“The trauma is not in the event, but in the nervous system.”
Dr. Peter A. Levine
“The trauma is not in the event, but in the nervous system.”
Dr. Peter A. Levine
Various incidents and events – such as a traffic accident, a serious illness, personal loss, childhood neglect, war, natural disasters or (sexual) violence can cause psychological trauma. The body’s intuitive response to threatening situations is flight, fight or freeze. For each of these three natural survival strategies, the body mobilises an enormous amount of energy. This energy is discharged automatically during a flight or fight response – but this is often not the case with a freeze reaction. This has consequences for the affected person: If the large amount of energy tied up in the freeze response is not discharged, e. g. by shaking it off or with the regulating support of a fellow human being, the energy remains trapped in the autonomic nervous system. The body remains in a state of alarm, it has a trauma.