what is trauma? a response to deep stress (physical, emotional, psychological) that disrupts a being’s baseline functioning. not all stress creates trauma. not all responses to extreme stress are negative, some are adaptive. there are are ideas about disrupted memory, consciousness which does not have the evidence to accept that the threat has ended, open loops…
ideas of trauma are embedded in cultural assumptions about health, functionality, being well adapted. well adapted to what?
Dr Thomas Tijerina talks about that… https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSg1f2gKf
“trauma” shows up physiologically. there are cellular markers, epigenetic expression of chemicals in response to stressors; dna methylation, histone modification, non-coding rnas. are these necessarily negative? perhaps they’re adaptive, better allowing the individuals and their offspring to survive the stressor (eg more energy conservative metabolisms in response to famine). these epigenetic markers have been studied and documented with enthusiasm. possibly that enthusiasm is due to their discrete, purportedly objective nature. there or not.
research is coming out that the epigenetic markers of “trauma” are carried through generations.
changes to baseline physiology show up in much less precise ways. shifts in relational hormonal cascades; changes to sympathetic and autonomic drive that control breathing, circulation, digestion, cognition and sensation; changes to the tension and viscosity of the fascia which lines, coats and connects every other tissue in our body. (complex systems are hard to study in western scientific frameworks…)
are changes to these complex systems also heritable?
it is suggested yes – changes to a mother’s Hypothalamic Pituitary Adrenal (HPA) axis are mirrored in offspring. prenatal vs postnatal environment. complex, again.
these are preliminary scientific stories that are fumbling with what we know to be true experientially – displacement, extreme grief and loss, hardship, famine, war, oppression impact families through generations.
okay, so this phenomenon happens during the lifetime. it happens through familial lines.
my interest is in how permanent these changes are. in the lifetime of an individual, can a disruption to their being be resolved? can we return a person to a sense of safety after extreme threat? can we prove to their system that the threat is, now, over, and that they are safe to continue with the business of living? all sorts of yes. as a physiotherapist i am interested in the role of touch and somatic experience, somatic care, in this process of return to safety. other models start from other places, but they move in the same direction: safe to be, safe to live.
okay, so the changes to physiology (as well as psychology) that manifest after “trauma” within the lifetime can be returned to a more harmonious balance with care. can we do the same for intergenerational disruption?
why not…?
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0378378221002188
https://www.nature.com/articles/s42003-021-02255-2
