Welcoming A Conversation on Ethics in the Healing of Traumatic Experience: Part 1
Trigger Warning: Trauma Survivors, Sexual Trauma, Addiction, Somatic Therapy.
When I was in college Eve Ensler's Vagina Monologues had recently made a splash into the theater scene, and the Marianist Catholic University I attended at the time held a small performance in the “Black Box” theater; think off-off Broadway for our student and alumni community.
People were not happy. Some people were threatening to take their generous alumni donations back never to give again, and as I wrote in the school newspaper, 'The Difference,' “one vagina even called in from as far away as Florida to voice disgust, and shame the University.” This movement, the V-Day movement, became the first real forum to give voice to domestic violence against women; the first place where a trauma survivor could boldly tell her story. The Vagina Monologues offered a brave welcome for a woman to step onto a path of speaking her truth, and integrating her experience.
A wave of small, local theater shows started to move across the country. Women around the nation both publicly and privately joined in the line up to tell their story, to heal, supported and held within the container of community. I know more stories than ever before were at least written down to process privately, if not tell out loud because of Eve Ensler. Coming from a Midwestern family that had its share of trauma hidden in silence, this was my first experience with an empowered process of healing. To see a woman, bold and brave, tell such a personal story, felt magical to me; whereas, I also observed many people feel threatened by her boldness and the bravery she inspired. This was the original “Me Too” movement.
Being a student at a University that was rooted in spiritual practice, I observed that ethics was a topic that was woven into many courses, and the focal point of many lectures. When I graduated I took a pledge that no matter what I did for a profession, I would make an effort to do it ethically, and to do my best to make the world a better place. Given that, I have thought about ethics a lot in my career choices, not so much from a place of “Catholic guilt or shame,” like many refer to when they talk about Catholicism, but from a sincere place where I do believe each of us has an ability to make an impact on the world for the positive, with the proper awareness. The Marianist tradition is rooted in honor of the Divine Feminine, Mother Mary; as well as inspired action, in alignment with the Holy Spirit. I observed a reflection of these roots in the Eastern philosophy and religion courses that I took, and I found a correspondence to some sects of Buddhism, and at its essence found these principles very similar to the Tao.
The ethics of trauma informed therapies is something that I've explored in thought and observation for a while now, since the early days of my study in Polyvagal Theory, with consideration of the theoretical and observed effects of visceral and neural mobilization techniques on the body's energy system. For those that have a practice in helping people recover from traumatic experience, I believe this is a conversation we should be having with ourselves on a daily basis. When we work with clients that have a history of complex traumatic experience or chronic stress, especially those whose nervous systems have developed in the presence of any kind of abuse or significant neglect, we need to be thoughtful and aware of the way we guide the healing experience.
I come to this topic not only from a scholarly vantage, but also from the perspective of a trauma survivor, being the adult child of neglectful alcohol and drug addicted parents. My path toward trauma inspired somatic therapy techniques has been guided by a healthy amount of caution woven into my practice; caution that is gleaned from many years of respect for these therapies. My personal observations related to: the behaviors of people with a history of complex trauma; awareness of personal boundaries; and a deep knowing of the patterns that often arise within abusive or toxic relationships and trauma cycles, have been strong leaders for me in my practice of client centered care. Embedded patterns such as co-dependency and trauma bonding can be often seen as a safe and familiar space for clients to retreat to throughout the healing process. I have observed that the remedy to these patterns lies in a self sovereign, yet energetically supported space: an open nest of compassion, with boundaries and ethics holding it all together.
I believe it is time to examine the question: Is a trauma informed practice enough? Or do we need to evolve our practice to be trauma inspired? Is it enough to know what trauma can do to the autonomic nervous system, and therefore how to manipulate the nervous system into a theoretical place of “release.” Or, would a softer, gentler approach inspire more complete healing, in less time, while fostering a greater ability for the client to occupy their self within a process of understanding, toward integration?
I've seen many clients in my practice that have unfortunately had traumatic experiences with both talk and somatic therapists that offer trauma informed care. I've observed the physical and energetic dis-regulation in my client's nervous systems after these sessions, and sometimes even what could be described as co-dependent trauma bonding with their somatic therapists. Even a type of “Stockholm Syndrome” can be seen occasionally; leading some clients to identify with, defend, and support, the therapists or mentors who have caused them to relive traumatic experience by triggering them into a “release” before their nervous system was able to handle the flow of energy that had been initiated by the somatic therapies.
One client that had just started seeing me after participating in Somatic Experiencing (SE) sessions for several years, asked me if there could be a new “layer” of freeze response that had been uncovered recently by the support they were finally able to feel after years in these somatic therapy sessions. They expressed that they had so much anxiety recently during and after SE sessions, and while not feeling “numb” anymore, they were almost feeling worse. They stated that they were not used to a feeling of support in their life, and that they were finally able to feel supported by the somatic work and the therapist, and that triggered them into “another layer of freeze,” as they put it, that they were unable to escape from.
I reasoned that the years of SE sessions potentially could have finally “broke” the nervous system from a perpetual dissociation reaction loop they had been living within, and now that their nervous system could actually feel again, the SE sessions could indeed be triggering a freeze response, as the physical and energetic nervous system was not aligned to support the flow of energy the sessions had started to create. Moreover, being that they described never having felt support in their life, if what they were now experiencing felt like support, it's possible this could initiate a stress response, as it would be experienced as discomfort and unease by their nervous system, being hat it was something so unfamiliar.
However, it seemed to me that they were not experiencing a “freeze” response, per se, but that they were finally, after years of treatment with this therapist, coming out of the dorsal vagal parasympathetic reaction spectrum, associated with the Metal/Air element, and into the sympathetic response spectrum of the Water element.1 It is true, according to the Polyvagal Theory, that the ventral vagal parasympathetic, resilient and regulating part of the autonomic nervous system, may have an easier time regulating the body from a place of sympathetic response, than that of dorsal vagal parasympathetic reaction. The resilient, ventral vagal parasympathetic response, part of the autonomic nervous system is relative to the tissue systems and spirit affiliations of the Wood and Fire elements. Id.
This client had been treated with SE for years, with no evaluation of the state of the physiological nervous system of the body. So, the years of SE treatment theoretically could have been keeping them in a dissociated state through triggering a stress response that their body was unable to functionally move through on its own. Id. Prior to somatic therapy and during the regular treatment of this client that lasted years, there was no evaluation or examination for potential visceral or neural restriction along the fascial and energetic networks of the vagus nerve complex, or any consideration of the mechanics or energetics of the body that may have come into play within the internal ecosystem.
There was no evaluation of this kind to assess for the potential to facilitate a more supportive flow of energy and emotion through the body. Such an assessment, and treatment of any restrictions, could have laid the framework for a transformative process of gentle awareness, and a guided journey through the somatic healing experience that could have been less traumatic and disregulating for this client, as well as set the stage for more a efficient and effective treatment plan.
More detail and nuance to this discussion will be addressed in the next part of this three part article. Please stay tuned. If you would like to join in this discussion or learn the new Five Element theories discussed in the 'Mining the Gap' series of articles, please visit: www.elementaladvancedmt.com/courses for more information and to join
The elementalAdvanced Method community.
Waves rolling over a rock at Pasagshak Beach, Kodiak, Alaska.
Photo Credit: Nicole Keane, 2007
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