Welcoming A Conversation on Ethics in the Healing of Traumatic Experience.
Trigger Warning: Trauma Survivors, Sexual Trauma, Addiction, Somatic Therapy.
Fascial, visceral, and neural restrictions can, and do impact the trauma healing process and emotional regulation via the bidirectional communication pathway of the vagus nerve complex. Integrating modalities that responsibly address this leads to a gentler, more supportive, and efficient treatment plan of care. For the client, this can create a more attuned ability to self regulate, and a greater sense of self-sovereignty in the healing process. From my experience, integrating this awareness and the theory and techniques that address inherent energetic imbalance into the plan of care, minimizes the tendency for co-dependent trauma bonds to be formed as a part of the healing process.
One aspect of the Polyvagal Theory that I disagree with is the assumption that co-regulation, or the process of regulating emotions in the presence of another, is required to build autonomic and emotional resilience. I believe it is not necessary, or required, for an adult nervous system to find emotional regulation through a process of co-regulation. I have found that the adult nervous system that has experienced the negative effects of complex trauma and chronic stress, needs to be able to self-regulate, before it is able to truly co-regulate. I do however, think that within a developing nervous system, that of a child or adolescent, the necessity for co-regulation with another regulated nervous system, is beneficial to help “program” the ability to self regulate into the developing neural structure.
The explanation given in the previous post (Part 1) for the “second layer of freeze response,” described by the client I was consulting with, would be likened to the references within the Polyvagal Theory describing the Jacksonian concept of “dissolution” The prolonged dissociated “freeze” state that was happening beyond the client's conscious perception, would be associated with a process Dr. Stephen Porges refers to as “neuroception.” This concept is described in detail, relative to the Five Elements, within the book, 'The Tao of the Polyvagal Theory: A Five Element Perspective for a Future of Healing the Spirit and Balancing the Autonomic Nervous System.1
Through the many SE sessions that this client participated in over years, their nervous system was finally triggered into a state of what Dr. Porges calls “interoception,” where the internal experience was eventually brought back into the conscious fold, with the client becoming aware of the internal experience of anxiety, but this state change happened before the body was able to energetically handle this awareness. As mentioned previously, the SE sessions could have been actually keeping the client in a state of dorsal vagal parasympathetic reaction, due to the triggering nature of the sessions, and the fact that the nervous system was not aligned to efficiently process the flow of energy that was created, resulting in dissolution. The strategic triggering of the trauma response by replaying parts of the original trauma, the reliving of parts of the traumatic past event as it was experienced, is what the SE method calls “titration.”
When I suggested this explanation to the client, that possibly the SE sessions had been keeping them in a state of reaction to the traumatic experiences they had been internalizing from early childhood, and that the new feelings they were having were another level of triggering in the trauma response, they immediately went into a very defensive posture, and started talking about how much the therapist and Somatic Experiencing therapy had helped them, and how they “loved” their therapist. I then suggested that perhaps the SE sessions could be beneficial, but for this client's personal experience, perhaps their nervous system was just not ready for the activation that the SE sessions initiated. The client then paused to consider what I was saying, and agreed that possibly this could have been the case. A greater sense of calm seemed to come over them in that moment after considering how that concept resonated within their nervous system.
Always, for the past 4 years since I started having this conversation of ethics in trauma informed care; inquiring whether somatic therapies as they have been taught and practiced up until now, is actually good for the healing process, or potentially an additional trauma for some; I am met with one of two responses, in a nutshell: 1) defensiveness and justification of the practice and therapy as revolutionary in ways, even from people that have themselves described having a very difficult time with receiving the therapies; as well as a praise and affectionate reverence for their somatic therapist. Or 2) a confirmation that the therapies have been indeed disruptive, did not feel “right,” and in hind sight may have not productive, at best; and at worst, an additional trauma for these clients to process and integrate.
Some people described the somatic therapies that they received as being traumatic in and of themselves, having had to relive certain details of the foundational experience. Within the conversations I have had, the latter response is the overwhelming majority experience had by people of color, as well as those in the LGBTQ communities. Often these demographics have complex childhood development dynamics that can contribute to these therapies not being experienced as supportive or helpful for their nervous systems, likely due to the power over control dynamics inherent within a therapy structure that relies on the therapist triggering a trauma response within the client. Of course this discussion has much more nuance, but in an effort to distill it for the purpose of a short article, I feel this basis gets the point across.
No doubt, therapies such as Somatic Experiencing and other somatic methods are helpful to many, but for those with a significant history of complex childhood trauma, I have observed overwhelmingly that these therapies need to be considered with more depth and awareness to the historical experience of the client, as well as the neural canvas of resilience within the body on an anatomical and physical level. The utmost care must be taken to not intentionally trigger the nervous system into an experience of the trauma that it has been carrying, if the body's physical system is not appropriately aligned to handle the flow of energy and emotion that these therapies initiate.
You cannot heal trauma with more trauma, and everyone's trauma is part of their life story. The goal should be not to “release” trauma from the body, but to integrate it, from a trauma inspired place of understanding, support, and welcome. By guiding our client's nervous systems away from the perspective of victim, and into the knowing that they are not what has happened to them, they may be able to come back into occupying their self and their body through a space that has been made welcome by a gentle understanding, and unwavering support for their journey. We as trauma inspired therapists, may be able to lead our clients along, some not so distant day, to their own answers and a discovery of how strong and stable they really are.
Recovery does not have to take years. It does not have to be painful, it does not have to be a stress in and of itself. It just needs to be intentionally supportive, and lifting, from a place of inspired understanding and awareness, to be effective.
We can absolutely be doing this better, and now is a great time for the evolution and advancement of the practice forward, toward trauma inspired care.
More detail and nuance to this discussion will be addressed in the next part of this three part article. Please stay tuned. If you would like to join in this discussion or learn the new Five Element theories discussed in the 'Mining the Gap' series of articles, please visit: www.elementaladvancedmt.com/courses for more information and to join The elementalAdvanced Method community.
1. Keane, Nicole Rachelle. The Tao of the Polyvagal Theory: A Five Element Perspective for a Future of Healing the Spirit and Balancing the Autonomic Nervous System. Gratitude Healing Arts, LLC; 2021
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