Go through a traumatic experience, and the brain adjusts. It has to do that, as, without that immense flexibility, the survival of the species would be in jeopardy.
Yet the downside is that we're left with new unconscious expectations about our agency in life. The emotional brain says, "OK, I get it. I have no power."
It gets worse, as then it says, "The world is dangerous."
I don't mean sensibly dangerous, but even a crack in the pavement or a critical glance from a stranger can make us panic, get depressed, and feel lost. We might as well turn in the towel. Life is plain bad, and we can do nothing about it.
Without trauma, we wouldn't be as compassionate, not as wise, but a persistent, even overwhelming sense of powerlessness and danger is bad for mental and physical health.
Fortunately, these reactions are biologically-based. They are a cluster of wires that, using the EBT Methods, you can see as Reactive Circuits. They are not "us" but some separate neural entity that occupies our unconscious minds. What are we going to do about that? We can activate and rewire these circuits.
It's just a cluster of circuits.
You may use EMDR, yoga, or dance to help with trauma. Yet, if you want a more action-oriented and direct method, try EBT. Our memberships (see JOIN above) and procedures (read the BOOKS above) give you immediate access to the tools. You can activate Reactive Circuits and rewire them as healing Resilient Circuits to get past the trauma.
EBT is unique because it is so simple and accessible. Each circuit holds tremendous emotional energy, enough to take the thinking brain (prefrontal cortex) offline and cause hyperarousal or dissociation.
Whenever a trauma circuit is activated, the EBT skills give you a simple, reliable process to be present to your emotions and make a toxic emotion "abreacted" so the feelings dismantle themselves. By staying present and proactively engaged in that dismantling, we heal. We even offer online telegroups and drop-in community groups because hearing one another process our emotions improves the effectiveness of the skills.
Turn toxic emotions into healing feelings.
That knot of circuits is nothing more than a knot. What do you do with knots? You untie them.
The challenge with these trauma circuits is to activate them. Then, the synaptic connections between their neurons are fluid, and their unconscious messages become conscious. The Allostatic Emotions like panic, hostility, depression, and numbness turn into Homeostatic Emotions, the most elevated ones like love, compassion, gratitude, hope, awe, and joy.
That's what the EBT techniques do. They untie the knots that make us hopeless and sure that the world is dangerous.
Creating a new narrative: clearing away clutter.
What has held back traditional methods from helping people clear trauma is that the direct route is through being present to toxic emotions (panic, depression, shame, hostility, numbness), feeling your feelings, releasing the reaction, and putting into words a new story of what occurred.
The limiting factor is toxic emotions. EBT fixes that. You learn how to "fan out" the toxic emotions and, even better, transform them into flowing feelings that lead to joy.
To heal trauma, spiral up from stress to joy.
Healing trauma is best done with someone who guides your way. Hence our current training of health professionals in EBT, but that process of dismantling toxic emotions and turning the harmful stress into healing joy is one you must learn yourself. No therapist can be there for you whenever you have to deal with undigested and raw emotions.
EBT is a universal life skill. It is the personal capacity to clear toxic emotions and reorganize our reality so we feel powerful and safe. Each use of the skills (it starts with learning the 5 Core Skills of Stress Overload) changes the emotional brain.
Just the way the internet has changed cognitive technology, making knowledge available to all, EBT is changing emotional technology so that emotional health is not just for those who can participate in psychotherapy, but instead, it is emotional health for all.
Celebrate that we have new skills that can empower us to up our game in healing trauma. Learn the 5 Core Skills of EBT today.