EFECTIVO Y EFECTIVO EQUIVALENTE

 Although we are familiar with the experience of an “adrenaline rush,” there are other signicant, although less familiar, chemical changes that can take place in the body during traumatic episodes. These chemicals belong to a group of chemicals referred to as opioids.

During the attack of the Twin Towers many people who were within close proximity to ‘Ground Zero’ described their experiences like this: “I saw it happening but it was like it wasn’t real.” “It was like it was in slow motion.” “I ran but I didn’t feel like I was in my own body.” “It was like someone else was running.” “I heard screaming but it was surreal.” “Although I was badly cut, I didn’t feel any pain until it was all over and someone else had to tell me I was hurt.” All of these comments in any other circumstances would cause a suspicion that the individual was on drugs. “Slow motion, surreal, out of my body, feeling no pain…” comments such as these are commonly made by people who are on some kind of mind- altering medications. This is exactly true. The body has the ability to manufacture mind and sensory altering drugs during a time of trauma.

This process is a very primitive response of the human animal. An example would be encountering a lion in the jungle and having no way to escape except to ght the lion. We  would have a very high adrenaline rush for the sake of increasing our muscle tone and strength. However, if our arm is clawed in the process of ghting the lion our body would immediately pump opioids into the arm so we would not feel the pain. Only after the lion is dead or gone and our safety is assured would the body stop injecting opioids into our arm so we would then feel the pain and seek medical assistance.

 Another contemporary example of the activation of the opioid system is commonly experienced during physical abuse. Many individuals will claim that “…it was as though I was out of my body watching it happen.” “I screamed but it seemed like someone else screaming.” “I fought and fought but at some point my muscles gave in and my body just collapsed.” All of these experiences are opioid induced. It is helpful to realize that the body is not concerned about how you survive the trauma, it is only concerned that you survive the trauma. In other  words, the body does not mind giving up and allowing itself to be abused. It is only concerned

that it survives the abuse. If numbing or dissociating is deemed advantageous by the body’s system, it will stop pumping adrenaline that causes you to ght into your body and it will begin to pump opioids into your system that will produce more passive defenses.

compare the adrenal response known as the “Hyperarousal Continuum” with the opioid response known as the “Dissociative Continuum” in the following summary.

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HYPERAROUSAL DISSOCIATIVE CONTINUUM CONTINUUM

 Alarm—vigilance numbing—compliant  fear—terror dissociating

 Adrenal system is activated Opioid system is activated Excitement inducing Euphoria inducing

Serotonin decreases Senses are altered

(impulsivity & aggression are altered (place, time, reality with exaggerated emotions)

Heart rate (increases) Heart rate (decreases) Blood pressure (increases) Blood pressure (decreases) Respiration (increases) Respiration (decreases)

Muscle tone intensies Muscle tone becomes accid/numb Cognitive processing increases Cognitive processing decreases  Aggressive response Passive response

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 Another experience that is very common among traumatized people is called the bi-phasic or bi-modal experience. This is when both adrenaline and opioids are working simultaneously or in rapid succession of each other. Here is an example:

 A Kenyan man who was at the U.S. Embassy during the time of its bombing in Nairobi in 2000, reacted by going into a state of ght/ight and dissociation at the same time. He literally ran for one kilometer without knowing that he was doing it and without knowing where he  was going. When people nally stopped him from running, he sat on the ground and asked:

“Where am I?” What was also interesting was that this man had a huge gash in his upper leg that  was bleeding severely. In normal circumstances, this type of injury would not allow a person to  walk, let alone run, for one kilometer. When this gash was pointed out to him, he screamed out in pain. Until that moment, he had never felt the pain. His system pumped both adrenaline and opioids into his body simultaneously to save this man from possible death.

 A similar experience that is quite common among traumatized people is that they will swing back and forth from a dissociated or depressed state to a highly charged state of hyperarousal. Life can be going along ne and someone simply makes a slight criticism to the individual and they y off the handle, expressing emotions of anger and even rage while screaming about always being picked on and abused. Then a few minutes or hours later you can nd the same individual depressed and despondent to even the most positive of comments. This swinging back and forth between extremes is very common among traumatized individuals.

Traumatized individuals have an imbalance of chemicals in their bodies that cause them to react in these unpredictable ways. This can often be mistaken as manic/depression, bi- polar or attention decit disorder. It is in a non-clinical sense a bi-polar disorder. They are in fact swinging between one pole and another. This is a post trauma reaction rather than the disposition of the individual.

Traumatized individuals are often overly reactive to negative comments or experiences. However, if they are feeling depressed they will be under-responsive to positive comments or experiences. They can become overly attached to people or causes becoming obsessed or

excessively social. If they are feeling depressed, they will often isolate themselves socially and detach themselves from important and supportive relationships. They may often experience expressive emotions one moment and be emotionally numb the next. This rapid swing back and forth between these extreme personalities causes the individual to appear hyperactive and depressive.

The following summary explains some of the behaviors that this swinging can cause in the individual’s personality.

*** PERSONALITY OF TRAUMA 

Changes in the muscle tone, chemicals and thought processes will create attitudinal and personality changes in the individual.

*** HYPERAERTNESS DEPRESSION Over responsive to negative Under-responsive

comments to positive comments Over attachment Detachment 

(excessive socialization) (social isolation) Explosive emotions Reduced emotions (hostility/crying) (no feeling/numbness) Hyperactive behaviors Tiredness/insomnia

***

In this summary you can see how an individual’s personality can swing from one extreme to another. With the chemical changes in the body, an individual can be social and engaging in the morning and by noon time feel depressed and isolate him/her self. Without knowing the person’s trauma history, one could easily suspect the individual has some kind of mood disorder.

Since trauma behavior tends to embed itself in the person’s natural characteristics, an active individual may simply become more active and a quiet individual may simply become more secluded. What I normally hear from family members is that: “Johnny has always kept to himself, but since the accident he seems to be a bit more introspective.” This is a key insight in recognizing trauma—“a bit more.” I want to know why he is a bit more. If the “bit more” has manifested itself after a traumatic episode, there is a strong likelihood that it is a manifestation of PTSD.

INTUITION AND THE ABDOMINAL-PELVIC