Traumatization and the family perspective

Traumatization affects how individuals and families experience, remember, and narrate events. Recent advances in brain research have provided more insights into the impact of traumatic experiences on the brain, including their effects on memory and both verbal and non-verbal experiences of trauma. Traumatic memories are inherently dissociative. At the moment of a traumatic event, when fight or flight responses are not possible, attention shifts to peripheral or non-traumatic stimuli. This shift prevents the experience of pain, anxiety, fear, and suffering. Peripheral perceptions are stored in explicit memory, while the unbearable parts of the experience are stored in implicit memory. Consequently, we may have experiences that cannot be verbally shared, only strong images, bodily sensations, nightmares, panic, and freezing related to the experience.

Symptoms of a traumatized person are often somatic in nature. These symptoms can manifest as difficulties in regulating arousal levels, intrusive sensations, physical pain, and feelings of numbness. These physical symptoms, in turn, influence the person’s self-beliefs. A traumatized individual might believe they are never safe or that they do not deserve well-being. These self-beliefs reflect in the body and affect aspects such as posture, breathing, and even heart rate. Changes in the body, in turn, impact how a person interprets their environment and how they relate to others. Trauma-organized interactions can lead to frequent misinterpretations and challenges in relationships.

In family relationships, the absence of a sense of control, protective presence, and comfort, as well as feelings of helplessness and unpredictability, can be particularly damaging. Trauma leaves a lasting imprint on the mind, which can be reactivated even decades later. When a traumatic memory is triggered, the same physical sensations as those experienced during the original traumatic event are activated in the body. Some family relationships or relationships between partners may continue to exist in a state of trauma, preventing the relationship from growing or developing at the same pace as other areas of life. This can lead to experiences of emptiness in relationships, misunderstandings, and a sense of being unmet or unconnected.

In parenting or within a family, traumatization may manifest as either a parent’s low energy, which can appear as apathy, paralysis, and depression, or as high energy, characterized by overactivity and moving from one crisis to another. If a parent has experienced early traumatization, the trauma might also present as dissociative states. Therefore, it is important that family therapy identifies trauma-organized interactions and has developed methods for working with these issues.

In Finland, Sisko Karinen, Minna Koskinen, and Aino-Maija Rautkallio have developed a method of stabilizing family therapy designed to understand the harmful effects of traumatization on relational presence, identify traumatization in family interactions with family members, and practice regulating emotions and communication with family members. This is achieved by focusing on the bodily sensations of family members and therapists, as well as the associated emotions and imagery. In this way, family members learn to observe both themselves and their interactions, identify traumatizing sensory stimuli, regulate their reactions, and stabilize their experiences.