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💌 The Neurosequential Model & #1 Key to Healing Trauma: 3 Minute Breakdown

By acknowledging and working through past traumas, we can gain insight and make more intentional choices about the direction of our lives.

January 03, 2023

Hi everyone! Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season - and cheers to the new year that is here. Flourish is your weekly source of inspiration & information designed for ambitious, high-performing individuals who want to be successful in all aspects of their lives but don’t want to burn out in the process. We tackle topics, such as mental health, career, burnout, sustainable performance, and more. If you find value in this content please like & share above, or forward it to someone in your network. Thank you! If someone forwarded you this email you can subscribe here:

💡 3-Min Breakdown of Healing Trauma

War veteran Mike Roseman was out on a date when, suddenly, he found himself cowering on the ground in a state of complete terror. His girlfriend tried to help him, but he lashed out blindly, hitting her in the process. 

It took ten minutes for him to come out of it and start thinking clearly again. 

What had happened? A car had backfired, its exhaust pipe emitting a loud popping sound. The noise was similar to gunfire, and it activated a traumatic memory of when Roseman had been in the Korean War 30 years before. His survival responses instantly went into overdrive, and he dove to the ground as if he were hiding from a sniper.

Today, we’re going to discuss trauma, how it impacts our brain and behaviors, how to treat it, and the #1 key to dealing with trauma. 

You may be thinking, “Damn, why are we starting off the new year on such a scary note? Trauma. That’s some dark stuff.”

Hear me out. No one is going to resolve all of their childhood trauma by reading this 5 minute article by me today. But.. reading this article will help you learn a little bit more about your mental health and how your brain works. And that alone is already an amazing step. So, go you!

Ok. Now why should I really care?

Many of us have behaviors, thought patterns, and beliefs about ourselves, whether they are subconscious or conscious that have been impacted by our traumas. By acknowledging and working through our past traumas, we can gain insight into our patterns of thinking and behavior and make more intentional choices about the direction we want our lives to take. This can be especially relevant when setting goals or making changes in the new year. So basically, this meme:

In order to treat your trauma, you need to understand how the brain works.

Traumatic memories live in the brain stem, as well as in the cortex. 

The brain stem processes stimuli first. Then it feeds that information into the “higher” and more developed parts of the brain – the parts associated with relationships, beliefs, and meaning. But when people are traumatized, they have a sensitive stress response that activates their survival systems very quickly. 

This is what happened to Mike. He knew that a backfiring car didn’t pose a threat, and that he didn’t live in a war zone anymore. But because the gun-like sound instantly activated his survival system, he didn't have a chance to access the rational part of his brain.

He worked with Dr. Bruce Perry to develop strategies to calm himself down first and become less reactive to triggers. Dr. Perry then helped Mike set up better sleeping patterns and encouraged him to exercise regularly and get massages. These approaches improved Mike’s overall well-being, calmed his brain, and reduced his sensitivity to stress. It was only then that Roseman was truly able to access the cortex: the part of the brain responsible for rational thought and logic.

This concept is organized into what is called the Neurosequential Model. The model argues that before anything else, you have to deal with your sensitized survival systems and get regulated first. Then, you will be able to process and rationalize over time that you are, indeed, actually safe.

Positive relationships are the key to healing trauma.

Learning how to form positive relationships is the most important skill you can develop in dealing with trauma. 

Researchers compiled data from 70,000 case histories of trauma in 25 countries. They examined both the trauma and the adversity that people had experienced, and the strength of their social relationships with family and community. 

They found that relational health was a bigger indicator of mental well-being than a history of trauma. To put it another way, human connection mitigates the effects of trauma. 

(BRB, let me just text my friends real quick…)

The good news is anyone can learn how to form relationships. Our brains have neuroplasticity: they can learn new things through practice.

But we can only learn through our own experiences. In other words, you can't learn how to ride a bicycle by reading a book. You've got to go ride a real bicycle. And you can't learn to love by reading a manual. You have to receive love in order to give it.

We got this.

If you’re curious to learn more, I highly recommend reading “What Happened to You? Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, & Healing” written by Dr. Bruce Perry and Oprah Winfrey. 

🔱  Weekly Finds:

Reminder

A reminder that who you were yesterday and what has happened to you is not indicative of who you can be or your future. You are enough. You are limitless.

💌 Happy 2023! Cheers to all the amazing memories, adventures, and moments to be created in this upcoming year - wishing everyone much success, love, happiness, and joy.

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