The pandemic of COVID-19 challenges our lives on many levels. We struggle to keep up with familiar routines. We worry about our health, the wellbeing of our loved ones, and the economy. We wonder how long it will take until life returns to “normal”, or whether life will be permanently changed.
Our brains rely on a system of short-cuts called “Fast-Thinking” to help us process life without becoming overloaded. However, when the speed and volume of changes going on around us overwhelm our brain, we are at risk for a trauma response.
What is Fast-Thinking?
Look at this picture. What’s going on? What emotion do you see here? It won’t take you more than a few seconds to automatically respond. Your intuition and emotions help you to read faces and social cues, cook your favorite dishes, drive carpool, read with comprehension and enjoyment, follow procedures, and so on.
What is Slow Thinking?
Now solve this math problem: 91×62. Most of us will have to stop and think about how to solve this problem. We might have an idea of how big or small the answer is, but the exact answer will require active thinking. Examples of slow thinking include driving at night on the highway alongside trucks, learning a new language, and addressing family disputes.
Is this trauma?
Trauma has many definitions. Saakvitne tells us that trauma is a uniquely individual experience. It can be one event, like a terrorist attack or it can be ongoing events, as in wartime, or living in a dangerous neighborhood. Family violence, whether it’s child abuse or neglect, or witnessing violence is traumatic. No matter how big the event, what makes it traumatic, is the inability to stay present, to understand what’s happening, to integrate the experience, to understand that it’s over. It causes the individual to feel that there is a threat to life, bodily integrity, or sanity.
How might trauma affect my children?
Children are dependent on their caregivers. Research indicates that children can be traumatized in a variety of ways, including frightened or frightening caregivers, neglect, separation, abandonment, witnessing domestic violence, parental fighting, threatening words or behavior, accidents, medical crises, and loss of a parent or parent figure.
What are the symptoms of trauma?
Survivors of trauma might have depression, chronic irritability, decreased interest, numbing, insomnia, difficulty concentrating, nightmares, chronic physical pain, eating disorders, substance abuse, suicidality and self-harm.
Why do my body and mind respond to trauma with these symptoms?
The symptoms of trauma are evidence of adaptation to trauma. When a person is faced with a threat, the sympathetic nervous system initiates the fight or flight response. The body releases adrenaline, which increases heart rate and breathing, the muscles tense, and the body experiences increased energy. Slow thinking shuts down so the body can move more quickly.
If fighting or running isn’t possible, the parasympathetic nervous system initiates the freeze or submit response. Chemicals are released to slow down the heart rate and breathing, which cause loss of energy, shaking, and increased gut activity.
We can’t stop our stress response, That’s our system’s way of surviving. We can notice what’s going on sooner than later, and respond with compassion and care.