Often, especially for young people, trauma results in the conditioning of a tendency to repress, “tune out”, or disassociate. This is pre-conscious, operating at the level of the nervous system.

Trauma is preverbal - imprinted on the fundamental wiring of the nervous system. It is the proverbial iceburg below the surface. Trauma behaves much like scarring (as in scar) of the nervous system. When we have a severe wound if it remains open we get infected. So instead we develop hard, restricted, numb scar tissue over it. That is somewhat how trauma operates if we extend the metaphor of tissue to the emotional dimension of life.

Think of how this occurs… If I start insulting you or hurting you right now what can you do? You can get up and leave (flight) or you can stand up to me (fight) or you can ask for help (functional). If you aren’t able for whatever reason to do any of these things (like an abused child) then what do you do? You freeze. You tune out — shut off — go numb.

This is how trauma often leads to emotional avoidance and the repression of authentic emotion.

REF — This is my formulation of the work of Dr. Gabor Mate