Trauma and PTSD

Post-traumatic emotional dysregulation

Psychological trauma, especially when complex or repeated, fundamentally alters the nervous system's ability to regulate emotion.

Survivors often oscillate between hyperarousal (irritability, panic, flashbacks) and hypoarousal (numbness, dissociation), living outside their "window of tolerance."

Unprocessed trauma keeps the brain in a state of perpetual emergency, where harmless stimuli from the present trigger archaic survival responses.

Therapy recognizes that these symptoms-often misdiagnosed as personality problems-are biological adaptations to an environment that was dangerous.

The initial goal is not to relive the past, but to restore physiological safety in the present by reducing extreme reactivity to reminders of the trauma.

Mindfulness adaptations for hypervigilance.

Although mindfulness is a powerful tool, in the context of trauma it requires specific precautions.

For a hypervigilant brain, focusing attention inward (such as observing breathing or bodily sensations) can be frightening or trigger painful somatic memories, causing a flood of anxiety.

Therefore, initial practices focus on the outside: observing colors, textures, or sounds of the immediate environment.

This helps anchor the individual in the safety of the "here and now," preventing dissociation and flashbacks.

It teaches differentiation between the safe present reality and the memory of past danger, using the senses to verify that the threat is no longer present.

Stabilization as a prerequisite for processing.

Before addressing the trauma narrative or attempting to process painful memories (Phase 2), it is imperative to establish a solid foundation of stability (Phase 1).

Attempting to "heal" trauma without emotional regulation skills is like performing surgery without anesthesia and sterilization; it can be re-traumatizing.

The priority is to eliminate risky behaviors (suicide, self-harm), ensure a safe living environment and learn to handle emotional crises without falling apart.

Only when the individual possesses the capacity to tolerate discomfort and regulate his or her arousal, can one safely proceed to the exposure and processing of traumatic events, ensuring that ther