What Does Getting Stuck In Trauma Mean

When we are stuck in trauma the body is stressed and there is no flow. When the body gets stuck internal systems begin to break down and cease to function optimally, so anything that is supposed to flow get stuck too. What this looks like is that anything designed to rid the body of toxins ceases to function properly.  And our muscles get tense and painful as they block whatever we don’t want to feel and see.  There is nothing like a chronic illness to identify being stuck in the trauma. 

From the perspective of our emotions, getting stuck in the trauma, only has two emotions – anger and hopelessness.  But this is happening at an unconscious level, outside of our awareness and we are not able to connect the dots.  We then turn these emotions against ourselves believing that it is our inadequacies that are responsible for how we are feeling.   The anger looks like anxiety and panic, although it can show up as explosions of rage or passive aggression.  The hopelessness looks like depression.  Underneath the anxiety and depression are emotions like grief, shame and fear.  But we cannot access them because our defenses have ceased to let anything flow. 

And when it comes to the mind it goes into overdrive when we are stuck in the trauma. It becomes overwhelmed with overthinking, ruminating and inventing distressing scenes that could happen. The worry grows, the negativity opens and the lists of what to do to become ‘better’ are never ending. The mind is never quiet, the noise is painful and so we try to distract ourselves from our hyperactive minds through any activity that keeps us from hearing the incessant chatter that goes on.   This then causes a host of other problems. 

All of this is the body, the unconscious and the nervous system trying it’s best to keep us safe. But it doesn’t work and is counterproductive to healing. The longer we stay stuck in the trauma, the more damage we do.  Resolving past trauma and getting moving is the way forward. The Melbourne Counselling Centre uses a process called The Richards Trauma Process to release the stuckness and get clients moving forward in their lives.