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read more about key concepts

Plant
trauma

trauma

What is 

trauma?

Trauma is an event that one experiences directly or indirectly that is beyond one's ability to cope. These experiences become fragmented from one's history and sense of self, existing as a wound.

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Trauma can be acute (single event) or chronic (accumulative exposure). Anything that leaves a persistent, negative impact on your life can be considered traumatic.

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Symptoms

  • Physiological changes
    (increased heart rate, shallow breathing, sweating, GI issues, dilated pupils, muscle tension)

  • Hyper-vigilance

  • Feeling unsafe, mistrustful

  • Dissociation ("spacing out")

  • Flashbacks and intrusive thoughts

  • Sleep disturbances, nightmares

  • Impulsivity, and self destructive behaviour

  • Chronic pain

  • Addictions

  • Isolation

schemas

Jeffrey young

schemas

What are scehmas?

Schemas are patterns of thinking and feeling about oneself and others that shape the way one processes information and acts in the world. 

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Schemas are developed early in life. They are accepted by the individual as truth, rarely challenged, and remain persistent into adulthood.

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Schemas often operate out of one's awareness and when triggered cause negative personal distress.

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Schemas are cyclical and self-perpetuating. Individuals act in ways which reinforce their schemas, strengthening them, and increasing their influence of future behaviour.

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Individuals often have multiple schemas that operate at differing severities. 

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ego states

These are the unmet needs from your childhood. They are sore spots that are susceptible to shifting you from the present (Adult ego state) to the past (Child or Parent ego state). The shift occurs when these vulnerabilities are triggered (a phrase, tone of voice, look, smell, sensation, etc).

wounds

A

Course of development

Ego states

  • Thoughts, feelings, and behaviours based in here and now

  • Grounded in the present moment

  • Age appropriate reactions

  • Able to consider different perspectives

  • Can predict consequences

  • Logical, based on facts

  • Reflective and objective

  • Flexible

adult ego state 

P

Take place in the past

C

Birth

  • Thoughts, feelings, and behaviours that are replays of childhood experiences

  • Takes place in the past

  • Developed pre-language development; cannot always be explained in words but rather just a 'felt sense'

  • Often in form of "I" statements

  • Makes you feel SMALL and vulnerable; illusion of powerlessness and helplessness

  • Rigid

  • Thoughts, feelings, and behaviours that are internalized from parents.

  • Beliefs about what is right and wrong, and socially acceptable

  • Critical and demanding (Shoulds, musts, and oughts)

  • Often verbal "You" statements

  • Makes you feel BIG; illusion of power and control

  • Rigid

parent ego state 

child ego state

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