Did you know The World Health Organisation has stated that by 2020 depression and anxiety will be the number one disability around the world? In the UK alone, 1 in 4 people have had counseling or therapy in their life or at least know someone who has. Relying on the pill became the norm. My passion is to eliminate the traditional approach and encourage people to take the matter into their own hands. Medical science is still very committed to finding a genetic and biological basis for all these disorders while completely ignoring that we are as humans profoundly interconnected social creatures and we don’t exist by ourselves which leads me to explore one of the most important human need: attachment. Healthy emotional attachment is a crucial part of healthy brain development in humans and it starts in the womb. Attachment disorder, however, is a disconnection from the self which distorts relationships, with ourselves, with our bodies and with the environment.
Research shows that every Nobel prize given started with Ivan Pavlov in 1904 until 1981 all agree that, our brain is mainly responsible for the movement of the body and its major role is to take care and protect the body. Experiencing attachment disorder in early childhood rewires the brain. Especially the frontal lobe which is devoted for social interactions between us and other people becomes asleep. The back of the brain is concerned about us; making sure that we breathe, eat, sleep so that the body is in balance, usually things that we don’t really pay attention to. The balance gets messed up with attachment trauma, eating becomes more or little, sleeping becomes more or less, the whole internal rhythm becomes disturbed, the back of the brain is hyper and agitated therefore making the person uncomfortable in their own skin. When all of these are going on, the person then will experience physical ailments such as digestive issues, anxiety, panic attacks as a result of the loss of senses and many other symptoms. Makes it very difficult for the person to be calm and open to the world as they are battling themselves internally, therefore they cannot be fully in the present moment or to feel alive.

Another huge impact is, they will have fundamental issues with perception where they impose their experience of trauma into their perception of how they view the world. For example, a person who had distorted experiences of trust will always view the world as an unsafe place. The evolution of the person is halted, as the person keeps playing the same story over and over again which will stop them learning new ways through new experiences. They are literally stuck and have an unfulfilled life.

Attachment trauma is not what happened in the past, it is what happened inside as this is the main cause of a very bad relationship with the body. The essence of trauma is physical inability and helplessness, so the natural biochemicals in the brain are moved to other parts causing an unhealthy relationship with the self. Healing the trauma needs to engage in mindfulness, understanding where it comes from, allowing ourselves to sit with the pain and experience it and then move through it with a physical movement such as yoga and breathing where the person needs to be fully engaged and attentive.

Recently, I have looked into research conducted by Dr. Bessel Van Der Kolk about the importance of language on understanding trauma which was fascinating. He believes that language is the greatest tool to understand what happened to us and interpret our feelings and emotions to be more aware of our own state. However, it can also be a complicated tool as talking part of the brain is impaired in traumatised people which makes it extremely difficult to truly express themselves. This is the reason most people don’t have the ability to know that they are affected. For this reason alone going to therapy or counseling where the person is expected to answer a series of questions and pushed to talk about their unaware states and feelings leaves them more frustrated and hopeless.

To conclude, in order to start our journey to healing is to understand it then we can work on it, we can move it around and find ways to manage it and this has to start within. We need to take that journey to the inner self, what you are looking for is not out there, it’s in you.

Love and Gratitude.