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EP 57: How trauma, loss and grieving effect our central nervous system with Matt Hersh (Mental Health Providers Series)
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Our autonomic nervous system (ANS) is our friend. It tries to protect us when we are faced with threat, danger, or any time we perceive the situation to not be safe. The ANS controls unconscious bodily processes and has two main branches. The sympathetic branch controls our fight or flight responses while the parasympathetic branch helps us to "rest and digest" and feel emotionally safe and socially engaged. However, a very primitive aspect of the parasympathetic branch controls our freeze response and can slow us down and generate feelings of hopelessness and a perception of the world being dark and dangerous. Our previous experience of trauma and loss help determine how these systems balance each other. Sometimes the nervous system overreacts, and sometimes it under-reacts. Matt and Ken discuss strategies and interventions for keeping ourselves aligned when we have been thrown out of alignment by overwhelming circumstances.
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