Stabilization Through and Through

There is an art to social connecting, which calms our nervous system. When we look into the eyes of our reliable friend, or furry companion, there is a stabilization that occurs. The feeling of regulation is central and identifiable.  Think of a time when you were shaken by a life event, and were able to be calmed by your pet, a friend, or a helping professional.  Remember how their tone was, or what it was about them that was able to help.  

The Neuroscience is demonstrating that we can also calm ourselves, simply by remembering or imagining.  How is it, in this moment, to recall that tone, those calm eyes, or the way they listened.  Notice how it feels to imagine befriending a kind animal, and to connect with their breath and manner of being. The bottom line is that connection is a stabilizing force for us, when we are struggling with dysregulation.

So, what is dysregulation, exactly? 

Dysregulation is a state of ‘autonomic arousal’ in the nervous system, when we become triggered by a present-day event, or a memory. It is most commonly described as fight, flight, freeze, submit, or attach.  Autonomic arousal can be hyper-arousal (fight-flight-attach) or hypo-arousal (freeze-submit), and is generally marked by reactions designed to keep us safe. We often do things in this state, which do not make sense to us afterwards, because this state supersedes our logical brain circuits. It just acts to protect us in the moment of danger. As life continues, after the fact, some of the autonomic response can become ‘unexpressed’ in our system. This unexpressed response can result in more tendency to feel dysregulated, or other symptoms associated with trauma. 

There are many ways to regulate the system during the healing process, though our safe connections with others appear to be paramount. According to Dr. Stephen Porges, trauma is the result of the freeze response enacted as a necessity to survive a life event.  His research on the Vagus nerve has shown that our social engagement system gives us an avenue for regulating back into our window of tolerance (regulated nervous system state), rather we are experiencing trauma or a trauma memory.

Many implications arise, here, in terms of creating our trauma informed world. The most empowering, being, that we can use our safe connections to regulate and heal ourselves.  If we do not yet have safe connections, we can use our imaginations to begin developing the neural circuitry. We can turn to animals or spirituality. We can love the parts of ourselves that are experiencing the trauma. We can work with a trained trauma therapist, or coach. We can be that kind person for ourselves, no matter what other messages we have been given. We can have regular visits with our other helping professionals, teachers, group members, neighbors, or other safe acquaintances. 

Another implication arising here, is the power of our first responders, doctors, nurse practitioners, nurses, medical assistants, crisis workers, and therapists to assist in co-regulating directly following a traumatic life event.  Helping professionals are often the first ‘social encounters’ people experience when they are in recent or present moment trauma.  According to Bruce Perry, “There is no more effective neurobiological intervention than a safe relationship”. Sadly, there are more than enough stories of trauma survivors who missed an experience to co-regulate in those moments following a tragedy, due to their poor treatment by a responding helping professional.  Why are well meaning helping professionals treating traumatized people poorly?

​Often, they are also in a state of dysregulated nervous system responses! 

Helping professionals are less likely to receive their own help, for many reasons.  They also are carrying vicarious trauma from weekly exposure to this intensity, throughout their careers.  They are humans, with nervous systems of their own.  And, without help, their patterns of dysregulation become more and more entrenched, or sensitive, throughout their time at work.  

In a trauma informed world, we would be focusing on the helping professionals! We would be making sure that they were supported, debriefed, co-regulated by caring supervisors and regulations, properly compensated, educated about the nervous system, taught how to notice when they are dysregulated, supported by a team of trauma informed colleagues, given time off accordingly (without stigma), and forming procedures and protocols that took into account the benefit of social engagement following certain exposures.  In this way, these individuals could be more present, socially engaged, and trauma informed within their helping roles.  

There is a circle of care that is not being met in our current social and medical paradigm.  This is impeding our progress towards a trauma informed world, through no fault of (most) healthcare workers or other professionals.  There is a system over-burdened by trauma, and in a survival mode all of its own.  We are reacting to our daily regime, without the energy required to ‘look up’ or make changes in how we do things.  However, without incorporating trauma informed knowledge we are not lessening the need but increasing it over time.  

It is my hope that we find a moment to breath, center, and come together to begin addressing these challenges as a group.  In a greater capacity of 'informed world', imagine if we could be a group supported in these tasks by our larger system. Your comments, ideas, or questions are read and greatly appreciated.  Thank you for reading, sharing the blog link, and doing your part in creating a new paradigm.  Until next time, be well and take good care. Feel free to visit the links below for more information regarding the work of Bruce Perry, Stephen Porges, and Bessel A. van der Kolk. .  

“Fire can warm or consume, water can quench or drown, wind can caress or cut. And so it is with human relationships: we can both create and destroy, nurture and terrorize, traumatize and heal each other.” (Bruce D. Perry).

Bruce Perry, PhD

Bessel van der Kolk, MD

Dr. Stephen Porges