"The body responds to extreme experiences by secreting stress hormones. These are often blamed for subsequent illness and disease. However stress hormones are meant to give us the strength and endurance to respond to extraordinary conditions. People who actively do something to deal with a disaster&mdashrescuing loved ones or strangers transporting people to a hospital being part of a medical team pitching tents or cooking meals&mdashutilize their stress hormones for their proper purpose and therefore are at much lower risk of becoming traumatized. Nonetheless everyone has his or her breaking point and even the best-prepared person may become overwhelmed by the magnitude of the challenge.
Helplessness and immobilization keep people from utilizing their stress hormones to defend themselves. When that happens their hormones still are being pumped out but the actions they&rsquore supposed to fuel are thwarted. Eventually the activation patterns that were meant to promote coping are turned back against the organism and now keep fueling inappropriate fight/flight and freeze responses. In order to return to proper functioning this persistent emergency response must come to an end. The body needs to be restored to a baseline state of safety and relaxation from which it can mobilize to take action in response to real danger.
My friends and teachers Pat Ogden and Peter Levine have each developed powerful body-based therapies sensorimotor psychotherapy and somatic experiencing to deal with this issue." Dr. Bessel van der Kolk 📸 @nonfictionbookclub_ #thebodykeepsthescore #besselvanderkolk #ptsd #cptsd #somaticexperiencing #sensorymotorpsychotherapy #sensoryintegration #affectregulation #bodyworker #emdr #somatictherapy #anxiety #hypervigilance #panicdisorder #depression #dissociation #bpd #alcoholaddiction #addiction #bingeeating #cutting #bodyawareness #traumainformedyoga
