6 Behaviors ‘High-Functioning’ Trauma Survivors Will Understand Deeply
High-functioning trauma survivors can be successful overachievers.
By Shahida Arabi
As a researcher specializing in trauma, I often hear myths about how trauma can affect people and present itself. Here are six behaviors “high-functioning” trauma survivors will understand deeply:
Being calm isn’t a sign that the trauma never happened. Many times, it is a sign that the trauma was so severe the person had to dissociate to survive. It can also be a sign of resilience and desensitization after enduring too many traumas.
Complex trauma survivors and trauma survivors in general can dissociate during and after the traumatic experience. Their nervous system goes into survival mode and internal resources are used to survive the traumatic event rather than process or heal from it. As a result, they may feel detached from their own bodies or environment. Their brain has essentially tried to protect them from the full horror and impact of the traumatic event. For complex trauma survivors, this dissociation can be a way of life as the traumas they’ve endured…
