Life After Trauma
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‘Downshifting’

After Traumatic Events

Trauma Fact Sheet


 

We have been Homo sapiens for at least 150,000 years.  Like all other animals, we have a fight or flight response that helps us to respond to perceived danger.  So 150,000 years ago, I was chased by a tiger, the fight or flight response kicked in, and I climbed up a tree.

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The tiger couldn’t get up into the tree to catch me and after a while, it got bored and wandered off.  Now, after the tiger walks around the corner and out of sight, would it make any sense for me to immediately get down out of the tree?

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Nope.  I’m going to hang out up in the tree for quite a while longer and then come down very slowly.  Because if the tiger comes back I don’t have as far back up to go.  And after a while, I would start to come down again but if the tiger comes back and I am only partway down, I don’t have as far back up to go.

So you can see that it makes no sense for survival purposes for me to come down out of that hyper vigilant state just because I got on a plane and flew from Iraq back to the United States. But could you stay up in the tree forever?  The answer is no...you would eventually crash down out of the tree.  We want to 'Downshift' or gradually come down from the hyper vigilant state.  It is a process, but if you feel you are too hyper vigilant, ask for help early.  Counseling to help people with these issues is effective!