Pleasure & trauma

Trauma gets in the way of your ability to feel joy and a sense of well-being. Especially for those who have been through multiple and early childhood traumas.

Calmness, peace and relaxation can immediately feel like a threat. It can bring restless and a sense of danger.

If you are a person who has gone through trauma this will be something that is difficult for you to recognise. This is because your are not used to feel tranquility. Growing up in unsafe and/or unstable home shaped your nervous system to be wired for chaos. So when things go well or/and when you feel pleasure your nervous system cannot tolerate it, as it hasn’t built the container to hold this type of experience for very long.

For instance, when things are working out you may feel guilty. A feeling that something bad will happen may arise. When you feel calm and peace you may have the urge to change gears straight away to keep yourself busy. There are many scenarios where pleasure will trigger a survival strategy. Please know if you feel this way this is not who you are. It’s just part of the symptoms you experience after trauma.

Part of somatic work is to build resilience in your system, so that you can finally relax and enjoy life. Rebuilding your capacity to feel safe in your body, so that you can feel joy and inner peace without wanting to “run away”.