Trauma: The hidden impact of traumatic events.
Every time you think about a negative event from your past, your body produces the same chemicals as it did when the trauma occurred.
That chemical is cortisol, the hormone released as part of your freeze, fight, flight (FFF) survival response. Too much and it’ll weaken the immune system, which could lead to chronic health deterioration, including cancer.
Now, of course nobody sits and consciously thinks day after day about their early life traumas. Do they?
Well, they don’t need to. These negative replays happen all the time, completely unconsciously, and very deliberately.
How?
When we experience acute mental, emotional or physical trauma, we store it in the “this is important don’t let it happen again” bit of our memory.
It’s filed under WWWF (What happened, Where, Who was present, and how did we Feel (Fright or Fear).
Why?
Your mind has its threat antenna permanently set to on. Our senses (what we see, hear, touch taste and smell) always on high alert checking for incoming threats.
That antenna is especially mindful and tuned to watch out for those “this is important don’t let it happen again” threats.
So, if we sense any match, however remote, of the (WWWF) we quickly and unconsciously releases a micro dose of cortisol as part of the threat (FFF) anticipation.
Cortisol, amongst other things, is our anti inflammatory. It makes sure we heal if we have to fight.
Makes sense?
We are preprogrammed to be on alert for any risk of the trauma being repeated, it’s part of our basic survival instinct.
Well, it’s even more profound than that.
Let’s imagine the WWWF trauma was being run over, by a school bus, outside the swimming pool whilst with your best friend.
Top of our threat list becomes busses, swimming pools and that look in a friends eyes, along with the smell of swimming pool chlorine.
So every time you see a bus (especially, but not only a school bus), go near a swimming pool (or a road similarly constructed, or sports hall etc) or see the look of fear in any friends eyes, or smell chlorine, your antenna unconsciously activates the FFF threat response. Just in case. And you get a cortisol micro dose.
You don’t have a conscious awareness of this. It doesn’t need to enter consciousness because by the time you’ve seen the bus, smelled the chlorine, or seen the friends smile, the threat has passed.
The mind is a blunt, basic and very very busy instrument, and is very risk adverse, so any similarities to the original trauma triggers a microscopic release of the cortisol. Just in case.
So you see, we relive that traumatic experience time after time after time completely unconsciously, and this in turn causes the very slow compromise of the immune system as a result of the cortisol releases.
The solution?
You’d be amazed how a bit of therapy can bring reprogramming and healing to that original trauma, and in doing so dramatically lower the “be aware of school busses and swimming pools” antenna.
It has a direct, material and immediate impact on your mental, emotional and, based on this, your physical health too.
Whether it’s sexual, physical, mental or emotional trauma the reprogramming and healing can be accomplished, and it can be done without needing to re-live or even disclose the specifics of the initial trauma.
I meet too many people who want to hang onto their deeply held trauma, they fear the damage it might do if they let it out.
I gently remind them of the damage the trauma is doing by them keeping it in.
#trauma #therapy #immunesystem #cortisol #cancer #treatment #letitgo #paulroebuck
To read more about our behaviour, neurology, psychology check my blog here.
Paul Roebuck
Behavioural Psychotherapist
PGCEE, FETC (A.Dip).
paulsroebuck@gmail.com
+44 7838 371155