In the workshop I just completed this weekend on Trauma and the body, I've learned a lot about what trauma and/or stress does to the body. It affects the body in a chemical and biological way.
I'm going to try and give some information that I learned this weekend and hopefully it will help. If I don't explain something well, please ask me as it will help me learn too. Hopefully I've not over simplified it to the point that it sounds more confusing than helpful.
We have two primary nervous systems.(well three when you count the enteric nervous system). The parasympathetic is the "rest and repair" system while the sympathetic is the "fight or flight" system.
When the body encounters a situation where there is a threat or a danger, the sympathetic nervous system kicks in. Basically the sympathetic nervous system stops higher level thinking and focuses on the part of the brain that is needed to solve the crisis. At the same time, the heart increases blood flow, the lungs increase oxygen and the muscles get ready to engage in a strong and powerful way. Digestion also shuts down and any unnecessary body functions that will not help the "fight or flight" response are shut down. In this state we are in a "hyper vigilant state because we are trying to assess the threat or danger.
Normally in a biological system, after the threat or danger has passed, than all systems should go back to homeostasis or balance. When we encounter trauma, what we hear, see, feel, smell or take in can become frozen in our body in some way. Take for instance someone being in a car accident and just before impact, their body freezes in place. That event is then energy which is kept within the body. Unless that energy is disapated, it remains there. As long as it remains there, it keeps the sympathetic nervous system working and does not allow the body to return to homeostasis. Once there is intervention to disapate that stored energy or frozen memory from the body, than the body is able to return to homeostasis.
In the parasympathetic nervous system, it is the rest and repair or the one that rebuilds us and heals us. Our body has a core way of knowing what to do to repair parts of ourself that are damaged. However we as a society do not alway allow ourselves to get to the place of relaxation for "rest and repair" like we should.
There is also the Enteric nervous system which was the focus of this workshop and it deals with the "gut". The gut brain as it is also called produces 95% of the serotonin found in the body. It also produces dozens of other substances like Valium and Xanax. Serotonin of course is the ecstasy neurotransmitter which is involved in depression, anxiety and fear. The enteric nervous system is a meshwork of nerve fibers that connect the viscera like the gastrointestinal tract, pancreas, and gall bladder. Even though there is one of the cranial nerves (Cranial Nerve #10 called the Vagus nerve) attached to this same area, it is not always the best and quickest conductor to the brain of what is going on. If the response is not fast enough when the body is presented with a danger or threat, the gut brain has the capability to take over and release the things that it needs to in order to deal with the stress or trauma. So much of the energy of the emotions surrounding particular events are stored in the gut. This has an adverse affect on the release of serotonin and the other substances.
There is so much more to all of this and while I have a much better understanding of it, I find it a little difficult to explain. So if I have done nothing but confused everyone, please feel free to ask me and I will try to explain more. Also check out the website called
www.traumahealing.com as there is a wealth of information there.
I am beginning to understand through this workshop just how much stress and the big whopper "trauma" affect the body. If these things are left in the body, than they affect the body in so many ways that our society just treats as "medical conditions". That's a long discussion in itself.
Don
