Shock and Trauma in Mindfulness-Based Core Process Psychotherapy

Introduction

Human beings do not emerge into the world as blank slates. Our sense of self and our subjective experience of reality are shaped by a complex convergence of factors; family systems, culture, socio-economic conditions, climate, historical moment and the prevailing collective psyche. Trauma is woven through all of these layers. Given the long and often violent history of life on Earth and the precarious evolution of human societies, it is difficult to argue that trauma is an exception rather than a baseline condition. We are born into a world that carries unresolved shock at both individual and collective levels.

As the psychiatrist and cultural critic Mark Vonnegut once wrote; it is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society. The sickness he gestures towards can be understood as the cumulative effect of unprocessed trauma; personal, relational, cultural and trans-generational.

Mindfulness-based Core Process Psychotherapy offers a way of understanding how shock and trauma shape the self and how healing becomes possible through embodied awareness, relational safety and careful pacing. In what follows I will outline how shock and trauma are conceptualised within this approach and how they are worked with in practice. I will also draw on my own lived experience alongside the work of clinicians and theorists whose perspectives align with a body-centred and mindfulness-informed understanding of trauma.

Shock and the Healthy Stress Response

In everyday language the word trauma is often used to describe an injury or a frightening event. In psychological terms however trauma is not defined by what happened but by how the nervous system responded and whether it was able to return to equilibrium. As Gabor Maté frequently observes; trauma is not the bad things that happen to us but what happens inside us as a result of what happened.

Shock is the organism’s immediate response to overwhelming threat, injury or loss. It is a survival response governed by subcortical brain structures and the autonomic nervous system. When functioning well this response is intense but temporary. Energy mobilises rapidly for fight or flight and once the danger has passed the system discharges the excess arousal and returns to balance.

In this sense shock is not pathological. It is adaptive and often lifesaving. Many animals instinctively shake, tremble or complete defensive movements after a threat and humans retain the same biological capacity. When the stress response is allowed to complete itself the event may be frightening but it does not necessarily become traumatic.

When Shock Becomes Trauma

A trauma response develops when the organism is unable to process and discharge the shock either during or shortly after the event. The nervous system remains locked in a state of heightened arousal or collapse and the inner response to the event continues long after the external danger has passed.

Research in developmental neuroscience has shown that unresolved trauma can affect brain development, immune function, hormonal regulation and even gene expression. As paediatrician Nadine Burke Harris has demonstrated; early adversity leaves a measurable imprint on the body as well as the psyche.

From a subjective perspective trauma often manifests as a loss of connection; to the body, to emotions, to other people and to the present moment itself. The individual may oscillate between states of hyper-arousal such as anxiety, rage or panic and hypo-arousal such as numbness, collapse or dissociation. These patterns are not character flaws but survival adaptations.

Trauma as an Organising Principle of the Self

Core Process Psychotherapy draws heavily on object relations theory and in particular the work of Fairbairn as articulated by Franklyn Sills. From this perspective early relational trauma plays a central role in shaping what Sills calls the self-system.

Primary trauma arises when there is a rupture in the relational field between infant and caregiver. This rupture may result from neglect, misattunement, illness, threat or inconsistent care. The infant experiences polarised feeling tones; moments of connection and care alongside moments of rejection or absence. Because the infant is entirely dependent, the psyche adapts by internalising the distress rather than risking the loss of the attachment relationship.

These early adaptations are intelligent and necessary at the time. They form the templates through which later experience is filtered. Over time however they can become rigid patterns that limit vitality, intimacy and choice. In this sense trauma is not only something that happened in the past; it is a living process that continues to organise perception and behaviour in the present.

Trauma in the Body

From a mindfulness-based and somatic perspective trauma is not primarily a story but a physiological state. When defensive responses are thwarted or incomplete the nervous system may hold unresolved energy in the body. This can appear as chronic muscular tension, postural patterns, somatic symptoms or impulsive movements that never quite complete themselves.

In therapy it is often helpful to invite awareness of subtle bodily impulses. A client may feel an urge to turn the head, push away, reach out or tremble. When these movements are followed slowly and with awareness they can bring a profound sense of relief and integration. The body completes what was once interrupted and the nervous system updates its sense of safety.

Polyvagal Understanding of Trauma

The work of Stephen Porges provides a useful framework for understanding trauma responses. Polyvagal Theory describes how different branches of the vagus nerve mediate states of mobilisation, social engagement and shutdown.

When threat is perceived and escape or defence is not possible the system may default to dorsal vagal collapse. This state is characterised by dissociation, numbness and withdrawal. While protective in the short term it becomes damaging when it turns into a habitual mode of regulation.

Healing involves gently supporting the nervous system to access ventral vagal states of safety, connection and curiosity. This cannot be forced. It emerges through experiences of attuned relationship and mindful awareness that restore trust in the present moment.

The Centrality of Safety and Relational Holding

Developmental trauma occurs when emotional pain has no relational home in which it can be held. Without sufficient attunement the individual learns to manage distress alone or to fragment awareness in order to survive.

Within Core Process Psychotherapy the therapeutic relationship itself is therefore central. Healing does not occur through technique alone but through coherent intersubjectivity. The client must feel that the therapist is genuinely present, receptive and emotionally available. Without this felt sense of safety even well-intentioned interventions can be re-traumatising.

Working with trauma requires a stance of invitation rather than demand. The therapist tracks the client’s nervous system moment by moment and respects signals of overwhelm or withdrawal. Questions that are too direct or poorly timed can push the client into dissociation. Sensitivity and pacing are essential.

Mindfulness, Resourcing and Pendulation

Mindfulness in this context is not a detached witnessing but an embodied and relational practice. Clients are supported to notice sensations, emotions and images as they arise while remaining anchored in present-moment safety.

A key principle is resourcing. Before approaching traumatic material the client is helped to establish contact with sensations of comfort, strength or stability in the body. This provides a reference point to which they can return if arousal increases.

The process often involves gentle oscillation between difficult sensations and more neutral or pleasant states. This movement, described by Peter Levine as pendulation, allows the nervous system to integrate previously overwhelming experience in manageable increments. Just as in chemistry the concept of titration applies; change occurs through small and carefully measured steps.

Trauma, Spirituality and Integration

Unresolved trauma often interferes with embodiment and can lead to a preference for transcendent or dissociative spiritual states. While such states may offer temporary relief they do not in themselves resolve the underlying holding patterns.

As trauma releases and the body becomes safer to inhabit many people report a deepening sense of spiritual connection that is grounded rather than escapist. Vitality flows more freely and spiritual insight becomes integrated with ordinary human relating. In this sense trauma work and spiritual practice are not opposed but mutually informing when approached with care.

Conclusion

Trauma is not chosen yet it profoundly shapes the architecture of the self. Early shock and relational rupture leave traces in the nervous system that influence perception, behaviour and identity across the lifespan. Mindfulness-based Core Process Psychotherapy understands these patterns not as pathology but as adaptations that once served survival.

Healing requires conditions similar to those needed for the body to heal a wound; safety, time, attuned care and respect for the organism’s innate intelligence. Through embodied mindfulness, relational holding and careful pacing the nervous system can gradually relinquish its defensive strategies. What emerges is not the erasure of the past but a greater capacity to meet the present with presence, flexibility and aliveness.

Trauma work is therefore not about fixing what is broken but about restoring connection; to the body, to others and to the underlying ground of being from which the self continually unfolds.