How Trauma Gets Trapped in Your Body Part 2 | Vagus Nerve, Orienting Reflex and the Amygdala
Doc Snipes・2 minutes read
Exposure to trauma can lead to heightened orienting reflex, impacting schema formation and interpretations of the world, with techniques like deep breathing and yoga helping to improve vagal tone and reduce stress responses. Working with a professional is crucial to reprogram schemas associated with stimuli and reduce emotional dysregulation by triggering the relaxation response and reducing the threat response system.
Insights
- Exposure to trauma can lead to stimuli in the environment becoming associated with threat responses, impacting individuals' orienting reflex and triggering heightened responses to anticipated pain or threats.
- Techniques such as deep breathing, yoga, exercise, and laughter can help improve vagal tone, reducing stress responses and enhancing the vagus nerve's ability to trigger relaxation, crucial for reprogramming the brain's response to stimuli and reducing emotional dysregulation.
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Recent questions
What is the orienting reflex?
The orienting reflex is a natural response that increases awareness and learning when encountering unexpected stimuli or anticipating pain or threat. It can be triggered by various situations in everyday life, such as newborns orienting towards caregivers or adults reacting to sudden noises. This reflex plays a crucial role in how individuals interpret and respond to their environment.
How does trauma affect the orienting reflex?
Exposure to trauma can lead to stimuli in the environment becoming associated with threat responses, causing a heightened orienting reflex. Trauma survivors may constantly anticipate pain or threat, impacting their ability to regulate emotions and responses. This can result in difficulties in distinguishing between real threats and safe situations, leading to an overactive orienting reflex.
What is the role of the vagus nerve in triggering schemas?
The vagus nerve plays a significant role in triggering associated schemas based on positive or negative experiences. Individuals with conditions like PTSD, complex PTSD, anxiety, and borderline personality disorder may experience issues with their vagus nerve functioning, affecting their ability to regulate stress responses. Understanding the vagus nerve's role in triggering schemas is crucial in addressing emotional dysregulation and promoting relaxation.
How can individuals improve vagal tone?
Techniques like deep breathing, yoga, exercise, smiling, and humming can help improve vagal tone, enhancing the vagus nerve's ability to trigger the relaxation response. By engaging in these practices regularly, individuals can reduce stress responses, promote emotional well-being, and improve their overall physiological functioning.
What is systematic desensitization in trauma therapy?
Systematic desensitization involves gradually exposing oneself to a stimulus in a safe environment, practicing skills to override the threat response, and progressively advancing to more challenging scenarios to reprogram the brain's response. This therapeutic approach aims to reduce emotional dysregulation, inflammation, and fear responses by triggering the relaxation response and promoting adaptive coping mechanisms. Working with a professional is essential in implementing systematic desensitization effectively to address trauma-related symptoms and improve overall well-being.
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Summary
00:00
Understanding Orienting Reflex and Schema Formation
- CEUs available at AllCEUs.com/Trauma-CEU
- Information divided into micro videos for better understanding
- Discussion on the orienting response, vagus nerve, and hp axes
- Ivan Pavlov's definition of the orienting reflex in 1927 and 1960
- The orienting reflex explained as increased awareness and learning
- Examples of orienting reflex in everyday situations
- Newborns' orienting reflex towards caregivers
- Formation of schema in children based on experiences
- Impact of lack of schema on interpreting the world
- Differences between orienting reflex and startle reflex in adults
17:47
"Trauma's Impact: Vagus Nerve and Threat"
- Exposure to trauma can lead to stimuli in the environment becoming associated with threat responses.
- The vagus nerve triggers associated schemas based on positive or negative experiences.
- The orienting reflex can be triggered by unexpected stimuli or in anticipation of pain or threat.
- Trauma survivors may constantly anticipate pain or threat, leading to a heightened orienting reflex.
- Stimuli associated with threat can trigger threat responses in the future.
- People with PTSD, complex PTSD, anxiety, and borderline personality disorder may have issues with their vagus nerve functioning.
- The default mode network can become intertwined with the amygdala, leading to a threat-based state.
- Increased connectivity between the amygdala and the default mode network reinforces fear responses.
- Task-induced deactivation allows individuals to override autopilot responses and engage in reasoning.
- Techniques like deep breathing, yoga, exercise, smiling, and humming can help improve vagal tone and reduce stress responses.
36:01
Enhancing Vagal Tone and Reprogramming Schemas
- Heart rate variability biofeedback, deep breathing, yoga, smiling, laughter, and humming can improve vagal tone, enhancing the vagus nerve's ability to trigger the relaxation response.
- Systematic desensitization involves repeatedly exposing oneself to a stimulus in a safe environment, practicing skills to override the threat response, gradually progressing to more challenging scenarios to reprogram the brain's response.
- Working with a professional is crucial to identify steps in reprogramming schemas associated with stimuli, helping to reduce emotional dysregulation and inflammation by triggering the relaxation response and reducing the threat response system.
