Kara Robinson Chamberlain
At 15, Kara Robinson Chamberlain was kidnapped. While her remarkable bravery and quick thinking allowed her to escape, the coping mechanisms she employed to survive impeded her ability to heal from the ordeal. In this harrowing episode, Kara dives into the importance of authentic emotions in healing, and the dangers of toxic positivity culture. She sheds light on the complexity of trauma and its long-term effects on the mind and body. She also shares how the experience led her to a career in law enforcement, educating and empowering other survivors of traumatic experiences.
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In this episode:
Long term effects of trauma on the body.
The importance and impact of victim advocacy.
Different ways PTSD can present itself.
Disassociation of the body.
How to begin true healing.
Establishing safety and body autonomy as a mother.
LINKS & RESOURCES:
Instagram: @kararobinsonchamberlain
Twitter: @KR_Chamberlain
Facebook: Kara Robinson Chamberlain
YouTube: @karachamberlain
TikTok: @kararobinsonchamberlain
Charity: South Carolina Victim Assistance Network
Wise Words:
My primary stress response was to shut down. Kind of what was happening to my body and what was around me. I more or less entered this dissociative or separating my mind from my body state, and I was able to shut down the fear and it wasn't necessarily a conscious decision.
It was more of what my body chose to do because what was happening was too much emotionally and mentally and physically for me to comprehend. So my body protected me in that way of dissociating and that enabled me to be more logical in my approach of, okay, well, I'm going to escape. And when I escape, what do I need to do? I need to have information to identify this person.
My nervous system and my mind on some level recognized that if I really felt the panic that I should have in that situation, I would not be able to survive. So my body protected me in that way.
I realized for me, the cost of dissociating was that my body was continuing to log. The difficult things that would happen to me over the years, but I wasn't responding emotionally. So I was more or less, for lack of a better way to describe it. I was emotionally constipated. I was not dealing with things.
The only thing that was coming out with any sort of regularity was anger.
I was just really, really angry. I wasn't feeling much else other than angry and I realized that my response to difficult feelings, and difficult situations is that I would consciously tell myself, Kara, stop.
You're not going to do that. You're not going to cry. You're not going to show emotions because you're strong. I had gotten this label that we would think of as a positive label. It just goes to show you the negativity of assigning any labels, whether we think that they are good or bad. I had received this label that I was strong and in my head and that meant that I could not cry.
So I would consciously tell myself to stop doing that. Stop feeling. And I was just really, really angry. I didn't realize immediately what that was causing in my body. But over time, I began to realize that my bodily symptoms of this trauma and dissociation were that, I couldn't breathe most of the time.
You can say I'm really angry. I went through something difficult. It sucks. I'm hurting right now. That's fine. There doesn't have to be a silver lining. And I think that I try to be as authentic as possible about the things that I'm going through, because at the end of the day, the lack of knowledge about all of the different emotions and all of the different responses to difficult situations and trauma is what leads to people feeling isolated and alone.
Even though you've gone through something difficult, it doesn't have to define your life. It can be what you take from it. You don't have to continue to affiliate yourself as a victim. You can define yourself as a survivor or something different if that doesn't feel right.
Have faith in yourself and your survival system and know that you can get through difficult things.