In this Article
- How we can regain a sense of safety after experiencing trauma.
- The role of social support in recovering from stress and trauma.
- How do physiological responses help in trauma recovery?
- What innovative approaches are shaping the understanding of trauma recovery?
How to Reestablish a Sense of Safety After Stress and Trauma
by Alex Scrimgeour.
We are by far the most social and communicative creatures on the planet. Unlike other mammals, we can work together in groups of millions, like ants or bees. This ultra-social nature has big benefits, as well as big disadvantages.
Our sense of being bonded to others is a major factor in how we experience stress. When we are in the company of true friendships, we are more capable of handling stress. But when we have no friends and are completely isolated, then stress can be greatly magnified. Social isolation and loneliness have long been known to negatively affect our health and are a major compounding effect on stress, so the dynamics of our social lives play a pivotal role in our relationship with stress.
It is telling that the mediums for all social dynamics are the face, voice, and body language. By coming back to the face and body through touch and feeling we can begin to reorient both our sense of status and our relationship with stress.
Sudden vs. Gradual Stress
In extreme cases, when a stressful experience overwhelms us, it has the potential to become traumatic. This can occur suddenly, such as in a traffic accident, or it can occur gradually, such as in the daily grind that eventually leads to a breakdown.
Both sudden trauma and slow or soft trauma can lead to a similar variety of symptoms. PTSD is also a relatively new concept, which was only recognized in the wake of the Vietnam War, when research with traumatized veterans and the convergence of different social advocacy groups prompted the official diagnosis.
The actual experience of trauma is universal throughout human history—it is a basic and inevitable fact of living. But only recently have we developed greater insight into what is happening biologically both during and through the aftermath of trauma.
Soldier’s heart, Da Costa syndrome, railway spine, shell shock, battle fatigue, war neurosis, and combat stress reaction are all historical names for PTSD, and although it might sound like only soldiers suffer from it, this is only because soldiers go through such consistently traumatic experiences. In fact, anyone can suffer from trauma or PTSD.
Trauma: A Hidden Epidemic
Aside from war veterans, the other group that has extremely high rates of trauma are people who have been abused in childhood, either emotionally, physically, or sexually. New understandings of trauma suggest that it is actually a hidden epidemic, for even if we haven’t been abused as a child or in a war, there is a great, heaving undercurrent of trauma that plagues our history.
We are all, to a greater or lesser degree, being swayed by this undercurrent. As the great addiction specialist Gabor Maté says, “We live in a highly traumatized society,” and the current crises we face in mental health and cultural meaning are both rooted in historical and personal trauma.
We are all the walking wounded. For this reason, to address the most pressing health crisis of our times we need to frame it within the lens of stress and trauma—that is to say, within the prism of emotion, consciousness, and neurobiology.
Individual Stress Levels: The Stress and Trauma Spectrum
One way to think of this is to see both stress and trauma as on a spectrum. At any given time, we have different levels of resiliency, which acts as our buffer against everyday stress or traumatic events. When our resilience is stretched to its limit, our bodies’ adaptive intelligence finds ways to survive.
When the force of a stressful event exceeds our resilience, the stressful becomes the traumatic. Our natural survival instincts are forced into an extreme response, and sometimes our bodies struggle to come back to a natural balance after the event. The prevalence of developing PTSD or related symptoms after a traumatic event is higher than most people might assume but varies dependent on the current state and resilience of the person and the type and severity of the trauma.
The reasons why one person responds so differently to another is due to myriad factors that are unique to each person. It is important to understand that what is considered stressful is not proportional to each person’s response. What can be good fun for one person can be a terrifying ordeal for another. Once we can step into another person’s shoes and feel empathy, we can start to appreciate that there is a great subtlety and complexity to this dynamic.
Reestablishing a Sense of Safety
After a traumatic event, a sense of safety needs to be established for the body to regain homeostasis. There are gradations of safety, but what is critical is for the breath and heart rate to return to a normal pattern, which is known as self-regulation.
