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So, what is actually going on inside us when we get traumatized?
And this is what gets interesting to me because I am beginning to, more and more, understand
trauma as a breakdown in communication.
We have…
When we are an integrated person, we have communication going on through all parts of
our body.
There is a flow of energy and information moving through.
But when we get traumatized, that breaks down.
So there’s certain parts of our brain that have evolved to monitor for danger and what
happens is when they get over-activated — in other words, when we have been traumatized
and they are over activated — they are constantly monitoring for danger, and they pick up on
all sorts of triggers as oh this is… this is trouble that might be just associated in
some way in the mind, but are not really danger.
So, the body is constantly in a flush of stress and reactivity.
And we are seeing the world basically, instead of through rose-colored lenses, through the
lens of pure fear.
And the way that I have shared… those of you that are… might be familiar with it
just to… for those who aren’t… that for me, the most useful way of understanding
this breakdown in communication that goes with trauma is an image from Dan Siegel, who
is a psychiatrist and author, where he says: Okay, so this is your brain, this… this
fist — you might want to make a fist yourself, if you haven’t done this before in particular
— this is your brain.
And if you open it up, this is your spinal column going up into the heel of the palm,
the brain stem.
And your thumb is your limbic system, okay?
And your brain stem and your limbic system work together to regulate arousal, fight-flight-freeze,
emotions.
Okay?
The four fingers come over, this is your frontal cortex here, okay?
And your frontal cortex is, first of all, thinking… the cortex is thinking and reasoning
and the frontal cortex, in particular, where your forehead is, that is the site of mindfulness.
It is the site of compassion—that whole… the whole compassion network.
It is a site of morality.
It gives you kind of a moral direction . . . perspective . . .
Now when the brain is integrated, this frontal cortex down-regulates.
What that means is, you might get a message saying: Danger, danger coming up!
The frontal cortex will say: No, it’s… it kind of seems like that thing that happened
in the past but now is now and you are okay.
And so, that calms down the limbic system in there.
Now what happens when you are not integrated and in good communication?
In other words, when you have been traumatized and there is not good communication going
on and the frontal cortex isn’t giving its information, is fear and messages of danger
come up and you flip your lid.
Okay?
You basically totally lose contact with the frontal cortex, and so you are going around
in an unintegrated state where this sub-cortical looping, all fear-based, is in control.
It has hijacked your system.
Now here is…
What I didn’t know until more recently was, the stress-chemicals, corti… mostly cortisol,
that flood through our system when we are really frightened actually destroy neurons,
and they particularly have an effect on the neurons that connect the more far-reaching
parts of the brain so that if you have been traumatized, there is less communication already
between the frontal cortex here and the limbic system, and it is much more quick that you
completely lose contact.
And then you are living in that place of completely feeling like, “I am in the thick of it,
I am in the thick of danger with no really good ways to deal with it.”
That is the communications break down.
If you think of the… the opposite, when communications are flowing…
In a way, the state of enlightenment is a state of full integration where everything…
all the circuits are connected and you are really able to light up, right?
So, not only do we have a communications breakdown internally when there has been trauma, but
our interpersonal communications also break down.
Why is that?
This frontal cortex that down-regulates emotions also is what allows us to pick up really important
information from each other to be able to have empathy, to be able to sense what is
going on for another person.
And when there’s not good communications internally, we can’t tell whether another
person means well for us or another person is a threat, and we are much more at the mercy
of that negativity-bias that is perceiving threat and feels unsafe and can’t trust.
Does this make sense?
Is this connecting for you?
Okay.
Because I feel like revisiting it really helps.
Now just to say…everything that has been disconnected can be reconnected.
I am going to move on to…
The whole rest of the talk will be how we reconnect…
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