When re-negotiating trauma we engage the universal law of polarity. This law is used to deliberately swing between the resistance & pain and desire & pleasure feeling states. In moving from the experience-periphery to the freezing ‘shock core’, the unresolved frozen patterns are neutralized by flexible patterns as the activation is increased. Somatic experiencing is…
The phenomenon that drives the repetition of past traumatic events is called re-enactment. It is the final destination of the downward spiral in the development of trauma symptoms. It represents the organism’s attempt to complete the natural cycle of activation and de-activation that accompanies the response to a threat. Re-enactment is more compelling, more mysterious,…
The strategy of internalizing instinctive, defensive procedures is a form of a re-enactment. We could call it ‘acting in’. To commit violence on oneself is the method preferred by our culture for various reasons. One of the positive aspects in the recent escalation of violence ‘acting out’ is that it is forcing us to face…
Traumatic symptoms not only affect your emotional and mental states, but your physical health as well. When no cause for a physical malady ( Candida Overgrowth?) can be found, stress and trauma are the most likely candidates. Trauma can make someone blind, mute, or deaf; it can cause paralysis in legs, arms, or both; it…
Traumatic anxiety is the aroused state that will not go away. The elements that form traumatic anxiety are: the ceaseless search for the danger, the ongoing sense of danger, the feeling of helplessness, the inability to find it, dissociation, The word ”fear” comes from the old English term for danger. ”Anxious” is derived from a…
In traumatic coupling, a stimulus is strongly linked to a particular response and together they override normal orienting behaviors. A common example of traumatic coupling occurs when traumatized individuals panic, when sexually aroused. Sexual arousal leads to panic, inability and helplessness rather than intense enjoyment. Some people may believe that they were sexually abused when…
Expurgated Excerpts from Dr. Levine’s book ‘Waking the Tiger’ Part II Trauma Symptoms The first symptoms of trauma usually appear shortly after the event that created them. There is a way to take back control of our bodies that was lost when traumatic effects became chronic. You can deliberately arouse the nervous system and then…
With hyper vigilance there are no normal orienting responses. This has serious ramifications for traumatized people. It will impair their overall ability to function effectively in any situation, not just those that require active defense. A function of the orienting response is to identify new info as we become aware of it. When this function…
Of the 4 key components, helplessness is only experienced when you suffered an overwhelming threat to your life. Yet, this profound sense of helplessness is nearly always present in the early stages of ‘overwhelm’ from a traumatic event. When the threat or event is over, the intense helplessness and immobilization effects will wear off, but…
Helplessness is closely related to the freezing response. If hyper arousal is the nervous system’s accelerator, a sense of overwhelming helplessness is its brake. Unlike an automobile in which the brake and accelerator are designed to operate at different times, with a traumatic reaction both brake and accelerator operate together. The nervous system only recognizes…
Sit in a chair that supports your body comfortably. Imagine your most favorable vacation spot. Imagine having all kinds of fun and doing relaxing things. Just before you are ready to return, answer this question: are you there, in your favorite vacation spot or are you here with us? When you were there, you were…
Constriction, tension, and tightening are system-wide phenomena. It dominates our earliest experience of a threat, essentially effecting every function of the body. Constriction alters someone’s breathing, muscle tone, and posture. Blood vessels in the skin, extremities, and guts constrict so that more blood is available to the muscles which are tensed and prepared to take…