We have a natural ability to self-regulate, which is our ability to calm ourselves, soothe our body, and regain clarity of perception. Our natural capacity for self-regulation is the backbone of our resiliency.
However, as a social species, our ability to self-regulate is greatly facilitated by the loving presence and assurance of another person. This co-regulation is particularly important for children and those with decreased capacity for self-regulation but helps us all. When we can reassure one another through our voice, facial expression, and presence, this begins the process of psychologically integrating the experience. It brings us back to homeostasis and a feeling of safety.
If this doesn’t occur, we will hold the tension memory of the event throughout our mind-body, and symptoms such as flashbacks, panic, anxiety, nightmares, and dissociation might occur. A great many people experience these types of symptoms. However, there is no consensus over what makes an event traumatic, which, like stress, results from the framing of trauma as a fixed thing rather than a relational process.
Stress Recovery in Mammals and Humans
The clinical psychologist Peter Levine developed a new way of understanding how all mammals and humans recover from trauma. By observing how mammals react and recover from predatory attacks in the wild, he realized that there was a universal process of discharging and releasing energy after surviving an attack. This takes the form of trembling or shaking, which assists the recovery and health of the animal.
The same physiological process that supports survival for antelopes, deer, and mice is also supporting us humans. It’s easy to understand this if you reflect on how a scary situation can make your hands tremble or how after an accident the whole body can tremble and shake.
Rather than segregating PTSD as a disorder of the mind or even as an imbalance in the brain, Levine has shown that it is a whole-body phenomenon, in effect helping to shift our focus of healing from being purely in the head to being fully embodied. As the trauma therapist David Berceli succinctly states, “Healing trauma is about meeting the body.”
A More Nuanced Understanding
Over the past few decades there has been a pioneering movement toward a more nuanced understanding of stress and trauma, catalyzed by innovative approaches at the intersection of psychotherapy, neuroscience, and evolutionary biology. Some of the most significant work has been made by Bessel van der Kolk, Peter Levine, Daniel Siegel, Stephen Porges, and Iain McGilchrist.
Siegel has elucidated the phenomenon of neuroplasticity, showing that the brain has an incredible capacity to rewire itself and that mindfulness plays a key role in this. The biological underpinnings of who we are can change in radical ways and we do not need to feel trapped by what has happened or who we have been in our past — we can change.
Copyright ©2023. All Rights Reserved.
Adapted with permission of the publisher,
Healing Arts Press, an impint of Inner Traditions Intl.
Article Source:
Facial Reflexology for Emotional Well-Being
Facial Reflexology for Emotional Well-Being: Healing and Sensory Self-Care with Dien Chan
by Alex Scrimgeour.
The Vietnamese facial reflexology practice of Dien Chan offers simple touch and massage techniques that engage the reflexology points of the face to help you tap in to the innate healing and regenerative powers of the body. Taking the practice further, master practitioner Alex Scrimgeour shows how to integrate Dien Chan with qigong and Chinese medicine as well as recent developments in neuroscience and cognitive science to treat a variety of emotional issues, from anxiety, addiction, and stress to trauma, dissociation, and PTSD.
Click here for more info and/or to order this paperback book. Also available as a Kindle edition.
About the Author
Alex Scrimgeour is a licensed acupuncturist and massage therapist, with a degree in acupuncture and a diploma in Tui-Na massage from the College of Integrated Chinese Medicine. He has studied Dien Chan (Vietnamese facial reflexology) extensively with Trần Dũng Thắng, Bùi Minh Trí, and other master clinicians at the Việt Y Ðạo Center in Vietnam. He gives treatments and teaches at many of the leading spas and wellness centers around the world and is based in London. Author's Website: SensorySelfCare.com/Article Recap:
The article emphasizes the importance of both self-regulation and co-regulation, supported by social interactions and the assurance of loved ones. It discusses groundbreaking research and therapeutic practices that aid in the holistic recovery from trauma, highlighting the body's natural ability to recover and the brain's capacity for neuroplasticity.
