Podcast Summary
Understanding Social Anxiety: Fear and Discomfort in Social Situations: Social anxiety involves fear, discomfort, and physical symptoms in social situations, ranging from mild self-consciousness to debilitating fear, and can significantly impact quality of life.
Social anxiety is a fear and discomfort in social situations that can manifest as excessive worry about being embarrassed or humiliated, physical symptoms like racing heart, sweating palms, and muscle tension, and maladaptive coping behaviors like binge eating, migraines, or avoiding social gatherings altogether. It's important to note that these symptoms may not always be felt in the moment, but can surface afterwards as a way for the body to cope with the intense stress of social situations. Social anxiety can exist on a spectrum, ranging from mild self-consciousness to debilitating fear, and can significantly impact one's quality of life. Understanding this condition can help individuals identify their own experiences with social anxiety and seek out appropriate resources and support for healing.
CPTS and Substance Use in Social Situations: Individuals with complex post-traumatic stress (CPTS) may use substances like food, alcohol, or cannabis to cope with anxiety and disconnection in social environments. This can worsen for those with developmental trauma and their inner critic and toxic shame. When removing a coping mechanism, individuals may struggle to navigate social situations without it.
Complex post-traumatic stress (CPTS) can lead individuals to use substances as a way to cope with the anxiety and disconnection experienced in social environments. This coping mechanism can manifest as overconsumption of food, alcohol, or cannabis, and can occur both before, during, and after social interactions. For those with developmental trauma, the inner critic and toxic shame can exacerbate social anxiety, leading to a heavy stress load. When individuals with CPTS remove a major coping mechanism like alcohol, they may feel even more disconnected and struggle to navigate social situations without the numbing effect. It's important to note that this is a complex issue that falls on a spectrum, and everyone's experience is unique. Understanding the connection between CPTS, inner critic, toxic shame, and social anxiety can help individuals seek out healthy coping mechanisms and find ways to build social connections without relying on substances.
Living with heightened states of awareness and hypervigilance in Complex Post-Traumatic Stress: Individuals with CPTS experience hypervigilance due to brain changes, leading to excessive sensory input and potential trauma responses.
Individuals with Complex Post-Traumatic Stress (CPTS) often experience heightened states of awareness and hypervigilance, which can make even the smallest social interactions feel overwhelming. This hypervigilance stems from the trauma-induced changes in the brain, particularly the amygdala, which becomes more sensitive to perceived threats. As a result, individuals with CPTS may feel constantly on edge, scanning their surroundings for potential danger and trying to read people's facial expressions and nervous systems. This heightened state of awareness can lead to an excessive amount of sensory information coming into the nervous system, which can trigger a trauma response. Additionally, individuals with CPTS may struggle to process this excess stimulus due to deficits in their input systems or sensory mismatches. Understanding the interconnectedness of hypervigilance, trauma, and the resulting impact on the nervous system is crucial for recognizing and managing the challenges of living with CPTS.
Neurodivergences and Social Anxiety: A Complex Intersection: Neurodivergences like ADHD and social anxiety can cause significant stress in social situations due to the brain's attempts to process sensory information and regulate attention and emotions. Physiological responses, such as shutting down or masking, can be deeply rooted in the nervous system and compounded by social norms and expectations.
The intersection of neurodivergences like ADHD and social anxiety can lead to significant physiological and emotional stress in social situations. The brain's attempts to process and regulate an overload of sensory information can result in protective outputs, such as shutting down or masking, to cope with the overwhelming stimuli. These responses are deeply rooted in the physiological demands of the nervous system and can be compounded by the unique challenges of regulating attention and emotional regulation associated with neurodivergences like ADHD. Additionally, the social context can add an extra layer of stress due to the expectation to conform to neurotypical norms, which can further exacerbate feelings of overwhelm and sensory overload. Understanding these connections and the underlying physiological and neurological processes can provide valuable insights into managing and coping with these experiences.
Trauma and neurodivergence deeply interconnected: Trauma can impact brain development, exacerbate neurodivergence challenges, and lead to further trauma through sensory overload and emotional overwhelm. Recognize and address root causes through relational healing, emotional processing, and somatic movement.
