Understanding Trauma Triggers, with Stephen Porges, PhD

In the aftermath of trauma, some clients struggle to feel a sense of connection to their bodies.

And when clients can’t properly interpret the sensations or messages that the body is sending to the brain, it can be very difficult for them to get a handle on their triggers.

So in the video below, Stephen Porges, PhD shares a Polyvagal-informed approach that can help clients better understand their triggers and begin to feel more at home in their own bodies.

Have a look.

Click here for full transcript

“Dr. Porges: In a therapeutic setting, it’s extremely important to understand what the triggers are for that person. So if you are an aware therapist and you realize that if you’re in close proximity to your client, the client kind of tenses up, that becomes an opportunity to talk about that. First of all, you can distance yourself and talk to the client about, is this far enough away from you to make you feel more comfortable? Or how do you feel now?And then you get into this dialogue of why. What is the history of this? When did you first notice this? And then you start dealing with, what happens if I move a little bit closer to you now? Can you accept that? So, you start using these cues to manipulate the therapeutic setting. And the therapeutic setting now has little to do with events and now much more to do with existing or triggering feelings.So, the person now becomes more aware of their own body and now can start experiencing and describing it. And perhaps, you might want to give the client some homework and saying, “In your work or your day-to-day experiences, when does your body react that way? Can you keep a little diary? Can you become aware of it? And are there antecedents? Do you become more sensitive if you’re in a rush, if you have a deadline, if you have a lot of work to do? Do you become more sensitive? Or if you’re on vacation, is this less of a problem or less of an issue? We shouldn’t even call it a problem, but we should say that, are these feelings less prevalent?” So, the dialogue is really about becoming to honor one’s own body and bodily responses.But we can use kind of a term that’s frequently used in pop psychology now, I guess, or psychology even is to become embodied. And we need to think of being embodied as the opposite of being numb. And numbness is far more frequent in clients than most people or most therapists realize. Many people just don’t feel their body. In a sense, they’ve learned not to feel their body. And what that is doing, there’s a really interesting trajectory. Because when they’re saying, “I don’t feel these things. I don’t feel,” they’re telling you that their autonomic nervous system is not fulfilling its job. So, the feedback loops are not working.So, the consequence of not feeling is really going to be violation or disruption of homeostatic function. And of course within those clients, you start seeing autonomic problems like irritable bowel syndrome, fibromyalgia. You start seeing a lot of issues of digestive problems. So, they’ll tell you that they don’t feel things but they have these clinical features. And this provides you with a lot of information about how to move them out of those clinical problems into making their bodies more resilient, more homeostatic, more regulatory.And so, the important message on this is that bodily feelings or bodily regulation contributes to mental health and mental regulation. They’re part of the same system. And so, you can improve one or the other from each side. So if we in a sense get to our physiological regulation, we’ll feel better. If we get to our emotional regulation, our physiology will become better.”

A Polyvagal-informed approach can strengthen your work with trauma by helping you target your client’s nervous system more effectively.

So if you found this video helpful, you can hear more from Stephen about how to integrate Polyvagal Theory into the treatment of trauma here.

Now we’d like to hear from you. How might you use these techniques in your work with clients? Please leave a comment below to let us know.

8 Comments

Paula Derry, Other, Owings Mills, MD, USA says

Porges says: “But we can use kind of a term that’s frequently used in pop psychology now, I guess, or psychology even is to become embodied,” pointing to the clinical importance of bodily numbness. However, labelling “embodiment” as pop psychology is disrespectful, especially given the work in many areas, including bodily numbness, that has been done. Perhaps some pop psychologists do so use the term. But, then, there are those that use the term “polyvagal-informed approach” as pop biology.

Maureen Menzies, Another Field, GB says

Interesting …. At the beginning of therapy I don’t think therapists put enough emphasis your points, body language / take the time to notice triggers created by body language …Thanks for emphasising the importance of this. You demonstrates the importance of getting the basics right before progress can be made and , how the right start can be the difference between helpful therapy and a waste of time !

Helen says

Thank you. Most excellent!!

Margaret Meyer, Another Field, AU says

I am a reflexologist and am interested in the way trauma is held within the body and its effects on organs and systems. The body is represented on the feet and sore spots can be found where certain organs and systems are located.
This can indicate the presence of inflammation which may manifest as some form of health condition. So this is where somatic therapies can help clients who have experienced trauma.

Karen Alexander, Health Education, AU says

So much gratitude for all this Work in helping to support and understand our human condition. Thank you Stephen and all❣️

Srishti Nigam, Medicine, CA says

Srishti

Anja Huss, Teacher, DK says

I use this every day in my work as a Rosenmethod Bodywork practioner.

Rina Levy, Psychology, IL says

Now, with all the risks of Cםbid 19 and the need to protect our patients and ourselves we are required to wear masks and a physical distance between us and the client. It is worth thinking about how to deal with this situation in the context of Forges’s recommendations and the polyvagal theory.
Happy New Year and a groth of health to our Jewish friends and everyone.

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8 Comments