Simon Sinek wrote: "The limbic brain comprises the middle two sections and is responsible for all our feelings, such as trust and loyalty. This area of the brain is responsible for all human behaviour and all our decision-making. It is where our emotional connection takes place, and it has no capacity for language."
As a CEO responsible for health and behavioral health systems, I noticed early on that most patients and clients didn't improve during talk therapy. As I learned the nuance of performance measures, the fact that one client had been involved in talk therapy for about 11 years told me that they needed an audience, not a therapist. I began to study the limbic system about 15 years ago and realized that the limbic system was what childhood trauma affected. Children under the age of five have no cultural construct nor language to express what is happening to them. They have one simple response: Fear. Fear alters our limbic system by increasing our triggers, both numerically and in intensity. We are afraid of more things and the fear response activates more frequently.
I believe the chemical response to a fear activation is what takes the place of language. We do not say, "I see the bear and it looks like it is going to attack me so I better run or fight (living in Alaska often fighting a black bear is the right move). Instead, the limbic system reacts and we respond. No language, only the emotion of fear.
When we're children, ACEs intensify our fear response to react more frequently. Prevention of ACEs limits our fear response to real threats. Children have lots of real threats because of their vulnerability. Every fear response is accompanied by a cortisol dump, leading to a cascade of chemicals to help us fight or flee. If we do neither (often defined as a freeze response), the chemicals remain in our body. Fighting or running use the chemical response up and returning to a calm state (homeostasis) is the natural end of a fear response.
Those of us with toxic stress have an intensified fear response and a constant barrage of chemicals that lead to what "lean thinkers" refer to as a gap when attempting to achieve homeostasis. I believe that gap is filled with behaviors that make us feel better. Negative behaviors include smoking, alcohol abuse, drug abuse, promiscuity, anger and depression, among others. Neutral behaviors are not yet negative. I use playing Bingo or social drinking as examples. They help fill the gap and don't cause problems while they are neutral. Positive behaviors are those that are looked upon as "resilience" under the currently accepted definition. Achievement in sports, entertainment, academics, arts and others are viewed as signs of resilience, although they may only be used to fill the gap. Praise for doing something well causes a chemical response in the brain that helps fill the resilience gap for a while, until it wears off.
A resilience gap filled with primarily negative behaviors promotes a negative view of us by society. If it is filled with neutral behaviors, we are not seen in either a negative or positive light. If it is filled with positive behaviors society has a positive view of us, even though we still suffer from toxic stress. Being viewed through a positive lens by society doesn't mean we don't have negative and neutral behaviors as a part of what we have "stacked" for helping us feel better.
Healing is reducing the need for stacking behaviors from all three categories and beginning to enjoy life for itself. I will discuss how I believe the resilience gap can be reduced instead of filled on a pathway to healing.
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