In trauma, the body’s alarm systems turn on and then never quite turn off. And we experience the intense suffering of never truly feeling relaxed, at ease in life, always intensely on guard, with the primitive brain constantly scanning for threat or opportunity. Our inner sentry is always on watch. We cannot sleep. Our trust in the rightness of thi

Our nervous systems typically look to the presence of others as a way of co-regulating and healing. But during the pandemic, what was normally a source of healing was reframed as a potentially deadly threat. We were told to avoid socializing. Avoid hugging. Avoid sharing meals with others.

Autistic people have a reduced sense of the body’s warning signals, or interoception.[31]