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What
Everyone Should Know About Trauma
- Trauma is one of the most, if not, the most, ignored,
trivialized, denied, misunderstood, and untreated causes of human suffering.
It is an internal straight jacket created when a devastating moment is
frozen in time.
- Trauma is not an ailment or a disease, but the by-product of an
instinctively instigated, altered state of consciousness. We enter this
altered state - let us call it "survival mode" - when we
perceive that our lives are being threatened.
- It is not the event itself that is traumatic; it is the
individual's perception of and capacity to respond to the event. If one
perceives a situation to be life-threatening, then that situation is
potentially traumatic. People, especially children, can be overwhelmed
(and thus potentially traumatized) by what we usually regard as common,
everyday events.
- No two people experience or manifest trauma in exactly the same
way. What is harmful to one person may be exhilarating to another. Many
factors are involved in this wide range of responses to threat,
including an individual's age, history of trauma, family dynamics, and
even genetic makeup.
- Trauma symptoms are energetic phenomena that serve the organism
by providing an organized way to manage and bind the tremendous energy
contained in both the original and the self-perpetuated response to
threat.
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WHEN TRAUMA HAPPENS:
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There is a loss of:
Integrity or cohesion of self
Resiliency
Trust
Sense of safety
Boundaries
Orientation in time and space
Control
Connection to:
Self,Others,Nature,
Planet,God
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There is an
experience of:
Overwhelming fear
Powerlessness
Helplessness
Inadequacy
Threat of death
Exhaustion
Apathy
Contraction
Tension patterns
Fixity
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TRANSFORMATION:
Confidence is restored
"I can . . . " capability
A sense of control
Awareness of a wide range of choices and options
Moving toward a sense of empowerment
Awareness of one's survival and an active choice toward life
Restoration of fluidity and flow
A sense of completion & integration
A return of responsiveness and spontaneity
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