How does Trauma get stuck in our bodies and what can we do?
Have you had an injury that just doesn’t seem to be healing? Sometimes there’s more going on than just tissue damage or things out of place. Here’s what can happen.
When an accident occurs, our nervous systems know exactly what to do. They kick in a specific way of responding called a threat response cycle. This cycle takes place far below our conscious thoughts so that it can happen as fast as possible. That’s why we’re usually not aware of it.
“Trauma is not in the event, it’s in the ongoing signals in the nervous system in response to the event.”
The stages of this cycle usually happen in microseconds, but if we slowed it down and talked about it, it would look something like this:
1. Arrest/Startle – We stop in our tracks and notice the disruption. (Imagine a deer in the woods happily munching on leaves. He hears a noise in the trees, and stops, noticing the sound).
2. Orienting – We scan and look around, assessing whether there is danger, and where it is coming from. (The deer looks around and listens.)
3. Specific Defense – Fight, Flight, or Freeze. Our Sympathetic Nervous System mobilizes energy to take the action necessary to protect ourselves.
4. Completion – When we are able to complete our self-protective response, the energy gets used for action, and discharged from our body, and our nervous system settles again, allowing us to return to a relaxed alertness.
However, when things don’t go as the nervous system intended, and we are unable to complete the cycle, the effects can last for months or even years. The energy our system mobilized to take action can get stuck in the body, like a kinked garden hose building up pressure. This can create a cascade of problems throughout our bodies, both physically and emotionally. These problems, or this aftermath of the flow of energy/charge being blocked, are what we call trauma.
Here are a couple common examples of how this energy can get stuck:
In a car accident, if an impact happened during the “orienting” stage (while looking around to assess where the danger was), we can often see this show up as chronic neck and shoulder pain that doesn’t respond to medical care. (The body didn’t get to complete the action of using the head and neck to look around.)
A nervous system that experienced chronic threat as a child can develop a pattern of “hyper-arousal” or being stuck in the “on” position, having a harder time coming back to a baseline after stressful events in adulthood. Or, this same system can develop a pattern of being stuck in the “off” position, with the go-to response of freeze, or shut down later in life.
Other ways trauma can manifest psychologically, physically and emotionally, can include:
Nightmares or flashbacks
Feeling on “hyper-alert” for threat
Depression
Anxiety
Low self-esteem
Chronic inflammation
Muscle tension
Brain fog
Digestive or stomach issues
Fatigue or chronic fatigue
Physical ailments like headaches or stomach pains
Addictions or compulsions
Sleep disturbances
Chronic pain that doesn’t seem to resolve with medical care
Withdrawal from our community or the feeling of wanting to hide.
And more.
The good news is, trauma is not a life sentence. Thanks to neuroplasticity, we can change our brain’s responses at any age. Here are some tips that might help you find some relief on your own:
Long out breath – Extending our exhales so that they are slightly longer than our inhales sends a powerful message of safety to our nervous systems. “Vu” sound – take a deep inhale and on the exhale, make a low “Vu” sound, extending the “uuu” sound until the end of the breath. (This can be helpful as a way to gently move out of a freeze state, as well as to bring more regulation into the system)
Notice what’s working – Noticing the parts of our lives that are already working, and paying attention to when we find moments of safety, connection, or ease, even if only momentarily. This is the beginning of trauma work that builds new neural pathways in our brains.
Practice checking in with what is happening inside your body – Ask the question: “What am I noticing in my body right now? What sensations am I aware of right now?” (ex: hot, cold, expansion, constriction, tightness, tingling, etc..) If you find some place the feels less comfortable, you can make some contact with your hands in a gesture of support, maybe find some gentle movement, like rocking or swaying, and notice if it helps you feel a bit more regulated. Practicing body-scan meditations is another helpful way to do this.
Practice Self-Compassion. No matter what we’ve been through, we can see the ways our nervous system has worked hard to protect us, and we can cultivate an attitude of kindness toward ourselves, with the understanding that where we are makes sense, given our experience.
Peter Levine’s book “Healing Trauma” is full of exercises to help us gently become more connected with our bodies and begin the process of recovery.
It may be beneficial to reach out to a counsellor when you are feeling like it’s often difficult to get back to regulation on our own. Having support from a practitioner trained in Somatic Experiencing, or another Somatic or body-oriented psychological model, can really help you to get unstuck, work to safely complete the self-protection responses that did not get to complete, and help to reorganize that survival energy that’s “all dressed up with nowhere to go”.
About the Author:
Cheryl Verheyden, MA, RCC, SEP, is a counsellor and a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner in British Columbia, who is passionate about helping individuals heal their nervous systems, uncover personal strengths, and return to a sense of vitality and authenticity.