Immobility Break-out?
All energy utilized in fight or flight, before it collapsed or froze, re-emerges explosively as the animal comes out of immobility. When humans emerge from immobility, they are often seized by sudden and sizeable surges of emotion.
As these surges are not immediately expressed, this energy can become part of enormous amounts of rage and terror.
Fear and the fear of violence to self and others re-activates the immobility, extending it, often indefinitely, in the form of frozen terror. This is the vicious cycle of trauma.
The drive to complete the freezing response remains active no matter how long it has been in place. When we learn how to harness it, the power of this drive becomes our greatest ally in working through the symptoms of trauma. The drive is persistent. Even if we are not doing things perfectly, it will always be there to give us another chance.
In the immobility state these assertive energies are not always accessible. The restoration of healthy aggression is an essential part in the recovery from trauma.
Empowerment is the acceptance of personal authority. It derives from the capacity to choose the direction and execution of one’s own energies.
