Member-only story
How the Vagus Nerve Plays a Role in Trauma Recovery
A therapist attempts to shed light on the ever-evolving research.
Trauma is an insidious and slow-burning monster, one that often influences our bodies and our brains from an early age, resulting in us feeling hypervigilant, fearful, and numb — even in the years that follow the original event. Sometimes, we may escape bouts of our respective traumas, by shirking away from personal responsibility, abandoning relationships, becoming workaholics, developing problematic addictions, and/or even isolating ourselves from others.
In my work as a licensed psychotherapist and as a former academic researcher in psychology, I have had thousands of clients (across all walks of life) who eventually confide in having some form of post-trauma from:
- Pervasive childhood neglect
- Turbulent and toxic relationships
- Car accidents
- Medical mishaps
- Workplace injuries
- Grief from multiple loved ones dying
When it comes to trauma, hypervigilance is at the forefront. You are constantly on edge, and you have become so used to it, that you may start to forget that not everyone experiences trauma the same way. However, I also want to…
