The Hypothalamic Pituitary Adrenal (HPA) and the sympathetic nervous system are key systems in managing threat response, and the attunement between stress physiology. The Hypothalamus is how the brain regulates the body and allows us to adapt after adverse events and/or constraining patterns of interaction.
Many describe negative events from childhood as unbearable until they just gave up. When we just give up our adaptation to this state affected our development and our nervous system. When we’ve adapted to an over stimulated environment, or never resolved over stimulation from trauma, we often remain in an hyper or hypo state of arousal. The ACE (Adverse Childhood Event) was a land mark efficacy study that demonstrates how negative events influence our health. Negative events influence our health because they affect our ability to rest, restore, and digest.
The Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS) – fast acting defense system
Body’s active, defensive reaction to imposing threats
Believed to reflect generalized alertness, arousal, or vigilance and active engagement with one’s environment
Reactivity of the SNS is shown in heightened salivary alpha-amylase (sAA) directly after the stressor
Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA) – slow acting defense (helps achieve new normal even when it’s far from it!)
Thought of as “defeat reaction,” or passive response to novel or unpredictable stressors, in particular those perceived as uncontrollable and involving high levels of distress and negative affect or social evaluative threat.
HPA activation results in elevated levels of cortisol to meet the challenge when needed, but down-regulates cortisol through a negative feedback loop when the challenge has been met.
This is how trauma affects the body and Somatic Experiencing Therapy is an a technique grounded in Affect Regulation Theory that provides a structured process to recover from trauma.
In somatic-based therapies, clinicians seek to track minute unrecognized relational cues, to help clear confusion, and identify the emotional trauma associated with these unrecognizable and unspeakable bodily sensations. Both patient and therapist orients to the nonverbal content of conversation to decipher the unconscious material, and responding emphatically both verbally and non verbally.
The process is designed to create flexibility where there has been rigidity, vitality where there has been deadness, hope where there has been hopelessness, and the overarching goal is integration and clarity.
Properly regulated emotions amplify the human organism’s capabilities and patients window of tolerance stretches to admit a wider range of positive and negative sensations. Emotional regulation enables us to contain more emotions, feel more connected to our lives, and capable to express core emotions in a manner that helps us overcome obsticles.
This type of therapeutic work does not follow linear paths. We are working with implicit bodily based emotions. Subjective memory serves no purpose in this form of therapy. If you want a form a therapy that offers clear directive and calls on will-power to modify behavior, you may feel some discomfort during this process.