The recipe for trauma is when people are pushed beyond the limits of their mental and physical capacity. This could be the suddenness of a car accident, long term childhood neglect, a partner shouting, the death of a loved one, chronic shame, a chronic or long term health issue, surviving a tragedy....the list goes on. 

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As you can guess from the list above, any of those things has the potential to move a person into overwhelm and beyond their capacity to cope. It can also lead to feelings of hopelessness and not belonging.

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The important thing to understand is that trauma is NOT the event that happened to a person. Trauma is what happens when a person doesn't recover from what happened to them.

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Trauma occurs when there are unresolved psychological and physiological effects that impact life after the event is long over.

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Trauma affects people psychologically, through thoughts and feelings, and physiologically, through sensations and body functions. 

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Trauma is living in a body that doesn't feel safe.

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Unhealed trauma puts our nervous system into a state of  hyperactive alarm and molds a body that gets stuck in fight, flight, and/or freeze. This hyperactive alarm interferes with the brain circuits that involve focus, flexibility, and being able to stay in emotional control. A constant sense of danger and helplessness promotes the continuous secretion of stress hormones which affects the immune system and the functioning of the body’s organs. 

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Trauma healing is not a one size fits all, but the one certainty is that making it safe for a trauma survivor to inhabit their body and to tolerate their feelings is the key to lasting healing. 

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This is why somatic therapy as part of a healing plan is the gold standard for trauma resolution.

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