🔼: #### Trauma >"Trauma is a breach in the [[🕯️ Boundaries|protective barrier]] against [[💡 Overstimulation|(over)stimulation]], leading to [[💡 Overwhelm|overwhelming]] feelings of helplessness." > – [[👤 Sigmund Freud]] Trauma is not what happens to us, but what happens inside of us *in response* to an experience that we can’t metabolize. It's a kind of rapid or gradual internal adaptation and the experience of chronic [[💡 Emotional Dysregulation|emotional dysregulation]] which could come with a feeling of disconnection from ourselves, others, and the world. Dr. [[👤 Bessel van der Kolk]] describes it as “something that overwhelms your coping capacities.**” Various [[💡 Parts|parts of ourselves]] become [[💡 Burdens 🪨|wounded]], our [[💡 Window of Tolerance|Window of Tolerance]] shrinks, and we can easily get stuck outside of it for a while before we're able to [[💡 Emotional Regulation|regulate]] again. Trauma makes us rigid and brittle, less able to handle adversity. Alternatively we may feel very few [[⭐️ Emotions]] or have a lingering feeling that we are somehow not quite ourselves without really knowing why. It makes us appear more ‘normal‘ by forcing us to hide our [[🕯️ Authenticity|🕯️ authentic]] selves, which also separates us from ourselves and the gifts we have to offer the world. Metabolizing trauma turns the experience back into adversity, which can make us stronger in the end. - 🔑 Trauma can be caused by personal experience, in the form of [[🪨 Personal Burdens]] - 🔑 Trauma can be generational or cultural in the form of [[🪨 Inherited Burdens]] - [[✍️ We live in a traumatized world]] - [[🔑 Everything we come into contact with leaves something behind]] - [[We do not have to heal everything to live a beautiful life]] ##### Causes of Trauma We become traumatized ([[💡 Burdens 🪨|burdened]]) when we don't have the internal or external support or holding to metabolize our experiences of: 1. Too much, too fast. Something hurtful and [[💡 Overwhelm|overwhelming]] ([[🛡️ Abuse]]) 2. Too little, for too long. Something nurturing *not* happening, our [[💡 Nervous System|Nervous System]], our heartspace our [[☀️ Vulnerability|Vulnerability]] and [[🕯️ Authenticity]] not being seen and held with love. ([[🛡️ Neglecting|🛡️ Neglect]]) Not all trauma comes from malice, catastrophe, or similar. Sometimes we trauma happens because our minds make sense of something, like others’ mistakes and oversights, by blaming ourselves or taking responsibility, especially when we’re young or [[💡 Blending|blended]] with young [[💡 Parts|parts of ourselves]], and it’s completely invisible to anyone around us. Trauma is often the result of witnessing something (even secondhand) terrible and being or feeling powerless to do anything about it. It can be obvious and immediate, or it could be a subtle, slow drip that erodes us with time. A big factor that contributes to whether we are or aren’t traumatized by an experience is how we were held by others (or not) afterwards. | Obvious Causes | Less Obvious Causes | | :--------------------------------------------: | :------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------: | | War/Combat | Rejection | | Community, Domestic, Criminal Violence | Humiliation | | Physical/Sexual Assault | Bullying | | Discrimination | Neglect | | Catastrophic Accidents, Injuries, or Illnesses | Betrayal | | Child Abuse | Abandonment | | Terrorist Attacks | [[💡 Attachment Theory\|Attachment]] Injuries or failure | | Divorce | Unmet needs | | Family Separation | Small little cuts, like a disapproving or threatening glare, experienced over and over again | | Early Loss (Death of a caretaker, adoption) | | ##### The Effects of Trauma Unresolved trauma leads to the development of [[Symptoms of Unresolved Trauma]]. Unresolved trauma causes long-term changes in our [[⭐️ Body|bodies]], [[💡 Brain|brains]], and psyche. This leaves us fragmented and disconnected from the present moment. We lose the ability to fully feel our [[⭐️ Emotions|emotions]], our intuition, our opinions, our sense of right and wrong, our [[⭐️ Body|bodies]], our [[💡 Presence]], our [[💡 Parts|Parts]], and other people. Our [[💡 Protector Parts|Protectors]] are constantly [[🔑 Protectors are dedicated to maintaining their idea of safety, balance and homeostasis|🔑 working tirelessly to keep us away from our pain]], but only [[🔑 Presence can give exiles the healing they seek]]. [[💡 Protector Parts|Protectors]] cannot heal the [[💡 Exiles|Exiles]] they protect, and so by keeping us away from our pain they inadvertently perpetuate it. But this can be remedied. - [[🦮 How to Recover from Trauma]] ##### Resources ###### Articles - ["How to Support People with Trauma"](https://www.echotraining.org/support-trauma-survivor-infographic/) Factsheet ###### Podcasts 1. [The Trauma Therapist](https://www.thetraumatherapistproject.com/podcast/) with Guy Macpherson 2. [The Grass Gets Greener: Overcoming Childhood Trauma and Thriving in Life Through Inspiring Stories](https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-grass-gets-greener-overcoming-trauma-and-thriving-in-life) 3. [PsychAlive: Trauma](https://www.psychalive.org/category/trauma-2/) ###### Videos - NICABM's [YouTube Channel](https://www.youtube.com/c/nicabm) - [How Childhood Trauma Affects Health Across a Lifetime](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95ovIJ3dsNk) with Nadine Burke Harris. - [Mindfulness and Neural Integration](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LiyaSr5aeho) with Daniel Siegel (related video: [The Three Main Parts of Your Brain by Dr. Russ Harris](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CpRY9-MIHA) - [The Power of Self to Heal Our Parts](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuJLv98ks-I) with Richard Schwartz and Soren Gordhamer - [Trauma and the Brain](https://youtu.be/4-tcKYx24aA). - [Shame-Based Trauma](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aj33c40f0-c&t=4s) (10 Part Series) with Alan Downs. "It's for clinicians about treating shame based trauma, but it's simple enough that layman can understand" ###### Websites - [The Sidran Institute of Traumatic Stress Education & Advocacy](https://www.sidran.org/resources/healing-trauma-recommended-titles/) A resource database of materials for the survivor and their support network - Lilly Hope Lucario, a researcher and survivor herself, operates a [blog](https://healingfromcomplextraumaandptsd.wordpress.com/) and [website](https://www.healingfromcomplextraumaandptsd.com/) (both called Healing From Complex Trauma). These resources are a treasure trove of information regarding CPTSD and PTSD, traits specific to both, coping strategies, trauma/stress response styles (fight/flight/freeze/fawn), flashbacks and how to manage them, and types of therapy. - [Beauty After Bruises](https://www.beautyafterbruises.org/) - [It's NOT Just Joking Around!: A Survivor's Guide to Joking and Peer Abuse](https://maple.vtweb.com/jodeeblanco/survival.htm) [^1]: [[📖 🟠 The Healing Trauma Program]] [^2]: [[📖 🟠 The Healing Trauma Online Course]]