When children are raised in homes where they feel loved, soothed and cared for, their parents are actually helping to regulate their immature nervous system. As they grow, they learn to do this on their own, and they form the ability to handle many different emotions. But when a child is neglected or abused, their nervous systems are not able to mature as they should. The result is the inability to form self-resilience.
Adult trauma can also cause problems within the nervous system. Domestic violence, assault and other traumatic events can cause adults to respond to their stressors by either shutting down or increasing physical and mental activity.
In the past, most of the focus of trauma therapy has been on helping people get in touch with their negative emotions – grief, fear and shame, for example. While there is some value to that, a lot of trauma victims are helped much more by being able to remember their strengths.
The Role of the Prefrontal Cortex in Healing from Trauma
Many trauma victims say that when they are working, volunteering or being productive in some way, they feel “like their old selves.” It is not until they are outside of those environments that they begin to feel triggered and experience shakiness, racing thoughts and some of the many other symptoms of trauma.
The prefrontal cortex plays a significant role in how the brain functions on a day-to-day basis. For trauma victims, it is “on duty” when it is called upon, which is why many people function so well while they are working. Once they are not, the prefrontal cortex pulls back and reveals a dysregulated nervous system that takes over.
Fortunately, it is possible to bring the prefrontal cortex to the forefront once again, and this can be accomplished by helping the victim to focus more on their strengths and not on their weaknesses.
Focusing on Trauma Victims’ Strengths
In her book, Healing the Fragmented Selves of Trauma Survivors, Janina Fisher explains how she helped an attorney who was struggling with not being able to eat or sleep. She was visibly shaking during the session. She explained that they needed to simply get her prefrontal cortex back online again, and encouraged the woman to simply be curious about what her body was experiencing.
Janina called upon the determination that the attorney used in the court room to help accomplish their goals. She taught the woman how to take a step back from what was happening internally and just try to understand it instead.
So much can be accomplished by focusing on a trauma victim’s strengths. Many work in successful careers, have loving families and have accomplished a great deal in their lives. By reminding them of their strengths, trauma triggers no longer have the power over them that they once did. They can enter into a state of simple curiosity and understanding, which gives them the control they thought they had lost.
Trauma therapy can be so helpful for people who have lived through horrific, traumatizing experiences. Using this and other methods, I can help you begin the healing process yourself. Please contact me for an appointment.
