When faced with challenging experiences, especially as a parent, navigating through them can be difficult. We invite you to join us as we simplify and navigate through a complex process.
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chances are, trauma has a hold on you too!
What’s a traumatic experience?
Trauma is an experience or can be a series of experiences that overwhelm the central nervous system. It occurs when one’s ability to defend, protect or say no is overwhelmed putting the body into a trauma response often referred to as a fight, flight, fawn, freeze, flop response. It’s honestly a normal response to an abnormal situation and will vary from person to person. It is the outcome of what occurs when your active response to the threat does not work.
the brain and how it's primed to respond
During a traumatic event, the brain is primed to respond reflexively (meaning automatically or without conscious thought) to ensure survival. However, that very same response the brain takes often keeps us safe but can also keep us trapped in cycles of traumatic memory. Some refer to this as staying in a state of being a victim to a traumatic experience but we’d like think more often than not that the brain is simply unable to come out of a cycle because it does not have to the tools to do so.
what you should understand
When it comes to trauma, especially childhood trauma, you should understand the brain physically changes. One of the changes is to the amygdala, which is brain’s emotional reaction center, it becomes highly reactive.
When a person is triggered, the brain is primed to respond reflexively going into high alert shutting down rational thinking to a degree. This is where feelings can become overwhelming (referred to as emotional dysregulation) and remember this is completely normal. This is a part of the nervous system automatically reacting to try and keep you safe going back into a trauma response again.
For this very reason, we should strive to grasp and seek a greater understanding of ourselves and one another.
when left untreated or suppressed
If trauma is not treated or is suppressed and we fail to learn how to feel safe, it can have lifelong effects on a person. This is the origin of the concept of historical trauma; it is when trauma is passed down from one generation to another due to any kind of impairment.
If untreated or suppressed, trauma can embed itself in the body and can show up months or even years later in different ways.
If treated, individuals can equip themselves with the necessary tools to mitigate future triggers and acquire skills for self-regulation.
Data Reveals
Parents Of Children Who Experience Trauma May Develop Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
It Also Tells Us That The Child Impacted By Trauma Is Not Their Chronological Age.
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