Trauma = Memory?
Is Trauma an emotion charged Memory?
Human cultures tend to judge a surrender in the face of an overwhelming threat as cowardice. They fear and avoid it because it is a state very similar to death, but in fact it is the strongest survival response, because if you completely relax you may live long enough to exercise another option.
Physiological evidence shows that the ability to immediately and completely come out of the state of ‘freeze’ is the key to avoiding the debilitating effects of trauma. No Whiplash is the result of a Surrender response to a sudden accident.
Imagine the feeling of helplessness during an automobile accident or rollercoaster ride. Faced with an inescapable or overwhelming shock and threat, humans and animals both use the inaction, freeze, or helplessness response.
Both stress and anxiety related response input from various sensors in the body is sent to our ‘Reptilian‘ and ‘Limbic‘ part of our brains. They are primitive, instinctual parts of our brains, that are not under our conscious control.
This input is then sent over the neural network to the right ‘Frontal Cortex’. This part orchestrates a response, based on the implications for survival, reward and punishment.