Childhood trauma is what you will hear therapists call Developmental Trauma or Early Trauma. It’s the experiencing of trauma while a child is also in the process of brain and physical development. Our brain, our cells, our nervous system. And therefore, needs to be approached not just from a point of talking about one’s experiences, but also creating an internal capacity to process one’s experience.
The capacity to create flow in the mind and body and allow us to feel emotions and sensations, and have the ability regulate it at the same time.
With childhood, or developmental trauma, there is often a constant state of bracing. Bracing for danger at any moment to be ready to protect yourself. In other words, living in continuous Survival Mode. Survival mode eventually can create a pattern of being in a Functional Freeze state later in life and we may not even realize it.
Imagine pressing the gas and brake on a car at the same time. We go to work, get tasks done, pay bills, parent. But throughout the day, we’re holding our breath, tightening our muscles, distracting and/or suppressing to not feel all the yucky things that feel hard and scary.
Some clients describe it as feeling they “have to be on,” around others. When they get home, they feel exhausted or drained mentally and physically. Functional freeze can also, overtime, lead to chronic pain and other medical conditions.
BUT YOUR BODY IS A MIRACLE
Just as your body can protect you by turning on the survival mode from childhood trauma, it can also re-learn, re-shape, and re-wire. It will take time but is possible.
As an EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) therapist, I have seen such amazing transformations in clients. But I also know that if you have been in survival mode due to on-going trauma from childhood, you will need to build capacity and awareness of your nervous system and how to regulate it. This will help you benefit more with the process of EMDR therapy and experience it’s amazing abilities for healing.
My approach to healing childhood, or developmental, trauma is combining Somatic therapy and EMDR to give you healing that is transformational.
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