Transforming Trauma: The Path to Hope and Healing
Sometimes, you can agree with the goal and even some of the foundational premises of an author without accepting their extension into a place where there’s no empirical support. That’s where I am with Transforming Trauma: The Path to Hope and Healing. Much like The HeartMath Solution, there are extensions that simply don’t follow the evidence we have. Despite this, there are some good things about the book, what it shares, and how it can help It just leaves a lot to the reader to ensure that what they’re reading is supported by science – or at least not invalidated by it.
Meditation
I’m not going to take away the documented benefits of meditation. I wholeheartedly support and agree with them. (See Altered Traits and Happiness for two examples of solid foundations for meditation.) That being said, James Gordon’s assertion that “MEDITATION IS THE antidote to trauma” (capitalization original) is overstated. To understand why, we need to understand what the research does and does not say. James Pennebaker’s work shows the need to develop a narrative around trauma. (See Opening Up.) While meditation can activate the parasympathetic system and downregulate someone to a point of being able to address the trauma, it does not in and of itself neutralize the trauma. (See Emotional Intelligence and Reducing Secondary Traumatic Stress for more on the parasympathetic system.)
Gordon claims that “if you meditate regularly, the tone of your vagus nerve – its level of functioning – increases.” However, the referenced article doesn’t make such broad claims. Instead, it surveys mechanisms of meditation and references the relaxation and anti-inflammatory properties. This is a bit of tautology, because the vagus nerve is the parasympathetic system’s key driver – towards relaxation (or, shorthand, “rest and digest”). Similarly, anti-inflammatory is often a shortcut for saying a reduction in cortisol. (See Why Zebras Don’t Get Ulcers for more on stress, inflammation, and cortisol.) In short, there’s no support for the statement made – even if it’s generally a good thing.
Gordon also claims, “Much of the research on meditation has been done with people who meditate for forty minutes a day or more.” Here, the problem is that he’s isolated one measure – and not the one that’s arguably the most important. Much of the initial research was done with people who have extensive experience with meditation and showed dramatic effects. Altered Traits shares some of the more recent and much more transient work. Even short sessions over a few weeks can make an impact. So, there is research, and it’s the kind that’s important to people trying to recover right now.
Why is this important? It’s important, because we need to recognize that you don’t need to maintain meditation over the remainder of your life. There’s no singular prescription for a kind of meditation that’s necessary. The fact that you’re able to focus on something or nothing seems to be the key.
Fear of Emotions
Gordon correctly identifies that many people are afraid of their emotions. They fear that if they allow emotions, they’ll appear weak – or that the emotions will get the better of them, and they’ll be unable to control themselves. They feel as if they’re Bruce Banner who only needs to be provoked to become The Hulk. One of the ways that we can heal from trauma is accepting ourselves and, particularly, our emotions about the trauma.
Hypervigilance
A common compensation by those who’ve been traumatized is hypervigilance. That is, they can’t accept any threat ever impacting them again. They pursue strategies to avoid stressful or risky situations. They’re constantly on the lookout for the next potential problem.
Often, this leads to a need to control everything they can. The reasoning, even if unconscious, is that if it’s under control, then it’s not a threat. This can be the case – but it may not be.
Sadness and Fear
Gordon states, “Sadness and fear are similar.” Unfortunately, most respected scientists wouldn’t agree with him. Richard Lazarus explains how fear works in Emotion and Adaptation – and it’s not about sadness. While Lisa Feldman Barrett doesn’t agree with much that Paul Ekman says, neither believe that fear and sadness are similar in the way that Gordon states. (For Barrett, see How Emotions Are Made; for Ekman, see Telling Lies and Emotional Awareness.)
Triggers
Triggers are those things that lead people back to their trauma experience. Gordon states, “TRIGGERS ARE EVENTS – words, actions, or perceptions – that in some way resemble a past trauma and reawaken it.” The problem is that triggers don’t need to resemble the original event – they only need to remind people of the event. Even very odd connections work to drag people back to their trauma. Sometimes these connections aren’t (and can’t be made) conscious.
What’s important to realize is that triggers are a part of the amplification process. We see trauma get worse over time, because triggers cause their own traumas (by hyperactivation) that pile on to the original trauma and can exacerbate the problem.
The First Time Nobody Tried to Fix Me
It’s an odd thing. It’s what happens when you listen – just to listen. The person that you’re with feels different. They’re so used to people listening so they can respond that when someone listens with the full intent of simply understanding someone else, it’s special and different. One of the spontaneous things that happens is that people recognize “it’s the first time that nobody tried to fix me.” It’s the sort of thing that one would expect to hear when the other person has been trained in Motivational Interviewing. It could happen if someone experienced Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT). (See Cognitive Behavioral Treatment of Borderline Personality Disorder.)
The Impact of Positive and Negative Responses
At some level, those responding to others who have experienced trauma believe that there’s nothing they can do to undo the trauma that happened. That’s true – but the important thing isn’t the trauma that has happened, it’s what is going to happen. Stories proliferate, like the one told in Transforming Trauma of a woman who was raped by her mentor and minister. The tragedy was that the way the system responded to her invalidated both her and the event – and led to forty years of needless suffering.
Trauma-informed responses can mean the difference between a hard period and a hard life. Obviously, we hope that every interaction is supportive and leads to less suffering – but that is tragically rare.
Keeping Pain from the Center
In the midst of a conversation about keeping gratitude journals, a conversation emerged about using gratitude journals as a technique for keeping pain from becoming the center of life. Gratitude journals, however, have some mixed evidence. Their use in acute cases, where people can’t understand what to be grateful for, is certainly warranted. (See Flourish, Hardwiring Happiness, Happiness, Positive Psychotherapy, and Happier?.)
However, I’m cautious about long-term use of gratitude journaling, because it becomes another task that people need to do – instead of providing positive effects.
Meaning and Purpose
Referring to Viktor Frankl, the book ends with a recommendation to find your meaning and purpose. (See Man’s Search for Meaning and also Simon Sinek’s Start with Why.) While it’s sound advice, there’s no guidance on how to do it. That can be frustrating as you recognize that you need to find your meaning but also are painfully aware that you don’t know how. Trauma sometimes closes people off from themselves, as is explained by the Internal Family Systems model in No Bad Parts. Sometimes, to find our meaning, we must first be freed from the weight of trauma, and it’s only then that we can achieve Transforming Trauma.