In this section please complete each time period with any traumatic events that have taken place that has affected your life. These tend to be highly emotional events or experiences that in the moment we have taken to mean something threatens us. They tend to also experience that for whatever reason we perceive we can’t get away from. This can be literal, as in there is no means of escape in traumatic events such as violent abuse, being trapped, war zones etc. It is can equally be about how we perceive the situation is not being able to control the situation or get out of it because the consequences would be too terrifying, which is of course just as real in a different way. Examples such as losing our job, a threat to a relationship, being abandoned by a parent etc. are just as real as being in a car accident and not being able to get out, or some other literal traumatic event, The other component that means that we encoded these as traumatic experiences is to do with what is known as our ‘emotional landscape’ at the time. Simply put, this is what state our brain is in at the time of the event, formed by previous and current experiences, our temperament and how sensitive or vulnerable we currently are to stressors in our lives. Due to all of this, the memory ends up being permanently encoded in this way in the fight or flight region of our brain known as the amygdala, meaning recollection or new, similar events occurring will reactivate a significant, emotional response often is though you’re reliving the initial experience for the first time