Understanding Trauma

We seldom think of traumatic stress, and its associated effects, as having any purpose or being meaningful in any way.  Yet, trauma responses are adaptive in that they facilitate survival and coping with intense distress.   Psychological or physical conditions that may emerge after trauma, can also be understood as ongoing survival responses that stem from threatening or harmful experiences.  

How Trauma Works 

When the brain registers a threat, for instance, the sympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system gets activated, leading to a range of psycho-physiological changes.  This is for the purpose of increasing energy in the body to ‘fight’ or ‘flee’ from real or imagined danger.  

If survival requires freezing or going numb, then this response is activated.  The shock can subdue intense distress to enable coping and survival. 

Obsessive thoughts, which typically follow traumatic incidents, can occur because the brain is working overtime to regain safety and control.  This may be why people struggle with sleep problems, because they try to understand what happened and find solutions to the emotional or environmental distress. 

Hypervigilance serves to keep a person constantly on alert for danger.  Again, the purpose is to cope and survive any assumed harm that may occur.  

Intrusive memories or flashbacks, which can occur due to internal or external stimuli that remind one of what happened, can serve the purpose of keeping you on alert for danger; it can be seen as a protective mechanism to prevent the same threat from re-occurring.  

Various types of unrealistic beliefs can also form, however these too can be understood as survival responses.  A child encountering abuse from a caregiver may believe the abuse is their fault, because blaming the caregiver could trigger a violent outburst and reduce survival chances.  A parent who has witnessed a traumatic loss may excessively worry about a child’s health, believing constant worry may prevent something bad from happening again.  Similarly, a person having had one panic attack on a train may start to believe it is not safe to get on any train, as a way to protect themselves from distress.  

Dissociation, another survival response, disconnects the mind from experiencing intense distress, which can help the person cope and function in daily life.  

Adaptive Responses 

When we begin to understand why traumatic symptoms arise, it becomes clear that they are not abnormal malfunctions, but rather adaptive responses designed to protect and ensure survival.  

The challenge occurs when the underlying psychological distress is not properly processed.  This can increase the risk of persistent traumatic stress, and the development of one or more mental or physical health conditions.  However, even these ongoing symptoms can be understood as ongoing coping and survival responses.  

Remember, we are biologically programmed to adapt to threat.  Where there is no resolution to the distress or environmental problem, then this may manifest in the form of a mental or physical illness.  For example, anxiety can be understood as the mind and body remaining in a persistent ‘fight’ or ‘flight’ state to prevent threat.  While depression may reflect an ongoing ‘shutdown’ or ‘collapsed’ state.  

Alternative perspectives such as German New Medicine also attempt to explain in detail how trauma caused physical symptoms are biologically protective responses.  

Healing begins with understanding.  When we understand why the process or symptoms occur in the first place, we can respond to ourselves with compassion, instead of worry and fear. 

I hope you found this article useful.  If you have any questions or would like support in addressing emotional distress, then please feel free to get in touch.

Wishing you happiness and success.

Sadaf