Resources
Helpful Resources to learn more about Mind-body Approaches:
Trauma and the Nervous System (and strategies to work with it)
How Trauma Gets Stuck in the Body (and How to Work with It)
Trauma and the Nervous System: A Polyvagal Perspective
The Power of Showing Up
Dr. Tina Payne
Know Your Basic Trauma Response
FIGHT
A “fight” response can show up in the following ways:
-A quick flash of anger or frustration that is disproportionate to a situation.
-A raised voice and/or displaying aggressive tendencies that can be scary to those people you love.
-Overly critical tones in relationships.
FLIGHT
Flight responses can show up in these ways:
-Pretending a situation didn’t happen or just ignoring it.
-Strong feelings of wanting to “get away” and make a fresh start as a response to difficult situation.
-Leaving the room or conversation and trying to avoid any and all confrontation.
FREEZE
A "freeze" response can show up in the following ways:
-Going completely Blank and not able to articulate or express anything.
-Avoiding social engagements.
-Hoping that issues will just “go away” if I get really quiet and don’t talk about it.
-No memory of a stressful or traumatic situation that happened to you.
A Mix of Responses of Fight, flight and Freeze
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Many of us default to different responses in different situation which may look like the following:
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Tend towards fight in some situation.
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Find yourself wanting to flee in others?
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Go completely blank and shut down in others.
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Not only knowing your survival style is important for your relationships, but also it is important because our bodies are not meant to live in constant survival mode. This can lead to the breakdown of various systems such as digestive, immune, hormonal, muscular, cardiovascular, brain, etc.
Click Here to view other free resources from Irene Lyon on your survival style
EmotionAid® - Quickly release stress and trauma on the spot
https://emotionaid.tabs.design/
Complex Trauma: Understanding and Treatment, Diane Langberg
Mental Disorders and Personal Healing
Curt Thompson
How to Turn off the Fight, Flight, Freeze Response
https://therapynutshell.com/
The Church's Role in Helping Victims of Sexual Abuse and Trauma
Body Language
Curt Thompson
A Note on Supporting those with trauma
The best way to start is to grow in self-awareness of your own dysregulated Nervous System. In other words, how often do you get anxious when someone is sharing about a difficult situation or traumatic experience?
We often think that we have to fix it and so we start getting anxious about saying the right thing and giving advice. Unfortunately, we most often dismiss that person in the process. Most of the time the other person just wants to be heard and have you hold space for them to externally process some of the distress he/she is feeling and experiencing.
The best gift we can give others and our own family and friends is the ability to “show up” regulated and calm. We are created for safe connection and this allows us to grow in healthy intimacy with one another. As Dr. Tina Bryson states we all need at least one person to “show up” and help us feel “safe, seen, and soothed”. This is for adults as well as the building blocks in parenting.
