Trauma is a normal reaction to an abnormal event. Trauma experiences can be events such as an accident, injury, war, natural disaster, violent attack etc. When faced with a trauma experience, a person experiences an intense emotional reaction within their minds and bodies. Although we can experience strong emotional reactions in our day to day lives, a trauma reaction is a different kind of response. 

For starters, we all have something called a Window of Tolerance. If we are functioning within our window of tolerance, we feel at ease and capable of coping with the normal daily stressors of life. We’re calm yet alert, not tired and anxious. Periods of extreme stress can move a person out of their window of tolerance and into 1 of 2 states. In a hyperaroused state, a person feels out of control, angry, fearful, panicked, racing thoughts, fast heartbeat, and muscle tension. They’re often ready to fight or run from the threat they are being confronted with. In a hypoaroused state, a person feels shutdown, paralyzed, emotionally and physically numb, empty, and disconnected from themselves and others. Both of these states are survival mechanisms that keep us safe from predators and imminent threats. But, once the threat subsides, we move back into our window of tolerance. However, sometimes that doesn’t happen, and our window of tolerance narrows, so people and places we once found tolerable and safe now bring about discomfort and fear.  

Everyone’s window of tolerance differs, so a traumatic experience to one person may not be a traumatic experience to another. Genetic predisposition, temperament, and/or environmental factors all effect how we perceive and make sense of threats. When people aren’t able to make sense of a traumatic event, it can cause fragmentation in cognitive memories and emotional (body) memories leaving the person confused about what actually happened, the part they played in the experience, and what that experience means to them. Furthermore, fragmentation can cause significant disruption in one’s life emotionally and physically until reworked over time or reprocessed in a safe environment.