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.

WHEN TRAUMA HAPPENS:
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		 There is an experience of:

Overwhelming fear
Powerlessness
Helplessness
Inadequacy
Threat of death
Exhaustion
Apathy
Contraction
Tension Patterns
Fixity

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