Complex trauma and neurodivergence are deeply interconnected. Trauma can impact brain development and exacerbate the challenges of neurodivergence, leading to further trauma in the form of sensory overload and emotional overwhelm. Social anxiety, for example, can be a result of emotional overwhelm and a lack of skills to regulate stress. People with neurodivergent brains, especially those who grew up in dysregulated environments, may learn to regulate others instead of themselves, leading to maladaptive behaviors as survival modes. It's essential to recognize and address the root causes of these survival modes through relational healing, emotional processing, and somatic movement. Join the Brain Based Wellness membership site at rewiretrial.com for more resources on this topic.
Childhood experiences shape attachment styles and nervous system responses to social connections.: Understanding how past experiences impact attachment styles and nervous system responses can help in working with complex trauma and repairing attachment wounds.
Our developmental experiences shape our attachment styles and the way our nervous system responds to social connections. When we've learned to take on the emotional regulation of others for survival, it can lead to chronic stress and disregulating behaviors. This is especially challenging for individuals with complex trauma, as maintaining relationships and social connections can be inherently dysregulating. Our attachment schema, formed in childhood, primes us for protective attachment and perceives a lot of threat in social situations. This can result in internal chaos and stress in the body. Understanding this dynamic is crucial in working with complex trauma and repairing attachment wounds.
Anxious attachment and heightened sensitivity in social situations: Anxious attachment, formed in early life due to caregiver dysregulation, leads to heightened sensitivity to others' emotions, fear of abandonment, constant reassurance seeking, and negative self-perception, resulting in social anxiety and potential alcohol use to regulate emotions.
Anxious attachment, formed in early development due to dysregulated caregivers, results in individuals being overly sensitive to others' nervous systems in social situations. Anxiously attached individuals are preoccupied with relationships due to fear of abandonment, seek constant reassurance, and worry about rejection. They are hyperaware of social cues and potential threats, leading to negative self-perception, self-doubt, and social anxiety. In social situations, they may regulate their nervous systems through alcohol, leading to heightened states of activation and potentially explosive behavior. Understanding anxious attachment can help us recognize and respond compassionately to individuals exhibiting these behaviors.
Attachment Styles Impact Social Connections: Understanding attachment styles can help us navigate social situations, build healthier relationships, and honor individual capacities and needs.
Attachment styles, including avoidant and disorganized, can significantly impact our ability to connect with others and experience social situations. People with avoidant attachment may have a fear of emotional intimacy and a reluctance to rely on others, leading to feelings of isolation and a desire to withdraw from social situations. This can stem from past experiences where connection felt unsafe or overwhelming. It's important to understand that attachment styles are fluid and can change, but it's essential to work within the capacity of our nervous systems to make those changes. Repatterned social engagement and regulation through dosing and emotional work can help us navigate social situations more effectively and build healthier relationships. Remember, our nervous systems are wired for connection, but it's crucial to honor our individual capacities and needs to create safe and meaningful connections.
Understanding attachment schemas and their impact on relationships: Through self-awareness and daily nervous system practices, we can alter the inputs and interpretations that shape our attachment schemas and improve our relationships.
Our attachment schemas, shaped by complex trauma and repeated patterns of unsafe environments and behaviors, act as lenses through which we perceive and interpret social interactions. These schemas, which can lead to chronic survival mechanisms, significantly impact how we view and respond to relationships. To change these outputs, we must focus on altering the inputs and interpretations. This process begins with self-awareness and daily nervous system practices to lower overall threat levels and foster a healthier relationship with oneself. Join us at rewiretrial.com for resources and classes on relational healing and complex PTSD. These series were developed in response to listener requests, aiming to provide practical tools for repatterning our relationships.
Learn CPTS through Trauma Rewired's on-demand library: Explore practical applications of somatic practices and nervous system tools to break free from patterns with Trauma Rewired's CPTS series during a free trial
Trauma Rewired offers a class series on CPTS (Cognitive Processing Therapy for Somatic Practices) through their on-demand library. This series demonstrates the practical application of somatic practices and nervous system tools to help individuals break free from patterns. Interested individuals can explore this series during a free two-week trial at rewiretrial.com. The team at Trauma Rewired values the feedback and involvement of their audience in creating and delivering valuable content. Remember, this podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be considered medical or psychological advice. It covers sensitive topics related to complex trauma, and listeners are encouraged to seek professional help if they are in immediate danger or struggling with their mental health.