Dr. Dawn-Elise Snipes explains how unresolved trauma—especially from childhood—can impair executive functions (planning, organizing, problem-solving) by keeping the stress-response/HPA axis on 'yellow alert', preventing access to the "wise mind." She links these deficits to an activated "inner child" that triggers distress and recommends helping people downregulate, recognize triggers, and reorient to the present so executive skills can resume.
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Hey there everybody, and welcome to this video on trauma related symptoms. Today we're talking about executive functioning deficits. And a lot of people kind of scratch their head and they go, what in the world does that mean? Well, in general, that means your ability to plan, to organize and to problem solve all of those things that an executive might do, an executive of a company. So why do people have difficulty with this and how is it related to trauma? Well, back in the beginning when you experienced trauma, what happened? You felt unsafe and powerless. That triggered your stress response system. We know that when that stress response system is active, when you're in fight or flight, you are not thinking, you are acting based on feelings, you are fighting or fleeing to survive. You're not sitting down going, well, how could I solve this? That's why Linehan introduced the concepts of distress tolerance skills to help people get into their wise mind. The wise mind is where all the executive functioning happens. Now when you have trauma that hasn't been adequately resolved, you continue to feel somewhat unsafe and somewhat powerless. Now, the degree varies between people greatly, but ultimately you don't feel totally safe and totally empowered. As a result, your stress response system, that HPA axis, stays on yellow alert. So you're constantly having some level of stress hormones kind of coursing through your body and this impairs your ability to be in your wise mind. It's kind of like having a child who's scared. You're trying to get your work done and you have a child who's scared, who keeps going, help, mama, mama, mama. And you can't focus on anything. And so it's important to recognize that. And as long as we're talking about that child, for a lot of people, it is that inner child that prevents them from engaging those executive functioning abilities there. They experienced the trauma when they were children, and as adults, they feel like they are empowered now. But when that prior trauma gets triggered, when they start remembering that trauma, then the inner child will come out and go, remember, remember pulling on their skirt? Remember when this happened the last time? So the inner child is actually activating that HPA axis. The inner child is trying to say, mama, there's something to be scared about right now. And that can impair the adult's ability to stay in their wise mind, to focus on what needs to be done for organizing and planning because they need to calm down, they need to reassure that inner child that, hey, this context at this time, with me around, you're safe. It doesn't take long to really start understanding how executive functioning deficits can be the result of trauma, can be the result of adverse childhood experiences. So what do we do about it? Well, we have to help the person be able to get into their wise mind. We have to help them be able to downregulate when they get distressed. We have to help them be able to identify when that stress response system is being triggered, whether it's an adult triggering or their inner child triggering, and figure out what's that related to. And how can I help myself feel safe and not feel like I'm back there at this time, not feel like I'm flashing back? Those things will help the person stay in the present moment, get into their wise mind where they can more accurately and effectively problem solve.
