How Trauma Reprograms the Vagus Nerve & Orienting Reflex | Healing from Trauma

things are going well and finding exceptions instead of saying something always or never happens look for exceptions and that goes back to evaluating the facts tragic optimism is part of this what we're talking about optimism or toxic optimism is being optimistic about, ya you know everything and that's just not real and it creates is as toxic as being a pessimist tragic optimism recognizes the unpleasant and the pleasant says this is not going very well and it can get better Maybe and there are other things that are going well in my life and tragic optimism and radical acceptance go hand in hand.

Radical acceptance means looking at a situation and thinking it is what it is. I may not like it right now, but that's what resilience is and your rich, meaningful life is important too. Keep a list of all the things that are important in your rich and meaningful life and when you start to feel like everything is going to shit, look back and say "okay" of all the things that are important to me, what things are going good for me maybe even great and yes there are things that don't go well that's just part of life and after determined action how can I use my energy to bring about positive change instead of using my energy to bring me down deeper into the quicksand of heartbreak and increase that HPA?

Axis that fights against it, which means you must be curious about creating environmental security. If you don't feel safe in your environment and in your own skin, then that HPA axis will activate, so explore your triggers. Forcing stress and anxiety and your triggers. safety empowerment and contentment what you can add to the environment that can help you feel more safe and empowered if you need help with shelter and basic needs 211.org or the United Way website has a lot of lists and connections that can help people people Patient assistance programs in the US can help you connect with pharmaceutical companies to access medications more affordably and Housing and Urban Development again in the US is a resource to help you find affordable housing if you don't have shelter for food, um and medical care.

They are your basic needs if you look at Maslow's hierarchy, so in order to feel safe we ​​need to make sure we meet those needs and inner child relational awareness and reparenting are very important to many, if not most, people. of people with cptsd and borderline personality in particular have attachment

trauma

, so they will need to re-parent that inner child to start feeling safe in their own skin to start feeling safe with other people develop a secure attachment with others also means addressing fears of abandonment learning to set, maintain, and respect boundaries so you are not afraid of people trampling on all your boundaries so you are not afraid of being taken advantage of or taken for granted awareness and management of interpersonal triggers, you know what things trigger your stress response.

I know that my mother used to have certain looks that she would give me that would irritate me to no end and you know that was her job being my mother, but when other people do those things in particular facial expressions, it somehow triggers that response in me and I have to reminding myself: "different person, different place, different time", learning to be assertive and addressing your fear of assertiveness and the associated abandonment is also important in getting your boundaries respected. You have to be able to communicate them to communicate them you need to be assertive and learn to listen without getting defensive because none of this is perfect and constructive feedback can be very, very useful, recognizing that when people disagree with you or give constructive feedback, It is a rejection of an idea or a comment about a behavior that does not affect you as a person.

We constantly make decisions about what to pay attention to. Information about the things we see, hear, smell and feel is carried by the

vagus

nerve

to the brain. The brain consults our memories, which I often call a schema to identify, the answer says okay, what am I doing here? If it's new Intense or unexpected, it triggers the

orienting

response, so the

orienting

response starts to say okay, I need to be more aware of what's going on high alert if you know the brain tells the

vagus

nerve

how to respond based on previous experiences, so the brain is not considering the facts in context at the moment saying well in the past when this happened this is what we had to do the vagus nerve carries that information to the rest of the body once fear response kicks in, default mode Grid or autopilot takes over and ability to effectively process new information decreases, you get into that fight or float, no time to think, fight or flight, sights, sounds , smells, etc. associated with experience then become associated with danger, which causes the person to more frequently perceive threats wherever they are because people are going to use the same cologne, since you know someone who potentially betrayed you, you know someone else are probably using that same colony and you may encounter them Gradual reprogramming or reconditioning of stimuli through intentional exposure and response Systematic desensitization can reduce the strength of the connection between the default mode network and the amygdala and increase situations in which activates the vagus nerve, helping to reprogram the HPA axis and reduce information dysregulation and inflammation, so basically you develop a new relationship with those stimuli, so the vagus nerve can just say "hey, no big deal." ", everything is clear, this is not the same person, place, time when we are safe.

I know it was a lot of material, but I hope that through this video series the way our body impacts our feelings, our thoughts, and even our health will begin to become clearer.