What is Shock and Trauma? Is there a Difference?

Healing from shock and trauma in our lives takes time and a resolve and comittment to our healing.  Saying "yes" to the grief and loss means we are integrating them into our life.  It is life--at least here on earth.  But where is the hope in overcoming and being normal again?

I want to first define shock and trauma to you. There is a clear deliniation between the two. Stephanie Mines, Ph.D. wrote an amazing book entitled We are all in Shock, How Overwhelming Experiences Shatter you and What You can Do About It. Dr. Mines teaches us that shock is a part of our lives--part of the human experience, a cumulative experience where in lies the danger.

Once shock is exposed it becomes less and less threatening to our health and it gets smaller.

Dr. Mines states, "Shock begins the moment when we are confronted with an experience so stunning that our body/mind system is overwhelmed."  Some examples she gives us is a baby separated from his/her mother at birth; a child in need of attention who is ignored by busy parents; witnessing the death of a friend or a loved one; losing a body part in war, a child at birth or miscarriage, or all your possessions in a natural disaster!

She believes that when trauma occurs it strikes and wounds, but when SHOCK occurs it shatters us into a million pieces and it takes TIME to find all those pieces and begin to reintegrate ourselves to self once more. 

Trauma on the otherhand allows us to dig deep quickly to react and stabilize sooner because it is the lesser of the two evils so to speak.  I liken it to a Richter scale of earthquakes.  Trauma rates lower on the Richter scale than Shock...Trauma leaves you saying, "Why do I have to clean up this mess"...Shock rocks your world and leaves you wondering how am I going to survive ,"Will I ever be okay again. I can't go on."

I want to leave you today with Ten Steps to Resolving Shock according to Dr. Mines.

1.  Identify the lesson in the overwhelming experience.

2.  Sustain this awareness.

3.  Establish a strong relationship with your body.

4.  Develop an inner witness.

5.  Make a bond with nature.

6.  Know that laughter is the best medicine.

7.  Use language as a healing tool.

8.  Use touch to heal.

9.  Separate past from present.

10.  ADDRESS SHOCK IMMEDIATELY.

Remember that this is a process...working with a practitioner, a counselor, a teacher is so important.  The counselor companions you through the identification process first and foremost because we can not change what we aren't aware of.  Our experiences define us and make us who we are today.

I want to leave you this morning with this thought: When the pain of staying the same is Greater than the pain of CHANGE, then change can happen.

~holding you close in my heart and believing that you can have peace.

Delain