The Trauma file in the brain is not selective-when something happens to trigger those feelings of fear, shock, terror, and anxiety-no matter how big or small, it is connected to the entire network of images, emotions, and events that created the Trauma file in the first place. This is why sometimes women will react to situations that may seem unrelated to the actual trauma: seeing a woman on the street who resembles someone my husband acted out with, hearing a song on the radio about lust, seeing billboards with scantily-clad women, being in places where I have specific memories of times that I now know happened when my husband was lying to me, places associated with my discovery of the betrayals, calendar dates associated with past betrayals….all of these situations have triggered trauma reactions in me. It stores all of this information in a file titled, “Stuff That Might Mean You Are About to Die.” When anything happens in the course of everyday life that the brain picks up as being possibly associated with anything stored in this file, it releases the limbic system Emergency Crew immediately, blowing sirens and calling out the dogs. With trauma, the brain has care fully recorded the exact details of every aspect of the situation. The limbic system has registered to this woman “Your (spiritual, mental, emotional, financial, relationship, even physical) life is in danger! Run! Hide! Fig ht! Protect!” Anything it can come up with to help her survive. The limbic system is programmed for survival and it beats the pre-frontal cortex to the punch every time. ![]() When the limbic system begins to drive, all logic goes out the window. When such a wound happens, (a woman discovers that her husband is betraying her, that the reality she had believed in and built her life on is a lie) the brain reacts by activating the limbic system, the “survival” part of the brain. Jill Manning explains “ Betrayal trauma occurs when someone we depend on for survival, or are significantly attached to, violates our trust in a critical way.” It is also for all of us “crazy women,” who are sometimes just as clueless as anybody else about what we are going through.īetrayal Trauma is a mental injury, a psychic wound, that is most relatable to PTSD, the mental disorder that is rampant among post-war veterans. My post today is aimed most directly to explain Trauma to people who have not experienced it, to help them understand what is really going on with this “crazy woman,” and thus be more equipped to help her. Those of us who have experienced Betr ayal Trauma know the answers to these questions all too well. So, what is Betrayal Trauma? Is it even a real thing? Shouldn’t women just be “getting over” it? So were all of the family members, friends, church leaders, and general psychiatrists who were trying to help me. Let’s just say when I was stuck face-down at rock bottom I was not googling the term, “Betrayal Trauma.” I had never heard those words before in my life and I was completely clueless that I was suffering from it. ![]() Unfortunately, however, it often takes people who are suffering much longer than they would have liked to find us. ![]() This week’s blog post may seem basic enough after all, SA Lifeline is a community of women seeking recovery from Betrayal Trauma.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |