38 What are trauma reactions ?
TO THE TRAINER
PART II : THE TRAINING
What are trauma reactions ?
Aim . To explain and understand how people react in traumatic situations .
Biological mechanisms
This session focuses on how people respond to traumatic experiences . Start by explaining the notion of automatic ‘ survival reactions ’ because the ways we react to dangerous or overwhelming situations can be understood as ‘ strategies ’ designed to help us survive . The main reactions or survival ‘ strategies ’ that human beings display when faced with life-threatening events are :
• Fight .
• Flight .
• Freeze .
• ‘ Playing dead ’/ submission .
When a traumatic event occurs that threatens life , we cease to process events in the usual way . We no longer store our emotions , feelings , and perceptions of the situation in the cerebrum , as we usually do , but process them at a ‘ deeper ’ level . This can produce the ‘ primitive ’ defence responses mentioned above .
Explain to the group what these concepts mean . Try to demonstrate the reactions , showing that all these things happen in the “ mid-brain ” ( the purple part of the brain ).
Fight You experience a strong physiological reaction without mental planning . Flight
Freeze
You feel less contact with the ground ; your body mobilises to run as fast as it can , without thinking or planning .
Flight and fight are impossible , energy levels are intense but the body is immobilised . Some parts of the defence-action system work by immobilising as a strategy : freezing ( for example , rigid muscle tone and analgesia , tonic immobility ).
‘ Playing dead ’ When no other options are available , submission or ‘ playing dead ’ may be the final survival strategy .
We do not register these defence responses consciously , which speeds up our reaction time ( and thereby improves our chances of survival ). As we have noted , our reactions after a trauma are also very different .
The drawing shows different patterns of reactions in the brain . It illustrates the activities of the different parts of the brain , schematically .
TEACHING INSTRUCTION . Note the following :
• The body remembers .
• The body reacts as if the event is happening again .
• We are talking about reactions that the person cannot control .