What's Trauma?
“Trauma is not what happens to a person, but what happens within them. In line with its Greek origins, trauma means a wound–an unhealed one, and one the person is compelled to defend against by means of constricting their own ability to feel, be present, to respond flexibly to situations… Young children can be traumatized simply when their need for attuned attention and responsive interaction with the parent is unmet–often due to no conscious awareness on the part of the parent.” -Dr. Gabor Maté
Humans cause trauma to each other, to animals, to plants, and to our environment.
Complex PTSD
Complex trauma (CPTSD) happens when there was prolonged abuse or neglect that lasted for a really long time. The needs for connection (care givers, family, friends, romantic partners, colleagues, classmates, animals, plants, environment, nature, etc.), authenticity, nourishment, understanding, acceptance, belonging, equality, respect, trust, harmony, peace, love, etc. go unmet is what causes CPTSD. You may have also had a parent that struggled with mental health issues, addiction, was unable to attune to you, was absent, or were unable to regulate their own nervous systems to demonstrate that to you growing up. CPTSD shapes your entire personality. With CPTSD, there's an aspect of not knowing who you are because there is no "before and after" you, there's just discovery.
PTSD
Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) happens when an unexpected event happens abruptly and you were unable to get out of that state of shock for a while. This could be a health scare, almost dying, birth, the loss of a relationship, the death of a loved one, an accident, an injury, a fire, a sudden loss, serving in the military, work place trauma (first responders especially), getting shot at, gang and criminal related activities, going to jail or prison, an assault, an abusive relationship, divorce, adoption, being in foster care, catastrophic events (natural disasters, war, genocide, etc.), etc. PTSD changes your personality after the event, so there is a "before and after" you to come back to, or a new you to be discovered.
PTSI
Post traumatic stress injuries (PTSI) occurs typically to first responders and military personnel that are exposed to traumatic events everyday because it's part of their job. The causation is often due to the build up of exposure to many traumatic events instead of one large traumatic event. There are some risk factors that can encourage PTSI to form such as: service in conflict zones or other violent environments, working in health care, directly or indirectly witnessing/seeing/hearing about atrocities and/or suffering during your time of service, the potential for verbal or physical assault or death during service, experiencing a natural disaster and offering support, witnessing crime/violence/mass violence, injuries and accidents, children being involved in distressing events, domestic abuse and family violence, and gender/race/sexuality/culture based violence and stress.
How does Trauma Effect the Nervous System
When you are faced with a threat (something that shocks you in the moment), could be emotional or physical, your body goes into survival mode (fight, flight, or freeze) to get through the dangerous situation. The survival response creates a physical responses in your body such as a faster heart beat to rush the blood to your extremities to fight or run, your muscles get tense to fight the aggressor, digestion slows down (either you keep everything in or it comes out, etc. When a trigger happens (the event gets brought up or a symbol from the event gets brought up) you get a flash back to being in the same place when the event took place. That part of you gets stuck in time because afterwards you were unable to let out the feelings or talk about it with someone else because it was just so significant and big that it was overwhelming and extremely terrifying. When those parts of us get stuck in time (we repress the memories and feelings) we become continually stuck in that survival state, those parts end up holding us back in our lives because they never got the chance to let go and grow with us. When we are caught in survival mode for too long, it affects your hormone secretion, brain chemistry, and immune system functioning this is how death and disease occur. The emotional pain can become a somatic issue and present itself as a physical pain instead of an emotional one when the trauma has become so deeply repressed and pushed down because it was too scary to accept or acknowledge emotionally. Everything that happens to us emotionally also happens to us physically because of the body's reaction to the emotional danger. You cannot escape the physical body when healing emotional wounding because they are both completely intertwined. Right now, your mind might be in a different place than you were in before when the event happened, but your body still hasn't left that same place yet.
