As children, certain things may have occurred - neglect, abuse, an inconsistency that felt threatening, etc. As children, we create patterns of relating to ourselves, those we are in relationships with, and the world, in order to keep us safe and protected when trauma has taught us that we can survive no other way. These adaptations are in a sense, a child’s view of what a strong adult, an adult who would not be scared, threatened or weak, would be like. We call these adaptations defences, they defend the wounded child from further emotional harm.

Psychological defences are incredibly creative processes that illustrate the amazing self-preservation that lies at the core of the human condition. They are created in crisis, for crisis. What happens however is two-fold, first, a nervous system responding to trauma is activated in such a way that it needs specific things to restore it. If those things do not occur, the nervous system is in effect over-activated, thus the system still feels as though the crisis is happening, thus the defence is still in play. Second, given the brain loves a pattern, anything that seems as though it may be of threat will activate the defence and this will happen more and more.

So what started in crisis, for crisis, becomes something that is used frequently. And as this happens, the feedback loop continues, the brain and body and mind continue to feel as though there is a threat and so respond accordingly. And as the response in the body is activated, the mind says, yes! We have every reason to be scared/threatened/vigilant - see the world isn’t safe! And so it goes.

It used to be that clinicians understood trauma as a single catastrophic event. Complex trauma refers to multiple traumas suffered over time. This can include developmental traumas that occur in childhood, or may include experiences in adulthood such as domestic abuse.
Both developmental and complex trauma, unlike a single event such as an accident, war, or another one-off unexpected event, often take place within intimate relationships with people that we are supposed to trust. It is this that makes these particular kinds of trauma, so devastating and why, with good, safe and effective therapy - so much trust, in self and other, can be restored.

Threats perception system is enhanced - the primitive part of the brain becomes fear driven. A filtering system that determines what is relevant right now and what isn’t gets disrupted - it becomes difficult to engage in. The self-sensing system (midline structure in the brain) gets blunted - either through self-medicating or disassociation.

Developmental trauma refers to experiences within childhood (for example neglect or abuse) that leaves the individual with responses to self, others and the environment that are defended and limited in their scope. It will also leave the individual with affective and physiological dysregulation, and/or attentional and behavioural dysregulation or self and relational dysregulation.

We all have a ‘window of tolerance’ a comfort zone within which we feel as though we can handle our feelings and to some extent regulate our nervous system. Trauma can impact our window of tolerance, making it smaller and smaller. We might move into HYPERarousal or HYPOarousal. Hyperarousal is when you feel out of control in some way. You may anxious or angry and definitely feel overwhelmed within your body and mind. You may have the urge to fight or run away. You do not feel a sense of choice about this, it just happens. In hyperarousal, you are also feeling overwhelmed and have a flash of fear, anxiety or anger before growing completely zoned out, numb or frozen. In this state, your body starts to shut down and you begin to withdraw, as with hyperarousal, you do not feel a sense of choice about this, it just happens.

Whether chronic stress or earlier trauma has begun to shrink your window of tolerance, when you exist with a tiny window of “ok-ness” quite a lot can throw you off balance and into a defended trauma response.

Good therapy can help you to expand your window of tolerance.