In an Unspoken Voice: How the Body Releases Trauma and Restores Goodness

Orthopedic patients in a recent study, for example, showed a 52% occurrence of being diagnosed with full-on PTSD following surgery.

This preparation for action was absolutely essential on the ancient savannahs, and it is “discharged” or “used up” by all-out, meaningful action. In

We are “scared stiff.” In human beings, unlike in animals, the state of temporary freezing becomes a long-term trait.

the same psychophysiological systems that govern the traumatic state also mediate core feelings of goodness and belonging.

was simply not an option—could have entrapped me. My global activation was “all dressed up with nowhere to go.”

I will explain how our nervous system has evolved a hierarchical structure, how these hierarchies interact, and how the more advanced systems shut down in the face of overwhelming threat, leaving brain, body and psyche to their more archaic functions.

What ethologists call tonic immobility—the paralysis and physical/emotional shutdown that characterize the universal experience of helplessness in the face of mortal danger—comes to dominate

Since time immemorial, people have attempted to cope with powerful and terrifying feelings by doing things that contradict perceptions of fear and helplessness: religious rituals, theater, dance, music, meditation and

This capacity is especially important when we are frightened or injured.

Trauma is not what happens to us, but what we hold inside in the absence of an empathetic witness.