“Our bodies know they belong, it is our minds that make our lives so homeless”
― John O’Donohue
What is Trauma-Informed Therapy? *
*Adapted from Deb Dana’s The Polyvagal Theory in Therapy
We come into the world wired to connect. With our first breath, we embark on a lifelong quest to feel safe in our bodies, in our environments, and in our relationships with others. Trauma-informed therapy looks for the clues to a client’s present time suffering, in their autonomic response history. The autonomic nervous system (ANS) is our personal surveillance system, always on guard, asking “Is this safe?” It is the biological foundation upon which our lived experience is built. Its goal is to protect us by sensing safety and risk, assessing when the drive to survive competes with the longing to connect with others.
The Autonomic nervous system
In each of our relationships, the ANS is learning about the world and being toned toward habits of connection or protection - turning toward, backing away, connecting, or isolating. The ANS responds to sensations in the body and signals from the environment through three pathways of response. These pathways work in evolutionary order, from the oldest to newest:
First, our ancient survival mechanism, our dorsal vagal state, or the “freeze” state, which is our most primitive pattern. Its response is one of conservation of energy through collapse and shutdown, protecting us from both physical and psychological pain. In the moment of a traumatic event, the dorsal vagus can come to the rescue through numbness, depression, helplessness, or dissociation.
Second, the sympathetic system, which brings the ability to mobilize. This system prepares us to take action, with the options of “fight or flight,” in the search for safety. When we have a fight response, we can have anger, rage, irritation, and frustration. If we are having a flight response, we can have anxiety, worry, fear, and panic. Physiologically, our blood pressure, heart rate, and adrenaline increase while digestion, pain threshold, and immune responses decrease.
Lastly, our ventral vagal state, “rest and digest,” is a response of the parasympathetic system. It is our state of safety and homeostasis. If we are in our ventral vagal state, we are grounded, mindful, joyful, curious, empathetic, and compassionate. This is the state of social engagement, where we are connected to ourselves and the world.
What happens to our Autonomic Nervous System when we experience a traumatic event?
“Our habitual patterns are, of course, well established, seductive, and comforting”
Trauma interrupts the process of building the circuitry of safe connections and sidetracks the development of regulation and resilience. Individuals with trauma histories often experience more intense, extreme autonomic responses, which affects their ability to regulate and feel safe in relationships. These responses are adaptive autonomic actions in service of survival. However, if unresolved, these early adaptive survival responses become habitual patterns.
The Autonomic nervous system map
What happens to our nervous system after experiencing a stressful or traumatic event? This map outlines the five stages of activation and stabilization following stress and trauma. Check out the following video to learn about this ANS map, which is based on the work of Eric Wolterstorff, Ph.D and Peter Levine, Ph.D.
