In response to threat and injury, animals, including humans, execute biologically based, non-conscious action patterns that prepare them to meet the threat and defend themselves. The very structure of trauma, including activation, dissociation and freezing are based on the evolution of survival behaviors. When threatened or injured, all animals draw from a "library" of possible responses. We orient, dodge, duck, stiffen, brace, retract, fight, flee, freeze, collapse, etc. All of these coordinated responses are somatically based- they are things that the body does to protect and defend itself. It is when these orienting and defending responses are overwhelmed that we see trauma. The bodies of traumatized people portray "snapshots" of their unsuccessful attempts to defend themselves in the face of threat and injury. Trauma is a highly activated incomplete biological response to threat, frozen in time. For example, when we prepare to fight or to flee, muscles throughout our entire body are tensed in specific patterns of high energy readiness. When we are unable to complete the appropriate actions, we fail to discharge the tremendous energy generated by our survival preparations. This energy becomes fixed in specific patterns of neuromuscular readiness. The person then stays in a state of acute and then chronic arousal and dysfunction in the central nervous system. Traumatized people are not suffering from a disease in the normal sense of the word- they have become stuck in an aroused state. It is difficult if not impossible to function normally under these circumstances. Peter A. Levine
About This Quote

When we are hurt physically, the body takes over and reacts before our minds can process or understand what is happening. Some of the same responses happen in the brain when people are hurt emotionally. The brain sends signals to other parts of the body that enable us to protect ourselves. For example, when we are about to be hit by a car or punched by someone, our bodies turn their heads away from the blow or move to the side- even though neither of these actions is consciously intended.

Why? The brain's job is to protect the rest of the body, not necessarily its internal thought processes. This biological response to physical pain is called "freezing" and it is very similar to freezing for protection in an emotional situation. When people feel hurt or threatened they often freeze in place, which makes them easy targets for attackers.

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