Retreat after injury – how trauma gets stuck in the body – By Sergio Ocampo LMFT, SEP
How often have we experienced a desire to retreat to a safe place when we feel hurt? Even when we accidentally nick ourselves while using a kitchen knife, we want to hastily push it all away, stop and move to a place of safety. This is a deeply held instinct often seen in the wild. An animal that becomes injured, crawls away, to hide, to assess and remain silent. Being obviously disabled in the wild can mean becoming pray to opportunist species or exposed to other dangers. Herein lies an ancient instinct observable across the natural world. Human beings are no exception.
Withdrawing after injury or something that feels this way, drives us to retreat, and “shell-up”; in effect, taking our presences away from our environment. This deep seated instinct affects how we internally experience overwhelming events.
When something overwhelming happens and we become wounded, whether physically or emotionally, we immediately seek the comfort of retreat to a safe refuge – to a place that offers shelter. This may be our personal area in our homes, vehicle, office, or any sheltered space where we feel safety. There is where we can assess, regroup and perhaps, discharge our emotional reactions.
Often, we do not get to retreat. Events often happen fast. The impulse to rush away from the adverse experience may be thwarted or delayed. We then do not get to complete a process of releasing the emotional charge of the event.
When we successfully retreat, withdraw – escape – we take the first step in releasing the charge of the event.
Wild mammals are able to escape and retreat, and then begin to discharge, “shake-off” the overwhelming event. In this way trauma is not allowed to set in.
Humans, on the other side, may often retreat rapidly. Our minds take over to make sense of the event. The normal bodily discharge of the event may be so over-ridden. The natural process of bodily discharge is ground to halt. The internal nervous system activation remains untouched and unaddressed. The mind effectively interrupts the body’s process of releasing the stress of the event. We override this mechanism and retreat into our large brains, seeking meaning and peace there.
An overwhelming event that is not discharged organically by the body, may become chronic dysregulation in the nervous system. This can show up as emotional and physical issues.
Indeed, the Escape Reflex plays a very important role in traumatizing events. As it is spontaneous, it over-rides our conscious decision making. Once escape or retreat is successful, even if the environment posed no additional threat, it frequently results in not discharging the event and is effects being trapped in our bodies. This, because our immediate desire to make meaning of the event with our minds.
What ideally should we do when someone experiences an overwhelming event? A first step is to approach and support the person, offering a sense of safety. By providing a momentary safe haven with our own inner calm and warmth, the affected individual can begin to feel settled. When this happens, the body will spontaneously begin a sequence of behaviors and movements to discharge the internalized activation. By simply inviting the person to “notice their body” and “allow the body to do exactly what it wants”, a great deal of unwinding of the shock of the event can occur, thus avoiding being traumatized.
The Escape Reflex is a fundamental mechanism in avoiding injury and retreating to safety. Our sophisticated brains then take over, forgetting a deeper, more instinctual process. This process is the natural unwinding of overwhelming events. Making sense of what just occurred is the priority for our minds. We must then become more aware of our older impulses as these are most important in deactivating an intense experience. Our body’s wisdom should be given room to do what it knows in keeping internal harmony .
Sergio Ocampo specializes in the use of Somatic Experiencing and EMDR to help his clients resolve past difficult and overwhelming experiences. His practice is located in Los Angeles, California.
Copyright Sergio Ocampo – 2019