The freeze response is an INVOLUNTARY physiological change in your body and mind when you feel threatened. In a split second, we have established that we can’t run (flight) or defend ourselves (fight), so we freeze. Freezing allows us NOT …
Tag: Trauma
Adaptive Survival Strategies
Let’s talk about Complex PTSD, childhood trauma, and its effects. The fight, flight, freeze, and fawn responses are known responses to trauma, and they are ways that the body responds to danger, overseen by the autonomic nervous system. When we …
The Johari Window
Do The Work – Part of my work as a therapist is to explore my unconscious, what might be known to others and not to me, and what is unknown by others and myself, to explore my blind spots. Why …
“Trauma is a fact of life. It does not have to be a life sentence.”
For many people, trauma feels like a life sentence. It feels inescapable – a constant cloud of sadness, anxiety, or fear. Trauma is a sense of overwhelm that impacts our ability to adapt, thrive, and flourish. The symptoms of trauma …
Often, When People Rage, They Are Suffering
What does it mean to suffer? There are many ways we can suffer. We can suffer physically with pain, mentally with mental illness or rumination, or spiritually with a lack of meaning or moral dilemma. Suffering is part of the …
How Do We Meet Our Fear?
The first time I remember feeling fear I was about 4 years old. I was being dragged up the stairs of our home as punishment for something I don’t remember. I remember feeling numb. My whole body felt like it …
Retraumatization in Target Groups
Phase 1 of the trauma healing work is called ‘safety and stabilization’. During this phase of the work, we are helping the client to create safety in their inner and outer lives. This work is difficult when there are genuine …
Unresolved Experiences
This is called a ‘ stopped process’ in the somatic (bodywork) I use with my clients. This is when an experience is so overwhelming that we cannot integrate it when it happens, and the event’s energy gets ‘stuck’ in the …