Understanding and Coping with Trauma: The Machete Metaphor

When we experience trauma—especially in childhood—our minds and bodies adopt coping strategies that help us survive. These strategies can vary: some might be healthier in the long run, while others may feel less helpful as time goes on. But no matter what, these behaviors and responses all serve the same purpose: to protect us. When trauma occurs, or adjacent experiences happen, they are like survival tools, helping us cope with overwhelming situations.

I often use the metaphor of a machete to explain this to clients. Imagine yourself in a thick, dangerous rainforest. That machete in your hand is a lifesaver—helping you clear a path and protect yourself from potential threats. You carry it because it makes sense in that environment; it’s essential for survival.

But here’s the big question: Are you still in the rainforest?

Life changes. As you move forward from the traumatic event, or events, you might find yourself in a new environment, like Times Square, where carrying a machete could make you feel out of place—or even cause problems or harm to you or others. What helped you to survive then may no longer be what helps you thrive now.

Trauma Symptoms That Encourage Us to Grip The Machete Harder

Trauma doesn’t just affect us in the moment—it leaves a lasting impact on how we feel, think, and behave. Trauma has a deep impact on how we view ourselves, others, and the world. It also has a profound effect on our core beliefs, such as those relating to safety, control, power, intimacy, self-esteem, and so much more. And, when we are still experiencing symptoms of trauma, it is not unusual to default to the skills and things that made us feel safest. However, it is also essential to recognize when old coping mechanisms, while once protective, are no longer necessary.

Let’s look at five symptoms of trauma that might result in still holding onto that metaphorical machete, even if it is no longer serving you in that moment:

Hypervigilance and startle response

Hypervigilance is when you’re constantly on high alert, even in situations where no real danger exists. Picture this: A person grew up in a household where there was a lot of yelling, including verbal and physical abuse. Raised voices and yelling may be a trigger for that person, and certainly yelling in conversations or relationships may, fairly, lead to someone feeling unsafe. However, picture that same person walking by a sports bar, and the local team just scores a touchdown. The entire patio suddenly erupts into shouts and cheers. This can lead to an intense startle response for that person, despite there being no true danger in that moment.

After trauma, it makes sense to be wary of threats—but this heightened state of awareness can lead to exhaustion, anxiety, and irritability over time. If you’re always scanning your environment for danger, even in safe settings, it might be time to assess whether you’re still carrying your machete.

Emotional Numbing

To protect yourself from feeling overwhelming emotions during trauma, you might have learned to numb your feelings. Emotional numbing can make it difficult to feel sadness, anger, and even joy, happiness, and contentment. While this may have been useful in the past, it can leave you feeling disconnected from others and yourself in the present. Emotional numbing may be a machete.

Avoidance

Trauma often leads to avoidance behaviors—you might go out of your way to avoid certain places, people, or activities that remind you of painful or traumatic experiences. While avoidance can temporarily reduce anxiety, it can prevent healing in the long run and keep you from engaging in a full, meaningful life. Consider a person who experienced a traumatic car accident. It makes complete sense to want to avoid driving, or even riding in, cars. However, it may be difficult and limiting to get through one’s entire life without driving or riding in a car. In this case, trauma-focused therapy may be needed to help process or reprocess the traumatic event, and regain a sense of safety in vehicles.

Intrusive Thoughts or Flashbacks

Trauma can cause uninvited memories, images, or flashbacks that feel as if you’re reliving the event. These intrusive thoughts can disrupt daily life and make it difficult to focus on the present. While your brain is trying to process what happened, it might be disrupting your ability from being fully in the here and now, including missing out on joyful and positively impactful moments.

Difficulty Trusting Others

After experiencing trauma—especially trauma involving other people—it’s natural to become more guarded. You might find yourself hesitant to trust others, afraid of getting hurt, or afraid of counting on someone who could disappoint you, or leave. While it’s important to protect yourself, this can also create barriers to forming the healthy, supportive relationships that you deserve.

Healthy Coping Skills vs. Maladaptive Patterns

All of these symptoms are your body and mind’s way of trying to protect you from further harm. They’re also a signal that your machete is likely still in hand, at least partially, and even if you’re no longer in the dangerous environment that required it.

But what are some examples of unhealthy coping skills? Again, reminding ourselves that sometimes these unhealthy coping skills were useful, and maybe even necessary, at a time. However, they are likely not serving us now:

• Drug or alcohol use
• Overeating/Undereating
• Sleeping too much or too little
• Social withdrawal
• Aggression
• Exercising too much
• Working too much
• Procrastination
• Self-harm
• Avoidance
• Numbing out

And of course, what are some examples of healthy coping skills?

• Moving your body in ways that feel good
• Talking about your challenges
• Eating nutritious foods that your body is asking for
• Relaxation techniques
• Using social support
• Seeking professional help
• Self-soothing, using fidgets, pressure, and movement
• Engaging in hobbies

In trauma-focused therapy, we can focus on identifying which of your coping strategies are still helpful and which ones may be holding you back. Likewise, we can help with processing, or reprocessing, the trauma you experienced which can help with lessening the intensity, duration, or frequency of symptoms.

Over time, behaviors like hypervigilance, avoidance, and emotional numbing may start to feel more like a burden than a shield. Just like carrying a machete in Times Square would attract attention and make life more difficult, holding onto these trauma responses when in a safer environment can do the same. It’s important to know that you developed these patterns for a reason—they served you in a time of crisis. But now, they may be getting in the way of healing.

Moving Forward Without the Machete – Trauma Focused Therapy Can Help

Healing from trauma means learning to gradually set down that machete and embrace new, healthier ways to cope. Trauma-focused therapy provides a space to safely explore:

Where are you now? Are you still in the rainforest (emotionally, mentally), or are you in a safer place that allows for change and moving forward without your machete?

Which coping strategies helped you survive? Acknowledge how they protected you, feel gratitude to the skill and to yourself for helping you through, while also acknowledging they don’t serve you today.

How can you replace old strategies with new, adaptive ones? This might include developing trust in relationships, mindfulness practices, developing self-soothing behaviors, or learning how to safely process emotions you once needed to avoid. If you are more of a cognitive-based person, it may involve cognitive processing therapy, identification of stuck points, and challenging those beliefs.

Start Trauma-Focused Therapy in Durham or Online Today!

If you find yourself still holding onto the tools of survival long after the danger has passed, it might be time to explore new ways of coping. At Be BOLD Psychology and Consulting, we provide trauma-informed care that helps you recognize these patterns and develop healthier ways to move forward. Our trauma-therapists are in Durham, North Carolina as well as offering trauma-informed therapy to clients across North Carolina via telehealth. We also offer trauma-informed couples and relationship therapy, as needed. We have clinicians with immediate availability – so don’t wait!

Are you ready to let go of your machete? Schedule a free consult with us today!

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