Stress and Trauma
It has long been understood that our minds and bodies respond to stress
and trauma in precise physiological ways, often referred to as the ‘fight or
flight’ response. Our nervous systems instinctively activate specific mechanisms designed to protect us, helping to insure our survival.

Click here to learn more about Fight or Flight?

Getting ‘stuck’
Typically, we rebound back to ‘normal’ after the stressful incident or challenge has passed. For many of us, however, either the stress occurs over a long enough period of time, or the trauma is severe enough that our nervous systems actually get stuck in a constant state of ‘survival.’ This is a form of post-traumatic stress.

Being ‘stuck’
To whatever degree we are stuck in ‘fight or flight,’ our nervous systems, by definition, must prioritize our survival first. Subconsciously, much of our energy is spent maintaining the perceived safety and security of the status quo.

Once stuck in this protected posture, we are no longer able to function to our fullest potential. Most of us remain stuck for years (often the rest of our lives) with new stresses and challenges only aggravating the problem. Everyone adapts differently, but some of the more common symptoms of being stuck include:

• Difficulty handling stress
• Reduced concentration and/or mental performance
• Difficulty with everyday tasks, especially when stressed or multi-tasking
• Being overly reactive, hypersensitive or defensive
• Being less receptive to or capable of change
• Having a limited perspective, and difficulty seeing the ‘big picture’
• Feeling frustrated, stuck or overwhelmed
• Therapies progressing slowly

For more emotional and physical symptoms Click:

“But, I’ve always been this way!”
Many people know they are functioning less efficiently than they had in the
past. They can remember a time prior to the car accident, troubled relationship, stressful job, death of a loved one, etc., when they were functioning more normally.

But if the stress or trauma occurs at an early enough age, often there is no obvious ‘before and after’ frame of reference. Or when stress occurs over a
long enough period of time, there is often no recognition that performance has gradually suffered.

These people are unaware that their ability to function is being limited by the way their nervous system responded to stresses and traumas years earlier.
They think, “that’s just the way I am!”

Before treatment, each person gets to see this graphical measure of how
much his or her nervous system is skewed into a constant state of survival.
For many, this testing alone can be an illuminating experience.

Not only do they get an objective measure of the severity of their problem, but also an explanation for many of their frustrating symptoms and limitations. Very often the testing provides an understanding as to why their other therapies may have gone slowly, or were only partially effective.

This same testing is used throughout the therapy to monitor each person’s progress. The results correlate extremely well with their subjective
improvements.