It doesn't even look for where it can run. Now, what can happen is that the mouse, when it comes out of the immobility state, goes into what is called nondirective flight. And sometimes you'll actually see the cat bat the mouse around a little bit until it comes out of the immobility, because it wants the chase to go on. The cat catches the mouse and has it in its paws, and the mouse goes into this immobility response. PL: For example, you see a cat chasing a mouse. And as they come out of the immobility state, they also enter a state of fear, and actually a state in which they are prepared for what sometimes is called rage counterattack. Now the key is that when people get into this immobility state, they do it in a state of fear. Now, if none of those procedures are effective, and it looks like we're going to be killed, we go into the shock state, the tonic immobility.
Or if we're cornered by a predator-in other words, if there's no way to escape-then we'll fight back. The goal is to run away, or if we feel that we can't escape or if we perceive that the individual that's trying to attack us is less strong than we are, to attack them. Blood is diverted to the muscles, away from the viscera. All of our muscles prepare for this escape by increasing their tension level, our heart rate and respiration increase, and our whole basic metabolic system is flooded with adrenaline.
PL: Basically, in the fight-or-flight response, the objective is to get away from the source of threat.
So of course I was curious about the image-where did that come from? We did a few sessions after that where I was actually able to do different relaxation procedures with different muscles and different parts of her body. So anyhow, that was the last panic attack that she had. As I discovered later, many people who had anxiety disorders had also had tonsillectomies as children with ether. So anyhow, she reported how during the session she remembered a long forgotten event: as a four year old child, she was given ether for a tonsillectomy-at that time, ether was routinely used for tonsillectomies-and she remembered feeling suffocated and completely overpowered by the doctors and nurses who were holding her down to put on the ether mask while she was trying to scream and get away. I worked with a lot of people in getting them to relax, and there were some kinds of things like that, but never anything nearly as dramatic. This was certainly the first one where something like this had happened. She opened her eyes and she looked at me and she said, "Do you want to know what happened, Doctor? Do you want to know what happened to me?" And I said, "Yes, please."
#Healing trauma free
And after that, her breathing was free and spontaneous. And the shaking and the trembling and the waves of coldness and heat went on for almost 30-40 minutes, maybe. And she went from being very very hot to extremely cold. And her whole body started to shake and to tremble. So to my amazement, to both of our amazement, her legs started moving as though she were running. I was in a state of, well, near panic myself. Yeah, because I had really, truly no idea what to do. She believes that the journey for trauma recovery is an awakening of the spiritual heart.PL: This was a spontaneous image. Her integrative, mind-body approach to therapy includes relational therapy, EMDR therapy, and therapeutic yoga for trauma. She specializes in applied polyvagal theory for trauma recovery. She is a leading voice in the treatment of PTSD and complex trauma. she is the author of six books, including Therapeutic Yoga for Trauma Recovery and The Post Traumatic Growth Guidebook. Dr Arielle Schwartz is a licensed clinical psychologist,EMDR Therapy consultant, somatic psychotherapist, certified yoga instructor, and sought-out teacher. Arielle Schwartz and her brand new book Therapeutic Yoga For Trauma Recovery. On today's episode Monique talks about the experience of growing up without having the felt sense of empathy and how that can impact your relationships to yourself and to others.