The Role of the ANS in Trauma

When the body is going through a stressful event, the sympathetic system is activated.¹ This activation will help the body with a life-threatening situation.¹ If this state is activated for prolonged periods of time, it starts to consume energy.¹

This stage of the fight or flight response is called the exhaustive stage.² This will cause a decrease in homeostasis, which will create a variety of responses in the body, such as high blood pressure, gastric issues, and tensing of the muscles.² Prolonged tension will cause neck, back, head, and jaw pain.² This will eventually lead to increased pain sensitivity.¹

These traumatic events that generate stressors in the autonomic nervous system (ANS) will eventually become internalized.³ This disruption of homeostasis will develop into “fear-related neurophysiologic patterns.”³ In Chinese medicine, if the body is not able to come back to homeostasis after a stressful event, it will create hyperactivity in the nervous system.⁴ This will further stress the liver for more nourishment to the musculoskeletal system, which causes tension.⁴

The liver and gallbladder oversee the functions of the ligaments and tendons. Tension can arise in the ligaments and tendons from trauma and stress. As a result, negative feedback is created.⁴ This causes tension in the muscles and will reinforce the original emotional trauma.⁴

Dr. Joe Dispenza⁵ mentions that “living in stress is living in survival.” When an individual is in a stressful situation that is threatening us, the sympathetic nervous system is activated.² When it is activated, it will initiate energy in response to whatever is stressing us.⁵ Our body will start to initiate the fight or flight mechanism.²

When there is acute stress, the body recognizes that there is danger.⁶ This will stimulate the fight or flight response in the nervous system.⁷ The body will have a somatic response to the threat. There are two responses, a physiological and psychological response.⁶ The physical response is “disturbed breathing, increased heart activity, vasomotor changes, musculoskeletal disturbances such as trembling or paralysis, increased sweating.”⁴ Psychologically there will be “perception of specific unpleasurable feelings and sensations of apprehension.”⁴ In Chinese medicine fear will gravitate to the kidneys. Acute fear and anxiety will travel to the heart.⁴

Psychological stresses will influence our physiology.⁶ This is known as a psychosomatic disorder.⁷ This will result in physical damage to organs due to “inappropriate activation of the involuntary nervous system and biochemical response.”⁷ This can be seen when a person is in a state of rage or fear. The response will be for the blood pressure to rise and for the respiratory rate to rise. If not expressed appropriately the emotional state will remain unchanged.⁷ Psychological disorders will lead to high blood pressure, immune problems, digestive issues, and pain.⁶

In Chinese medicine, the nervous system is controlled by the liver-gallbladder system.⁴ If there is persistent emotion the nervous system will become tense and hyperactive.⁴ This will take us out of our psychological homeostasis. This leads to a loss of feeling tranquil.⁸ As a result, the muscles will become tense if there is not a proper release with either movement (liver) or speech (heart).

Li, Li, et al.⁹ observed that after an increase in SNS activity, there is an increase in heart rates and lower back pain. Patients also had excessive sympathetic activity and a reduced PSN activity. This caused higher rates of neck, shoulder, and fibromyalgia pain.

The tension in the muscles will cause more demand from the liver, which in turn will affect the circulatory system and the ANS. This response will increase blood pressure because the heart begins to push the blood too fast to the liver.⁴ This response creates heat, which in turn will create tension in the nervous system.⁴ Pain in the neck, back and shoulders and visceral pain are due to the ANS being out of balance.⁹

Many psychological disorders, such as depression and anxiety, have been linked to the ANS being out of balance.⁹ The ANS is known to regulate the immune system, heart rate, body temperature, and digestion.⁹ Psychological problems such as stress and anxiety create physiological problems.⁶ Symptoms can include muscular pain, headaches, and high blood pressure.⁶

Other symptoms that show up as ANS dysfunction are chronic abdominal pain, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), and other gastrointestinal disorders.⁹ Emotional states have been said to have a major influence on the development of physical illness.⁷ Anxiety and mood disorders produce physical conditions.⁷ There has been a huge increase in emotional stress creating disease.⁴

Acupuncture has been shown to relieve illness and symptoms from ANS imbalances. Some of these conditions are migraines, depression, insomnia, functional dyspepsia, and constipation.⁹

References

1. Ma TY, Ma M, Cho ZH. Biomedical Acupuncture for Pain Management: An Integrative Approach, St. Louis, MI: Elsevier Churchill Livingstone, 2005.
2. Fritz S. Mosby’s Essential Sciences for Therapeutic Massage, 4^th Edition. Maryland Heights, MO: Elsevier Inc., 2013.
3. Perry BD, Pollard R. Homeostasis, stress, trauma, and adaptation. A neurodevelopmental view of childhood trauma. Child Adol Psych Clinic N Am, 1998 Jan;7(1):33-51, viii.
4. Hammer L. Dragon Rises, Red Bird Flies: Psychology &Chinese Medicine (revised ed.). Seattle, WA: Eastland Press, Inc., 2010.
5. Dispenza J. Becoming Supernatural: How Common People Are Doing the Uncommon, 2^nd Edition. Carlsbad, CA: Hay House, Inc., 2019.
6. Feldman SR. Psychology 105,11^th Edition. McGraw-Hill Education, 2013.
7. Satsangi AK, Brugnoli MP. Anxiety and psychosomatic symptoms in palliative care: from neuro-psychobiological response to stress, to symptoms’ management with clinical hypnosis and meditative states. Ann Palliative Med, 2018 Jan;7(1):1-14.
8. Plummer JP. Acupuncture and homeostasis: physiological, physical (postural) and psychological. Am J Chinese Med,1981 Spring;9(1):1-14.
9. Li YW, Li W, Wang ST, et al. The autonomic nervous system: a potential link to the efficacy of acupuncture. Front Neurosci, 2022 Dec 8;16:1038945.