from Coping with Trauma Related Dissociation:
“Fear and anxiety affect decision making in the direction of more caution and risk aversion. Traumatized individuals pay more attention to cues of threat than other experiences, and they interpret ambitious stimuli as threatening, leading to more fear driven decisions. In people with dissociative disorder, certain parts are compelled to focus on the perception of danger. Living in trauma-time, these dissociative parts immediately perceive the present as being just “like the past” and emergency emotions such as fear, rage, or terror are immediately evoked, which compel impulsive decisions to engage in defensive behaviors (freeze, flight,flight, or collapse). When parts of you are triggered, more rational and grounded parts may be overwhelmed and unable to make effective decisions.”
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My take on this quote: Our PTSD ego (cognitive mind) interprets reality in a distorted, harmful way. This passage confirms my belief that the breathing track is needed so we do not freeze, flee, fight or collapse. Overwhelmed and unable to make effective decisions is not healing. We need to develop our focus directing our attention to now, instead of dissociating and fueling trauma. Simple if we practice everyday and with every breath.
