and so, as a matter of protection, we start to learn how to fit in rather than being that unique self that had so much light in it. This is when trauma teaches us directly. Then we may teach our own children years later that they need to learn how to fit in and we encourage them to hide their true selves, because we fear for their safety. Now trauma is reaching the child indirectly through us as parents.
As we split away from the soul—either in subtle ways, as with shadows, or in substantial ways, as with shock—trauma and shock really are the only other elements available to control how we function. They are the default programming when the soul isn’t making choices.
Aspects of the collective mind come to us in the form of archetypes and guide our thinking. In this book we’re describing these as circus characters. This helps us to deal with ongoing trauma, because we’re now accompanied by a powerful companion (identified as a part of ‘me’ that I don’t quite control). This could be the Muscle Man, the Fat Lady, the Clown or others. But whatever form these archetypes take, its original intention is to act as a protective bodyguard for the traumatized person to hide behind.
Having this bodyguard comes at a steep price, however, because when there is any perceived threat having to do with the original trauma—the trauma that created this relationship—then the bodyguard takes control with or without current permission, because permission was given with the original agreement.
THE PHYSIOLOGY OF SHOCK
Perhaps the most important key to understanding shock is understanding our built-in system for handling stress. This system is designed to protect us and, as with the “lesser of two evils” we mentioned, the results of having this system work for us aren’t always ideal, yet they are more ideal than the alternative, which is basically death by stress due to a loss of homeostasis. But when we’re pushed too far, to the point of trauma and shock, you can see the lasting results of this protective system in our behavior.
This profound influence on human behavior is found within the deep evolutionary streams of human nature, flowing through the hormonal and nervous systems, regulated by the instinctual “reptilian brain” (limbic system). That part of the brain controls emotional thought, including rage, fear, aggression and arousal. The influence of these systems is especially direct as imminent threat increases. Importantly for us, the “new brain”—the prefrontal cortex and especially the hippocampus—can moderate that influence, putting the reality of a threat into context and making mindful, conscious choices of behavior.
So in animals having both parts of the brain to work from, nature combines the two to deal with danger. First there’s an old brain (reptilian brain) assessment of a situation. This assessment asks, “Is there reason to turn up the stress response system?” The reptilian brain may determine that there is reason for a stress response, but the new brain may provide context to the situation and thereby eliminate the need for the stress response. However, in those who have suffered from shock, the new brain cannot provide that context so the reptilian brain’s decision remains and can only provide two basic types of response: fight/flight and freeze. Let’s take a look at a zebra in the wild as an example.
ORIENTING RESPONSE
Engaged in its daily activity, a prey animal like a zebra has an “early warning system” that senses a potential threat. Perhaps it is grazing when it suddenly hears something hidden in the nearby grass. It enters a state of “alert immobility,” becoming almost entirely motionless, and focuses its attention on sensory cues regarding the threat (typically sight, sound and smell). If no danger is detected, the zebra resumes normal activity without wasting energy on a fight or flight response. If danger is imminent, then fight or flight is initiated.
THE FIGHT OR FLIGHT RESPONSE
The sympathetic response (fight/flight) is most easily understood as an upsurge in emotion. In people, these emotions are experienced as coming “up”—anger, fear, excitement, desire, hatred—and, if expressed, involve movement toward the problem (fight) or away from the problem (flight).
So perhaps our zebra spots a lion. Immediately, the instinctual fight or flight response is activated and stress hormones are pumped into the body by the sympathetic nervous system to put all available energy into survival. Norepinephrine immediately calls into action certain centers in the brain to respond, including the amygdala (the center for emotional memories) and the hippocampus (the nerve center that provides a conscious structure and context for “declarative memory”—a form of memory relating to facts and events in cooperation with the cerebral cortex). Adrenaline surges and glucose is mobilized from the liver to provide energy to activate the heart, lungs, arms and legs in order to optimize impending fight or flight. Endorphins are released in the brain to create stress-induced analgesia (to reduce any pain).
If the zebra in our example survives the threat on its life, it then discharges the stress hormones in its body and resumes its normal daily activities. The discharge is primordial, reflexive and totally somatic, ranging from twitching movements to violent shaking. And a record of the successful survival experience is etched in the hippocampus to make future threats more survivable.
As we’ve indicated, you can see the lingering effects of this stress response system in those who have reached this overwhelming point (trauma or shock). In these cases, the sympathetic stress isn’t shaken off in the natural way, and the sympathetic “symptoms” can be seen in behavior years or even decades after the traumatic event. Over time, the non-discharged nervous system response becomes deeply embedded somatically and is what we call shock. People who experience sympathetic shock are often involved in frantic, constant movement, talking quickly with run-on sentences and no opening for anyone else to get a word in edgewise. This is often accompanied by compulsive working, spending and shopping. Other nervous or anxious habits can include tics, insomnia, smoking, frequent accidents or the need to control. There can also be physical symptoms such as ulcers, allergies, temporomandibular disorders (TMD), gastrointestinal distress and hypertension. These are all attempts by the body/psyche to “drain the swamp” of excess energy that has become dangerous to homeostasis as it builds up with nowhere to go.
Excessive sympathetic branch activity can lead to increased energy-consuming processes, manifested as increases in heart rate and respiration and as a pounding sensation in the head.1 Other symptoms include muscle tensing, clenching or grinding of teeth, tachycardia (irregular heartbeat), excessive sweating, pallor, tremor, startle, hypervigilance, panic, rage and constipation. Over the long term, such hyperarousal may disrupt cognitive and affective processing as the individual becomes overwhelmed and disorganized by the accelerated pace and amplitude of thoughts and emotions, which can be accompanied by intrusive memories as well.
FREEZE RESPONSE
Opposite to fight/flight, the parasympathetic action (freeze) is described as coming “down.” Human emotions include disappointment, grief, shame, guilt and despair; or in a positive sense, contentment, peacefulness and satisfaction. These feelings involve a decrease in tension, a drawing of energy inward with a tendency toward introspection. Laughter and tears are both usually a sign of parasympathetic activity, because both reduce tension. Other physical symptoms may include heart palpitations, nausea, dizziness, indigestion, abdominal cramps, diarrhea, incontinence, social isolation and withdrawal, substance abuse, constricted affect (a lack of apparent emotion), denial, cognitive impairment and dissociation.
In the case of the zebra we’ve described, if the fight or flight is not successful, at the point of recognizing defeat and impending death he goes into a state of helplessness and hopelessness. Physiologically, this is the freeze response. It appears as “feigning death” because of the sudden and extreme immobility, which is a last-ditch effort for survival because a lion will not eat an animal unless
