Chances are, you’re familiar with the fight, flight, or freeze responses to trauma.
We’ve all heard about the frenzied mother lifting a 3,000-pound car to save her child. Maybe we’ve noticed how we’ll automatically jump away from a snake while walking in the woods. Or feel that immediate spike of adrenaline when you may or may not be going the speed limit and see a police car.
The fourth type of trauma response that might not immediately spring to mind, however, is fawning.
What is driving this crisis? What is the connection between high school girls and depression, and why are teen girls struggling like never before? Studies point to a number of complex factors, including increased violence, sexual trauma, and social media exposure.
For people like us, the drive for personal excellence often eclipses reality, and we begin to wonder, Are my expectations too high? Am I being reasonable? Expecting too much of yourself is a trap that any of us can fall into if we’re not careful. Furthermore, it affects everything from our relationships to professional lives, and even our appearance.
To heal, those of us with eating disorders must seek balance. This means that, unlike my friend who is “in recovery” maintaining abstinence from alcohol — tiger in its cage — we are “recovered,” maintaining a relationship with that which used to control us. So we must pet the tiger.
As we’ve all taken positive steps forward in feeling more comfortable talking about mental health, the learning curve can still feel steep. This is especially true when there are so many important nuances to recognize with something as important as depression.
Like, what’s the difference between bipolar depression versus depression? What about clinical depression, which is also known as severe depression? How do you know which category you fall into? What are the signs?