Stress vs Trauma
Stress is an organism’s physiological response to a threat in the outer or inner environment. It is the body’s way of reacting to a condition or challenge in the short term. Humans need some stress to function properly. Yet, when stress is prolonged or consistent, it becomes chronic and chronic stress becomes traumatic. Imagine the toll the physical and emotional bodies endure when they are constantly switched ON in the stress mode. It can be overwhelming, to say the least.
We often think of trauma as that big, horrific, shocking event that happens. Some examples are a serious car accident, a dire medical diagnosis, or a violent assault. We call this BIG T Trauma. Sometimes we process these bigger traumas in the near-term and sometimes we don’t. At times, BIG T Traumas are too much for the nervous system to handle, so our body actually shuts down its response as a protective measure so that we can’t feel the pain. This is called dorsal vagal shutdown and may present as overwhelm, numbness or dissociation. It’s as if the body has unconsciously hit the PAUSE button and has stuffed the negative trauma energy into the physical body rather than expelling it.
Another type of trauma is referred to as Little t Trauma. It can be anything that is:
Too much
Too soon
Too long
Too fast
A few examples include emotional abuse, bullying or harassment, the loss of a significant relationship, and enduring a highly stressful work environment. I think most people have experienced these Little t Traumas at some point. What you might not know is that they can be just as disruptive to our bodies and relationships as the bigger traumas if we ignore them. Some people easily process these experience and are unscathed while others simply stuff them down for various reasons, perhaps thinking they’ll deal with the emotions later. Often that doesn’t happen until an event or relationship forces them to the surface. In the meantime, one may adopt a fight (aggression), flight (avoidance or running away), freeze (inability to respond or act) or fawn (people pleasing to avoid conflict) stance which all have consequences of their own.
Dr. Peter Levine’s quote, “Trauma isn’t the thing that happened to us, but the effect left within us by our experiences,” sums it up nicely.
Other types of traumas include developmental trauma and generational trauma. I’ll delve into these in upcoming blogs.
Unfortunately, if we don’t metabolize trauma, the byproducts of the experience(s) continue to exist within our bodies, often presenting themselves later in life. Dr. Bessel Van Der Kolk’s wonderful book titled, The Body Keeps the Score, outlines in detail how our bodies hold onto trauma and how this stored energy often surfaces, unexpectedly, in negative ways. A sampling of how it may present includes illness, pain, relationship challenges, anxiety, depression, avoidance and sleep disturbances to name just a few responses.
Maybe you know someone who is stuck in a fight, flight, freeze or fawn pattern due to stored trauma. Biodynamic breathwork with a certified facilitator is a safe and regulated way to help one start to untangle and unfreeze the body at the deepest levels.