When a Perceived Threat Feels Like Anxiety
It’s most likely a trauma response
Your brain is smart, and it wants to protect you.
Was there a time when you felt scared or threatened and didn’t have the tools to communicate or ask for help?
Were you abused in some way and no one was there to help ease your pain?
Did you witness a scary event or situation and process it as best you could all alone?
Many of us were left with secrets and scars from our upbringing that got brushed under the rug. Many of us with sexual, physical, and or emotional abuse just dealt with it and wondered why we had repercussions later in life. That was a long time ago, shouldn’t we be over it by now?
Did you know most people who are incarcerated for drugs, alcohol, crime, and domestic abuse have trauma in their childhood? They were left or abandoned, suffered from emotional neglect, or were abused in some form or another. Gabor Mate says it wasn’t the trauma that caused the biggest problem, but being left alone in the trauma.
If we have a caring person to help guide us, and that we can share with, most of the residual effects of the traumatic event can be processed and understood. We won’t feel left alone in it, and we will most likely recover from that event, but…
