«The greatest trauma in the DANA disaster can occur due to the lack of support, loneliness and isolation»

But the truth is that the trauma that many of those affected by the DANA tragedy probably experience can go far beyond the emotional aspect described by the RAE because, as explained by María Macaya, a therapist trained in Neuroscience and author of the guide ‘Yoga sensitive to trauma’ (Editorial Platform); It is not only recorded in the mind but is stored in the body, thus impacting our physical and emotional responses.

How does trauma impact the body and in what different ways can a traumatic experience be perceived?

Trauma is what happens inside me; and traumatic event is what happens outside. With the DANA tragedy we are faced with several traumatic events. On the one hand the natural disaster in itself, the human losses, disappearances and material destruction; but also with the feeling of insecurity, loneliness, uncertainty and lack of institutional support.

The body also has two ways of registering these traumatic eventson the one hand the sensory (smell, hunger, touch of the mud, cold, humidity, destruction, devastating images…) that collects what is perceived through the senses. And on the other hand, within our body we feel responses that can occur in the face of a traumatic event such as fight, flight, submission, freezing or dissociation. That is the nervous system reacting in the best way it can to a situation that overwhelms it, that surpasses it.

Therefore, we are affected by both what comes to us from outside and what happens to us internally and both things stay with that person. And that is what creates that implicit memory that joins the memory explicit. The emotional, sensory and bodily parts are the ones that remain recorded and form both the response and the memory.

What role does time play in trauma? At first it is likely that those affected are not even aware of how they feel…

Everything they have experienced, human and material losses, life stopped… are cumulative and complex experiences. And each person will experience a different situation depending on what has been most traumatic for them depending on what they experienced in the present and also what they have experienced in the past.

To understand what happens we can refer to the Maslow’s pyramid that tells us about how our needs work. At the moment many people in Valencia find themselves in that lowest part of the pyramid which involves doing everything that allows them to return to the most basic needs such as food, electricity, shelter, water, hygiene… And that is where many people continue. And that is what they are asking for right now, heavy machinery to mobilize everything that hinders communications and guarantee access, as well as material that helps them continue working such as brushes, boots, masks, medications… The most basic things.

All of this implies “I am but I am not.” Their “do, do, do” part is there, but their emotional part is not there right now, they cannot respond to it because right now they are in the “I have to take care of what I have to take care of.” Therefore I think we will see the consequences on mental health later, when the basic need to rebuild a safe place to live can be resolved.

And through the testimonies transmitted by the media we have also seen them express their emotions…

It is true that we are already seeing dissociation and also of anger, indignation and sadnessas we saw during the visit of the President of the Government and the Kings to the affected area. And all of this responds to that fight/flight response of the brain. That anger is a way of fighting and expressing oneself in the face of impotence with what one has in front of one.

The greatest trauma that can occur in a natural disaster comes from the lack of support, loneliness and isolation. The dimension of trauma depends, ultimately, on having a community or not, on feeling help or not. The social bond is the factor that most influences a traumatic event. And although human losses, disappearances and material losses are undoubtedly very hard traumatic events, that institutional trauma which has made many people feel that they are not receiving help because the structures in which they believe and on which they base a large part of their security have failed is also a major traumatic event.

What is being seen is that they are supporting each other as communityamong them. Having people close to you to share with and who understand you because they have also been affected is a factor that protects and helps.

There are also cases of people who, although they have not been affected, feel what other families are experiencing as their own and even become distressed thinking about what is happening to others.

Yes, that is possible. You can experience the traumatic event firsthand or you can also feel it by seeing and hearing it, even from a distance. In the case of the DANA tragedy caused in Valencia and other locations, there is also proximity, which makes it affect us all even more.

How does this type of tragedy affect the nervous system?

One of the brain structures that we have to talk about in this case is the amygdalawhich is our emotional center and our alarm center. She is the one who reacts to a situation like this and says what is needed. With trauma what happens is that the amygdala occupies a larger place in the brain to have more possibilities to respond. It is put in the front row and leaves other issues such as memory, logic, memory… etc. in the second row. The prefrontal cortex that leads us to try to understand things also loses its place.

This makes us understand the world from that alarm center and act from there to react and protect ourselves. All emotional responses become much more pronounced to everything that happens.

But we also create memories based on our sensory and emotional experience, with an internal fragmented chronological order, and not so much a chronological order based on reality.

You could say that we live in a state of constant stress…

Yes, in constant stress. Muscles tense, we prepare for what may happen. We see the world through glasses that only see what we need to see at that moment and other issues such as whether the sun has risen, whether there is a breeze, whether the birds are singing… are no longer relevant to what we need to see at that moment. , which is do, do and do.

How can the way of conceiving yoga that you convey in your book help?

These days we are precisely looking at how we can support those affected by DANA from Fundación Rádika (platform for mental health) through associations that are working in the area and thus be able to bring many of the things that ‘Trauma-sensitive Yoga’ includes ‘ because I think it would be useful not only for those who suffer but also for those who are helping and supporting.

It would therefore be necessary to understand both parts. On the one hand we see people who manifest a fight response, people who have a flight response, blocked people, people who have given up in a state of submission or even people who do not stop doing things but have disconnected. of your emotional being…

Of the seven pillars of trauma-sensitive yoga, the first would be safety. We know that they feel unsafe in their environment because it has been devastated by a natural disaster, but we can build security between people with the way we talk to them, contact them, look at them, offer them help… With the hug, inspiring trust and helping them to give voice to those stagnant emotions. With relationships and presence you can create security.

Another of the pillars that you highlight in this type of context is helping to find options. This is especially relevant in a natural disaster…

Yes, because trauma often arises from situations that we cannot control and that leave a persistent feeling of loss of power. We feel that we are facing an unpredictable, potentially threatening world that we cannot control. To try to recover that power, I do believe that you can find small things in which you can decide or choose and for that it is important to ask them, offer options without pressure and respecting their time.

However, there are many people who do not know how to help those affected by DANA, either because of the distance or because they do not see themselves capable even if they are nearby…

It is difficult to judge in these situations because each person has their personal story and their responsibilities or even capabilities, because we do not know what traumatic event each person is dealing with, whether or not they have experienced that tragedy. Yes, I think that in general we have a compassionate nature, but not everyone sees themselves capable of going there from day one to help. Or even sometimes what happens is that we try to help but not always in the way the other person needs.

The media has a lot to do with how traumatic events are talked about. What should be taken into account to be helpful when communicating?

We would have to find a way to show that we are all part of it, that also, even from a distance, we can be responsible and we can have the ability to do something about it. And if we remain stuck in the horror of what we see, we can separate it from ourselves, but there really are ways to make it ours, to make it shared, and that is where we mobilize.

Right now, those of us who have not been affected by DANA are also experiencing it intensely. On the one hand, we feel overwhelmed by the images, the testimonies, the tragic stories, the information, and also by the barrage of messages shared on social networks. in which those infinite possibilities of sending help also emerge. And this is something that, due to saturation or ignorance, can make you lose confidence.

About the author of the book: María Macaya has been practicing and training in yoga for more than 20 years, and has specialized in working with people with trauma for ten years. She is certified in ‘Compassionate Inquiry’, trauma therapy from Dr. Gabor Maté, in trauma-sensitive yoga with the Justice Resource Institute and trained in Neuroscience from the University of King’s College. She also has other training, as she was an art critic after graduating from Tufts University and obtaining a master’s degree from Columbia University. She also has a degree in Creative Writing from Stanford University. In 2016 she created the Rádika Foundation dedicated to raising awareness and understanding mental health and trauma.