Trauma and Complex Trauma: Questions and Answers with Roland Bal

Written by Roland Bal

I get a steady amount of questions through emails and social networks. Below are some recent ones I answered that may also apply to you. They cover what happens in the brain and nervous system, the relationship between trauma and emotion, the difference between release and resolution, and what it means to integrate somatic and cognitive work in trauma recovery.

What Happens in the Brain and Nervous System

“Could you tell me in a basic way what happens in your brain when trauma sets in? What cognitive processes are involved?”

That is a big question with many variables. How it affects the brain depends on the state of mind you were in when you went into the experience or period that was traumatic, how long the trauma lasted, and the support you received afterwards. There is also a big difference in how it impacts the brain if the trauma happened when you were a child, or if it occurred when you were an adult. When you are a child, trauma might prevent full development of "higher" parts of the brain as your energy is invested in survival; that is, it is most present in the brain stem and the RAS (reticular alerting system).

The cognitive processes are often impaired due to dissociation acting as a survival mechanism — amnesia, numbness, feeling walled off from what happened to you. All of these things need to come back online very carefully, and within sufficient containment, by addressing both the cognitive and somatic parts.

“Didn't the trauma cause the emotion?”

The trauma is the overwhelming emotion. The event or person is the context in which it happened.

Release Is Not Always Resolution

“When trauma is leaving the body, when the nervous system is starting to relax and find a healthy balance, can the body go into shock?”

What I often see is that when releasing goes too quickly and without sufficient presence, the body will try to protect you — it dissociates — by starting to show physical symptoms. That can be sudden headache, nausea, dizziness or fainting, or physical pain. It is important to recognise these signs and slow the process down. Release is not resolution. The key is containment while release is unfolding.

“I have lived with the effects of developmental trauma and also have IBS and fibromyalgia. The current thinking is that they are, at least in part, an immune system response to being in fight or flight for many years. Is that a reasonable theory, and if I manage to heal from the trauma, do you think these conditions will resolve?”

They might certainly lessen, though when physiological symptoms have been in place for a long time, those symptoms "set" the body in a certain way. In addition to working through the trauma, you may need some other support to optimise the function of your nervous system, endocrine system, and immune system.

Integrating Somatic and Cognitive Trauma Work

“By "cognitive" are you referring to the mind and senses? And by "somatic", are you saying that past injuries are stored in the body as well? In which case, perhaps massage work would help, in addition to what can be gained through neuroplasticity.”

You need the cognitive part — our thought capacity — to create a healthy framework to address trauma and not fall back into old patterns. And you need the somatic part to really work through the emotional residue that is stored within the body and nervous system. Massage can be a help for some, but it can also be triggering for others. In itself it is not enough to resolve deep-seated trauma, but it can be a good addition to the work.

Reactivity, Awareness, and the Crossroad

“Is it possible to also find nonduality when we are taking action?”

I think the action flows out of seeing something very clearly. So, when I don't instantly react to my anger through blame or self-reproach, I am actually in touch with my anger. Being directly "in touch" is the action. It is that connection — when you have enough resilience and containment — that helps process emotional residue and that potentially dissolves dissociation. Nonduality is action, dissociation is mere reaction.

“By nonduality do you mean not having to choose between taking action from our trauma feelings, but to do both — feel the feelings without handling them as though they are real, because you realise they are from the past?”

I think we generally act in reaction based on our past experiences. When awareness replaces choice that is based on the past, that creates other variables — possibility and opportunity. When I work with clients, I often hold them on that crossroad of either going with their reactive default patterns or, through gained awareness, moving in another direction altogether.