Trauma as a Soul Wound: Why We Must Heal More Than Just the Body
We often talk about trauma in terms of what it does to the brain, the fight, flight, or freeze response. But does that clinical language capture the full depth of the experience?
I remember reading a story shared by trauma expert Peter Levine about a woman who had experienced a stillbirth. For days, she simply lay down and stared into space, frozen in her grief. It wasn't until the fourth night that she finally got up, began to dance, and then broke down sobbing.
This story stayed with me because it illustrates that trauma isn't just a mental health condition; it is a soul wound. It impacts the deepest, innermost parts of our self, and healing often requires a release that goes far beyond talk therapy.
The Indigenous View: You Are Not Separate
Reflecting on the work of scholars like Daya and Graham, I’ve been struck by how differently indigenous cultures view this issue compared to Western medicine. These traditions hold a view of interconnectedness.
From this perspective, we are all connected, our physical bodies, our spiritual bodies, the earth, and the spirit of the universe. Therefore, when the physical body is wounded, the spiritual body is wounded, too.
Western treatment often forgets this. We focus primarily on the physical or the cognitive, leaving the spiritual wound festering. The term "soul retrieval" or "soul wounding," common in indigenous traditions, speaks to the greater depths that trauma reaches. It acknowledges that to be whole, we must integrate spirituality into our healing.
Generational Trauma: Healing for the Past and Future
Trauma doesn't just travel deep; it travels forward. Peter Levine discusses generational trauma using Pavlovian conditioning experiments with rats, illustrating how fear and stress responses can change DNA structures and be passed down from generation to generation.
While the science of epigenetics is fascinating, I also view this through a spiritual lens. I believe trauma can be transmitted across generations because of the deep connections we share with our ancestors.
This realization has shaped my view of my own work. We aren't just healing for ourselves. We have to heal these wounds continuously, for our ancestors and for the generations to come, in order to create a lasting impact on our families and communities.
References
Daya, R. (2005). Buddhist moments in psychotherapy. In R. Moodley & W. West (Eds.), Integrating traditional healing into psychotherapy practices into counseling and psychotherapy (pp. 182-193). Sage Publications.
Graham, M. (2005). An african-centered paradigm for psychological and spiritual healing. In R. Moodley & W. West (Eds.), Integrating traditional healing into psychotherapy practices into counseling and psychotherapy (pp. 210-220). Sage Publications.
Levine, P., & Buczynski, R. (n.d.). Getting to the root of trauma: Why it's critical to understand the role of memory in trauma therapy. National Institute for Clinical Application of Behavioral Medicine.
