I have come to specialize in the treatment of developmental trauma, a focus that emerged organically over many years. I began my career by specializing in the treatment of anxiety and ADHD. As an integrative psychiatrist utilizing plant medicines, mindful self-compassion, and various non-prescriptions interventions (such as vitamins and supplements), many individuals have sought my help after not being able to tolerate standard medications and not experiencing relief with traditional treatment plans.
I soon began to understand that a core reason anxiety symptoms don't improve significantly in many individuals is that they are not only struggling with anxiety. (The same is true for ADHD, which I will address in the future.) Their symptoms are due to the changes that occur in the brain when one experiences trauma. In the case of childhood trauma (i.e., Developmental Trauma), these forces are at work while one's brain is literally still forming.
Shifting from an Anxiety to a Trauma-Informed Model
If the above resonates with you, I want to offer a new approach: shift your understanding of your distress from "anxiety" to "hyperarousal." The only term most people have to conceptualize their suffering is "anxiety." This has become a catch-all term, along with "depression," that does not fully capture what is occurring. If one doesn't accurately identify a challenge, the likelihood of effectively navigating it is greatly diminished.
What is Hyperarousal?
Hyperarousal is a psychological and physiological state characterized by high adrenaline and other stress hormones. It is the primary of the three core areas of struggle in the post-traumatic experience. It is the initial response when one is triggered - the flight, fight, or freeze response. This is also know as the stress/anxiety/fear response, and, when one has experienced trauma, the trauma response. This full-body reflex has evolved over human history, allowed our ancestors to survive so that you are reading this right now. For those with a history of trauma the set point of this reflex is too high. It is like a car alarm that goes off when a loud truck drives by, rather than only when the car is actually engaged. Being triggered regularly by stimuli that are not actually threats continues to raise the set point of the system. This occurs with both external stimuli and one's own thinking.
The core feelings that occur in a state of hyperarousal are fear, powerlessness, confusion, and disconnect (from one's own feelings, others, and the world).
The core symptoms of hyperarousal include emotional distress (the aforementioned feeling state), physical reactivity (racing heart, shortness of breath, etc), intrusive thinking, disrupted sleep, irritability, exaggerated startle response, re-experiencing traumatic thoughts/feelings/events, and hypervigilance. The intensity of these symptoms often leads to a pattern of avoidance that appears as procrastination and persistent low energy or fatigue.
Depressive and Attentional Symptoms in Trauma
Per above, there are two other domains in the post-traumatic experience: 1) Cognitive symptoms to include poor concentration and dissociative processes; and 2) Depressive symptoms to include down mood, difficulty experiencing joy, negativistic thinking (expecting bad things to happen), exaggerated blame of self (guilt) or others, and decreased interest in hobbies and enjoyable activities. These in large part stem from the excitatory signaling in the brain that occurs in the state of hyperarousal.
How to Apply this New Information to Heal
Shifting from the concept of anxiety to the above trauma-informed model provides a clearer understanding of what is actually happening when one is in distress. This clarity in itself, over time, can contribute to reducing the intensity of one's suffering. Utilizing tools such as self-compassion (https://www.drjonslaughter.com/post/the-power-of-self-compassion-in-treating-ptsd-depression-and-anxiety), my brain operating manual (https://www.drjonslaughter.com/post/treat-your-anxiety-symptoms-trauma-and-depression-with-this-brain-operating-manual), and somatic interventions (https://positivepsychology.com/somatic-experiencing/) are powerful tools to reduce one's level of hyperarousal and overall distress.
If the above resonates with you, I encourage you to explore trauma-informed treatment approaches. You are the one who knows the path that will allow your healing to unfold. Expressing your agency to explore various healing modalities will help reduce the feelings of powerlessness that are central to the post-traumatic lived experience as described above. It is the first and a core step to creating your healing path.
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