I’ve had a lot to think about
in my experiences both working with PTSD clients and also living and working
through the last year of covid-19 crisis. The following is theory based on
anecdotal data and a lot of scientific reading. Yes I’ve seen it play out with
hundreds of clients but I don’t have the time or resources for a true
scientific study. So I want to make that clear. But I think it’s a useful
paradigm to try out and see what insights it may give us about ourselves and
our stress.
We really like to convince ourselves
that we are very evolved, and in a lot of ways that is true. We build fantastic
machines that perform relative miracles to anything we could conceive of in
primitive times. Intellectually, most of us understand that we need thoughtful
solutions to modern problems. Including working together as a team on projects
that improve our safety and daily lives.
However, a lot of the older
nervous system programming shows up under stress and can cause a reversion to
our less evolved selves.
10,000 years ago, most problems
required a physical solution. Think about pre-tool making. You either gather
fruit and other edible plants, or physically catch, wrestle, and kill your
food. Or both. In order to hunt (or avoid being hunted), you needed three basic
skills: hiding, running, and fighting.
These three skills show up in
all animals as instincts and we are no exception. While most of us have learned
to largely tame them, they still show up in small and medium ways.
