Traumatic Stress

Trauma is threat we’re not prepared to handle. - Katie O’Shea, MS, LMHC

Trauma refers to an experience that is emotionally painful, distressful, or shocking, which often results in lasting mental and physical effects. Most of us are used to thinking of trauma only as those big events that appear in newspapers: natural disasters, wars, accidents, rapes, etc. But by definition trauma is any event that has had a lasting negative effect. So in addition to the big events, more prevalent experiences such as humiliations, failures, or losses of any kind that make us feel unsafe, unloved, without control, or without hope can also be traumatizing. When you lose your peace of mind, or if you never had it, there can be serious physical and psychological consequences no matter what the cause. Regardless of the “triggers,” the causes are generally found in earlier life experiences. We call these experiences traumas.

Trauma is stored in the brain. The frontal cortex of our brain is responsible for most of our analyzing, learning, planning, paying attention, and certain types of memory. Parts of the limbic system are responsible for associating types of trauma with things such as authority figures, loud noises, etc. One of the functions of the limbic system is scanning for potential danger. When that part of the brain decides something is a possible threat to our survival, the memory and whatever is associated with it is stored in the limbic system. Whenever the memory is triggered we “become the wound” rather than simply remember it. These memories tend to be felt rather than just cognitively remembered and tend not to change over time. So an old traumatic memory is experienced as it was at the time of the trauma as if the trauma is occurring now.

Two factors are essential in understanding traumatic experiences: how far our systems are stretched and for how long. Some events happen only once or just a few times, but the impact is so great that trauma occurs. Rape, accident, assault and some types of child molestation fit this extreme form of trauma. So would being terminated without warning from a job after years of loyal service and excellent performance. Some trauma experiences are relatively minor, but they happen every day. The hurt accumulates. A consistent pattern of neglect creates incredible anxiety in a child and leaves serious lifelong wounds. The compromises we make to trauma can deaden us over time. Only after being away from traumatic circumstances and healing from the wounds of those circumstances will your sensitivity return.

Getting Unstuck

Just as the digestive system extracts nutrients from the food we eat, so the mind’s information processing system, when functioning properly, extracts useful information from our experiences. What we learn from this information allows us to move forward. When upsetting memories are processed, the related emotions, beliefs, body responses, and thoughts are transformed, becoming healthy and adaptive. Sometimes, though, negative experiences remain unresolved, stuck in the limbic system, leaving a residue of emotion to dominate our daily lives. The system becomes “stuck” — as if it were choking on trauma — and often requires assistance in order to get moving smoothly again.

Major traumas and other disturbing life experiences are stored in “implicit” or “non-declarative” memory where they hold the emotions and body sensations that were part of the initial event. Because these memories are not able to connect with other, more helpful information, they remain isolated from other life experiences in our memory networks. This is where EMDR comes in. EMDR involves a very specific set of procedures to help this “digestive” function in the brain, which neurobiologists refer to as “information processing.” EMDR facilitates the accessing and processing of traumatic memories to bring them to an adaptive resolution. After successful treatment with EMDR, emotional distress is relieved, negative beliefs are reformulated, and physiological arousal is reduced.