The Science and Methodology Behind IFS
I don't expect you to believe everything I tell you. I don't expect you to think you can change your biochemistry, neuropathways, and thought processes. You were given free will, and I would expect you to exercise that right and want to see both sides of the same coin.
A little bit of background first. I take a neuroscience psychology approach and integrate Internal Family Systems (IFS) model into everything I do. Neuroscience psychology is an interdisciplinary field that incorporates several disciplines, including psychology, biology, chemistry, and physics.
Neuroscience psychology can add knowledge about human thoughts, emotions, and behaviour by studying the nervous system. This is the central area of expertise for the path of The Journey Home® Community. It is accessing and communicating with the Parts that have taken on extreme roles and activated the system to protect it.
Hormonal response to trauma
When the body is stressed (feeling of danger), it triggers the release of cortisol. Cortisol will shut off the hippocampus (laying down and integrating memory) functions, but adrenaline will increase the amygdala (laying down emotional memory) operations. In essence, adrenaline increases the laying down of certain kinds of memories. But cortisol will decrease the integration of those memories because the hippocampus has receptors that respond to the cortisol and shut it down. Each hormone has a different effect on the brain.
Cortisol can become toxic to the brain's functions and grows if sustained over long periods, i.e., in abusive childhoods or relationships. In contrast, adrenaline will increase the laying down of those memories. Hence, trauma cannot be released by talking it through - managing and reframing emotions is limited and can be damaging.
The impact on the brain network
After experiencing trauma, both the brain and the body react and change. Every cell records memories, and every embedded, trauma-related neuropathway can reactivate repeatedly. During a traumatic experience, the reptilian brain takes control, shifting the body into reactive mode. The brain stem orchestrates survival mode by shutting down all non-essential body and mind processes. During this time, the sympathetic nervous system increases stress hormones and prepares the body to fight, flee or freeze.
In a normal situation, when immediate threat ceases, the parasympathetic nervous system shifts the body into restorative mode. However, for some trauma survivors, this restorative mode never occurs. Instead, significant brain structures hold the survivor in a constant reactive state.
Our body's response to trauma
Scientists have explored lots of angles to explain how trauma affects the body. Stephen Porges, Ph.D., introduced a new theory, the Polyvagal theory. He suggests that our nervous systems have evolved to feel things like intimacy and safety around others. But if we detect danger, the other primitive parts of our nervous system kick in, like the sympathetic nervous system, which controls our “fight or flight” response, and the parasympathetic nervous system, which causes us to shut down and conserve energy.
These systems also control things like digestion and heart rate. So once they spring into action, your body works differently. This could explain why trauma survivors are about three times more likely to deal with irritable bowel syndrome, chronic pain, fibromyalgia, and chronic fatigue syndrome and continue to feel like they are unsafe in the world.
It's Not Your Fault
To understand trauma, we need to understand the whole body system.
The simplest way to define trauma is an experience we have that overwhelms our capacity to cope.
Why does it overwhelm our capacity to cope?
Bessel Van der Kolk describes it like this -
"more or less, every part of the brain is affected by trauma. The right brain (emotional) lights up more. The left brain (logical) shuts down more. The back of the brain (reptilian) is more hyperactive. The front (prefrontal cortex) becomes less active".
The connections and neurotransmitters between the different parts of the brain get scrambled. The brain then goes into hyper-alertness, which involves multiple brain structures.
Trauma does not discriminate; it hinders a person from thinking, feeling, and acting clearly, creating a feeling of paralysis or helplessness. It's not your fault; it's your brain doing its job for your survival.
“At the core of IFS is the notion that the mind of each of us is like a family in which the members have different levels of maturity, excitability, wisdom, and pain. The parts form a network or system in which change in any one part will affect all the others.” - Bessel Van der Kolk.
