PTSD & EMDR

What Is Post Traumatic Stress?

Many commonly identify traumatic events as war, death and sexual assault as the main events that cause PTSD. However, there are several more subtle forms of trauma that are perceived by the individual as life threatening,causing PTSD.

When the brain registers any event as life-threatening, the body records and stores these specific memories, changing the lens in which one experiences the world. A "trigger" is when any association with that event, sends the brain an urgent message "Life is in danger!" In defense, the body shoots stress hormones for fight, flight or freeze. What makes this condition PTSD is the body’s response continues to activate in present day through these triggers, flashbacks, etc. EMDR treatment files the memory away in long term memory so it no longer triggers.

This reaction from the body, can cause symptoms of deep shame, fear, sleep disturbance, nightmares/flashbacks, hyperawareness, hormone imbalances and physical fatigue. The brain’s response is meant to help and keep a person safe, but over time it may cause less tolerance for stress, overly intense feelings and reactions to what used to be a tolerable situation. EMDR therapy has been shown to neutralize or heal the clinical mental health issues that are causing these symptoms: anxiety, panic disorder, phobias, general medical disorders, bereavement and post traumatic stress disorder.

Its important to acknowledge that the trauma response can also be triggered while in emotional distress, socially ostracized, spiritually fearful, etc. Your ego or protective part is then fortified, because the ego equates change, isolation and smallness/insignificance as life threatening.

To the left are some specific issues that may not often be named as “trauma” or PTSD, but still fall into the category of trauma because of how the individual perceived these events as life threatening.