One of the most human things about being human is our ability to choose. We can choose what we do, what we feel, what we say, and what we perceive. Trauma is the perception, sometimes the accurate perception, that we have lost our ability to choose.
When I, speaking with clients and discussing trauma the simple example I use is being in a tornado. If you are in a tornado your choices become very limited. There is nothing you can do to stop the wind or the damage it can do.
Other traumas feel the same way as a tornado, it feels like your choices are taken away. This definition seems to work with most types of trauma, be it abuse or witnessing violence or being neglected. It feels like someone or something else is in charge. When this happens our brains, our whole body responds by putting us in the sympathetic response (commonly called the fight or flight response).
When our sympathetic response is engaged not only does it feel like we are not in control from an outside source, but our body also does some things automatically that make trauma hard to process later. A very common experience for someone in trauma is to have tunnel vision. This happens because the body is designed to get out of trauma as quickly as possible, so we look for the quickest route out. Unfortunately we too often get stuck in the tunnel vision and don’t really see a way out. When this happens another aspect of trauma is missing information. People who’ve experienced trauma will often dwell on the trauma and even experience nightmares and flashbacks. This happens because our brain is searching for the missing information, to complete the puzzle in a way.
Neurofeedback can help the brain get unstuck from trauma and the fight or flight response. EMDR is effective in filling in the missing information we experience as a result of tunnel vision. That is why we use both in the healing journey at Treasure Valley Neurotherapy.
God Bless,
Sarah
