Can Trauma be Healed?

Introduction

Trauma can be described as an emotional response to events that are unexpected for individuals. In other words, an individual experiences traumatic situations, that exceed their psychological processing and integration skills. Trauma is large-scaled and out of our awareness. Therefore, individuals mostly do not know/understand what causes the symptoms that they experience. These symptoms can arise because of various reasons including natural disasters, explosions, traffic incidents, rape, domestic violence, loss of a loved one, and so on. Traumatic symptoms affect an individual negatively, and prevent an individual’s capacity for performance and efficiency. A traumatic person may show tendencies of anxiety, depression, shame, lack of concentration, anger etc. 

The Nature of Trauma

Trauma is a personal issue. That is, while one person is not affected by a specific event, it can be traumatic for another. These traumatic symptoms are not only triggered by the event itself, but also can be reactivated with triggers that remind a person of the traumatic event. These symptoms are caused by the energy trapped in a “freezing state” where the mind and body cannot meet at a common frequency. 

Clinic psychologist Peter A. Levine explains this “freezing state” in his book “Waking the Tiger”, by giving an example of an antelope and a leopard. He also indicates that this “freezing state” is similar in humans and animals. According to the scenario of antelope and leopard, while the antelope flock is grazing, a hunting leopard suddenly emerges. The antelope flock instinctively shows an escape response to a leopard suddenly emerging. The antelope baby who is unable to escape is caught by the predator. The baby antelope does not try to escape from the mouth of the leopard and surrenders to it. The acceptance that baby antelope shows is not a pretending dead, it is a “freezing state”. In this freezing condition, the body becomes a state that cannot experience the feeling of pain. Physiologists explain this situation as “stagnation” or “freezing state”. When the protective reaction of the mind to the trauma returns to normal, the body’s reactions are expected to return to normal. Otherwise, when this process is blocked, the effects of the trauma settle, and the person becomes traumatized.

Healing Trauma

Although it seems like it’s exclusively the mind that experiences the trauma, it should not be forgotten that the body is also included in this experience. So, in the process of healing the trauma, the body plays a huge role. Physiological evidence shows that the ability to recover from the “freezing state”, which is similarly experienced in the antelope example and human beings, has great importance for the recovery of trauma. The skills of human beings such as feeling, reacting, and projection distinguish them from other creatures. These show that they have the potential to show a great recovery process, even in the most abrasive traumatic experiences. By stimulating innate impulses, a person can get rid of this freezing state by bringing the mind and body into balance. Supporting and understanding these internal impulses with psychological services, are of great importance in ensuring the permanence of the healing of the trauma. To summarise, traumas can be healed and a person does not have to live with trauma throughout life.

Reference

Levine, P. A., & Frederick, A. (1997). Waking the tiger: Healing trauma: The innate capacity to transform overwhelming experiences. North Atlantic Books.