I’m Dysregulated! What? – by Sergio Ocampo LMFT, SEP
Speaking of trauma, perhaps a more appropriate term for the effects of overwhelming events would be simply Dysregulation. By definition, it describes an abnormality or impairment in a living system.
Indeed, when we are exposed to experiences of short of long duration that affect us emotionally, there is inevitably a physiological component.
Our nervous system is a living, fungible, ever adapting system. The environment shapes its perception and reaction to outside stimuli.
When a child learns how to bounce a ball on the floor, her entire nervous system is engaged to flex and extend a variety of muscles. These in turn insure that balance is kept and necessary tasks are completed.
When we bounce a ball on the ground, we don’t think about it. When we first learn to bounce a ball, our brains motor system deposits memories and motor functions like a computer program. This procedural memory is automatically brought up without having the need to recall exactly was muscles we must use. Our nervous system is adapted to learn what it is thought. It is simple and ready to act at any moment.
Similarly, our experiences of distressing situations cause reactions of self-defense, fighting back or simply collapsing. This is the classic fight, flight and freeze automatic response our bodies enact to avoid potentially life threatening danger. It is an ancient system, dating back to the first fish in the ocean and extending to modern apes. It keeps us alive when there is no time to stop and think what to do next.
If we are crossing at a cross walk and suddenly a car invades our path, our reactions are quick. We bend our body away and attempt to jump out of the way. We have no time to think whether the driver will see us, or what kind of car it is; or if it is being done on purpose. We simply react. This is our autonomous nervous system in action.
As we are faced with potential injury, imminent attack by a predator, both human or animal, our systems have evolved to react immediately.
Our large brains process information that allow us to adapt to our environment and survive. However, when faced with a potential threat, it is too slow to react. In fact, our autonomous nervous system is about half a second faster than our thinking brain. It is able to react in time to potentially save one from potential injury or even death.
The part of our brains that is dedicated to this protective system it’s very core. It composed of the Amygdala, Hippocampus, Hypothalamus, and. Pituitary gland. This area is frequently referred to as our Emotional Brain.
The amygdala and hippocampus are intimately connected. The amygdala acts as an alarm. The hippocampus stores cursory memories which roughly outline potential threats and is used by the amygdala to assess whether something is dangerous or not.
When we detect something sudden or unusual in our environment, our amygdala immediately pick up the visual and other sensory information. It then compares this sensory information to any threat memories in the hippocampus. If it finds a match, it will set off the fight/flight system into action to either avoid or confront. If the stimulus is new and sufficiently “scary”, the amygdala will also signal to set off the fight/flight mechanism immediately.
So, what does this have to do with nervous system dysregulation?
When we are exposed to situation in our lives which arouse us to a point where we feel helpless, overwhelmed, stresses and powerless, our emotional brain becomes involved.
Picture a child being screamed at by an adult. This child will inevitably react to the situation with high activation in his emotional brain. She will feel threatened, helpless, and emotional. Her autonomous nervous system will be highly active in an effort to flee or fight back. As the child is incapable of pushing away or fighting back and angry adult, she simply submits. It is an automatic survival mechanism.
A one-time incident may be shaken off healed over time. Some will not.
If the child is not able to somehow return to feelings of safety, her system may get stuck in a hyper-aroused state. This can become an intrinsic pattern, ‘stuck’ in the ‘on’ position, constantly ready to flee or fight. If the event is challenging and intense enough that the nervous system may get stuck in the moment of maximum fright. This may last a lifetime for some.
The long-term effect of stuck stressful situations is termed nervous system dysregulation or emotional dysregulation.
Dysregulation over time may show up as emotional distress, hypervigilance, disconnection from others, and even chronic disease.
In fact, distress actually lives in our bodies. The leftovers of overwhelming situations leave our system stuck in an ongoing, never ending stress response. The strong physical component could range from feelings anxiety all the way to PTSD symptoms.
Our advanced brains will attempt to make meaning of distressing bodily sensations. It may think that we are afraid, sad, or shut down. These basic human emotions translate to anxiety and depression, the hallmark of so much human emotional suffering.
Emotional issues when seen from the point of view of nervous system dysregulation can accurately explain anxiety and depression. The very fact that the core issue may lie in the body means that the answer to healing these disturbances lies in the body itself. Herein, somatic therapies are invaluable.
Somatic therapy is based on the knowledge that long term emotional distress is body borne. The autonomous nervous system, with its strong survival impulses, being a primary source of symptoms. It naturally follows that addressing these sources in the body is the most direct and intelligent way to begin healing.
A Somatic therapist seeks to illicit internal responses related to emotional content. These can then be slowed down, re-negotiated and re-integrated. In this process, the nervous system begins to repair (re-wire) towards feelings of well-being and safety.
While our minds are extremely important to how we see, and feel the world, our bodies also play a major role in our emotional well-being. We should strongly consider looking at our most primitive core for significant answers to healing our emotional difficulties.
Sergio Ocampo specializes in the use of Somatic Experiencing and EMDR to help his clients resolve past difficult and overwhelming experiences