What is a Trauma Response?
Every person has an alarm system within their bodies. This system works to alert you to danger and to keep you safe. This system originates from way back when we used to regularly encounter saber tooth tigers! When we encounter danger, or perceived danger, our amygdala sends signals to our hypothalamus, which stimulates your autonomic nervous system. To put that in simpler words... Basically a smoke detector goes off inside you, and then your sprinkler system kicks in to get you to safety.
This is commonly known as “survival mode” and the “fight, flight, or freeze” response is activated. For folks who have gone through trauma, their system is a little more sensitive than folks who haven’t. This doesn’t mean that you’re a sensitive person, but rather that your body is trying to protect you from going through harm again.
I want you to imagine that this imaginary alarm system is a smoke detector. For folks who have been through trauma, their smoke detector has experienced a house fire before. It knows how painful and scary that experience is, so it tunes into the environment and alerts you to the smallest appearance of perceived danger. This can mean that the smoke detector mistakes a candle or a BBQ as smoke and fire and subsequently danger. The smoke detector isn’t wrong, there is a fire! But it isn’t a big, scary, dangerous fire.
This is similar to when you are out and about, living your daily life, when suddenly you find yourself triggered. Maybe you experience derealization, or a racing heart. Racing thoughts, body numbness, a burst of energy, and accelerated breath are also common. This often means that you alarm system is perceiving danger and it is putting your body into a survival mode in order to stay safe. When this happens it is important to remind yourself, your body, and your smoke detector where you are. The candle is just a candle and it can’t hurt you. Here are 3 things you can try:
Grounding into your senses can be helpful in order to bring your body back to the present. Try smelling a soothing scent like mint, vanilla, or lavender. Carry powerful tastes like mints, or gum and chew on one when you notice these sensations starting. Notice your surroundings and engage in textures and things you see.
Use temperature: Sometimes a literal shock to our system can bring us back to the present moment. Using cold temperature like ice or cold water can be helpful. Hold the icepack or cold rag on the back of your neck, inside of your elbows, and on your face.
Deep breathing: I always feel so cliche when I recommend deep breathing to clients, but it truly is so powerful. When you take long deep breaths into your belly, you activate your parasympathetic nervous system, which is essentially healing mode. The trauma response activates the sympathetic nervous system, so deep breathing brings us back to parasympathetic.
Overtime and with repetition (and hopefully the help of a trauma therapist), you can remind yourself what is a candle and what is a house fire. You can retune and rewire your smoke detector so that it remembers what is a threat and what is a perceived threat but actually not dangerous. If you are seeking the help of a professional, it is important to find someone well versed in trauma therapy. Throughout the process, grant yourself grace and compassion. After all, your smoke detector is just trying to look out for you.
Another useful tool to retune your smoke detector is EMDR therapy. Click to learn more.
