The Holocaust never really ended. Its damage and ongoing effects march forward even as the population of survivors dwindles with time. Its impact continues to be felt not just by the victims , but by their children too.
We humans have two very different forms of memory. One is conscious and what we would consider as normal memories–stories and historical recollections that seem to be arranged sequentially in time. This is called explicit memory. The other form is called implicit memory and is unconscious. This memory can’t be recalled at will, and contains no sequence of remembered events.
In Peter Levine’s book on Somatic Experiencing, Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma, we are asked to understand our traumas in terms of our basic animal natures. He postulates that trauma is the body’s response to what may be, or appear to be, life-threatening situations. A mouse escapes the claws of a cat, a rabbit narrowly dodges a hungry coyote, and an antelope is attacked by a lion but escapes. You get slapped by your father, molested by your uncle, or hit by a car. All of these elicit automatic responses from the brain that lead to a series of physical responses. Through neuro-imaging, we now know a good deal about what happens in the brain when trauma strikes. This response to traumas is essentially the same across the animal kingdom.
Have you ever wondered if there is some causal thread that weaves its way through various illnesses and neuroses, a thread that if pulled could unravel a great swatch of unnecessary pain and suffering? Judith L. Herman’s book Trauma and Recovery clearly exposes the thread that entwines addiction, neurosis, anxiety, depression, hyper-vigilance, and relationship problems. It is trauma.
Only those who survive combat truly know and understand the impact it has on a military service member’s life and family. It’s the natural, overwhelming instinct to survive that stays in the body and images of mutilated bodies that often leave emotional scars that simply don’t vanish when service men and women return home. Those scars, if untreated, often turn into marital problems, night terrors, substance abuse, suicidal thoughts, and explosive episodes of rage.
