2024 Author: Harry Day | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 15:43
The concept of "trauma funnel" was first introduced by Peter A. Levin, an American psychologist who studied the relationship between trauma and psychosomatic manifestations (various symptoms or diseases that develop as part of the body's response to stress). Studying stress and trauma for thirty years, he came to the conclusion that traumatic symptoms (helplessness, anxiety, depression, psychosomatic complaints, etc.) arise as a result of the accumulation of residual energy, which was mobilized when a person collided with a traumatic event and did not find exit and discharge. The point of trauma symptoms is to contain this residual traumatic energy. To free yourself from the "trauma" captivity, you need to complete the traumatic reaction, throw out the remaining energy and restore all disturbed processes.
Peter A. Levine divided the “trauma funnel” into two types:
- bodily manifestations: dry throat, shock state, when the body ceases to obey the person, deafness, blindness;
- mental manifestations - self-destructive behavior and thoughts, self-flagellation, self-restraint, self-suppressing ideas.
What is the essence of the "trauma funnel"? A person, finding himself in a situation similar to the one in which he was once injured, begins to experience an excess of all-consuming and mixed emotions, incommensurate with the current situation. Such a state is due to the fact that previously experienced feelings are superimposed on newly experienced ones, as a result, a strong emotional excitement, like an affect, completely captures a person's consciousness.
However, you need to understand the difference between the "funnel of trauma" and affect. Typically, the affect "spills out" as a flash of anger. The "funnel of trauma" sucks in a person inside - as if his ego and he himself cease to control their actions, everything is controlled only by the state of mind, which completely captures the body and psyche. In such a state, a person can enter into a stupor, not move, stop breathing - he will be so scared or ashamed.
How long can the trauma funnel last? Both half a minute and half an hour - for each person in different ways. However, as a rule, the symptoms go away rather quickly, but in order to get rid of the "funnel of trauma" itself, you need to resort to psychotherapy sessions - this is the only way to fully understand the hidden feelings, to realize why the experienced situation reminded some other traumatic, what experiences were excessive.
How do trauma funnels manifest in life?
Quite often, this condition can be experienced by people who experienced physical or psychological abuse in childhood (for example, who grew up in a family of alcoholics) - the parents constantly relieved their stress on the child (shouted, swore, beat even for a minor offense). Having matured, such a person finds himself in a similar situation, when he "played up" (for example, broke a mug).
Subconsciously, he hears the sound of broken glass, re-experiences the surging childhood memories - panic fear of death, beatings, mother or father (depending on who beat the child). These feelings suddenly roll over a person, consciousness and the ability to think are narrowed. On the one hand, nothing supernatural happened - he broke a mug. However, if the situation has developed in front of someone significant and important to the person (boss, wife or husband), there may be related feelings about the authority of the figure - guilt or an instinctive fear of being beaten.
In some cases, people who were beaten or shamed in childhood, in adulthood, finding themselves in a similar situation (for example, when they beat someone), may fall into a stupor, disconnect from reality (go to bed, pick up a mobile phone, go where something) or deny ("No, this does not happen in reality!"). Another variant of the protective mechanism of the "trauma funnel" is internal fading and fear of touching one's own feelings, which cause violent emotions and mental reactions, to the extent that a person may even stop breathing!
For a more illustrative example, an analogy can be drawn between physical and mental pain. If a person is worried about a deep wound, doctors use anesthesia. The psyche works in a similar way - when a person experiences a surge of painful feelings, the psyche also includes anesthesia. In this case, anesthesia is a state of shock, when all the senses are turned off, the connection with the body and the sense of one's own “I” are lost, the perception of the surrounding world is dulled (it seems gray and colorless).
How can a person understand that he has fallen into the “funnel of trauma”? The most important indicator is that he will not remember what happened at that moment (all actions were performed automatically in a state of subconscious fear or strong shame experienced in childhood).
It can also manifest as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). For example, when a person was at war, he heard the sounds of shots and at that moment he was hiding for cover. In peacetime, such a person may even associate fireworks with gunshots. Accordingly, the person will be absorbed by the “funnel of trauma” - he will not be able to control his feelings (fall to the floor) and make adequate decisions, he will lose his ego and will.
Quite often, a person's reaction can be associated precisely with shame - eyes are rounded, pupils dilated, a look at one point, the face becomes masked. With all his appearance, he tries to show that he is in contact, but in reality, the “funnel of trauma” has already absorbed consciousness, so later he will not even remember the essence of the conversation.
The strongest exciting feelings are fear and shame, sometimes there can be guilt (it is much easier to experience and, as a rule, does not lead to a "trauma funnel"). Sometimes we call shame guilt. What's the Difference? “I'm bad” is shame; “I did badly” is the fault.
How to deal with trauma funnels? You can get rid of their manifestations only with the help of therapy. This is a long-term work, since you need to gradually understand all the experiences and feelings experienced - school injuries, elementary school, childhood root injuries.
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