{"id":4426,"date":"2026-05-25T21:17:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-25T18:17:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sofosoma.gr\/?p=4426&lang=en"},"modified":"2026-05-25T21:27:47","modified_gmt":"2026-05-25T18:27:47","slug":"ancestral-beliefs-as-fractals-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sofosoma.gr\/?p=4426&lang=en","title":{"rendered":"THE FRACTAL[1] OF PSYCHOLOGICAL TRAUMA"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

Anastasia Nikolitsa \u00a9 Sofo Soma<\/p>\n

May 2026<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

Fractal Theory and trauma<\/strong><\/p>

By the term \u201cfractal of trauma,\u201d I seek to describe a framework in which the phenomenology of psychological trauma is described using fractal geometry. This logic attributes to the perception of psychological trauma a structure that reproduces itself across all scales of human existence<\/strong>. The manifestation and experience of trauma as a recursive, dynamic, and self-reinforcing structure nested across scale: biological, psychological, interpersonal, and intergenerational. It resembles the structure of a fractal. The view of psychological trauma as a fractal encompasses the idea that trauma functions as a structural collapse of the coherent recursion, across scale; from the nervous system to the individual\u2019s identity. This approach is supported by Mark D. Morgan\u2019s recent Fractal Theory (FT[1]<\/a>) (2025, 2025a), according to which all systems are organized through recurring patterns governed by five basic operators[2]<\/a>: Unity, Division, Scale, Drift, and Memory.<\/strong><\/p>

According to FT psychological trauma arises when the system\u2019s Unity <\/strong>(U) \u2014that is, the coherence of the experience of the self and reality\u2014breaks down. The individual loses the ability to experience the self as stable, present, grounded, and coherent. Embodied presence in the \u201chere and now\u201d is weakened, and the relationship between body, emotion, and perception of reality is disrupted. In Trauma Therapy, the experience of being present, breathing, and the sense of time and space are considered key indicators of this Unity.<\/strong><\/p>

At the same time Division<\/strong> (D) increases pathologically. The boundaries of the self, become fragmented, and the experience of the \u201cego\u201d ceases to be coherent. Dissociation initially appears as a defensive survival mechanism against psychological pain, but with repetition, it becomes a chronic tendency. The person becomes disconnected from their body, their emotions, and their environment.<\/strong><\/p>

The loss of Scale<\/strong> (S) means that the individual can no longer maintain multiple levels of awareness simultaneously. The senses, emotions, and cognitive processes become disconnected from one another. The past is experienced as present. The traumatic experience remains active in the nervous system. An individual\u2019s ability to observe oneself while experiencing distress is an indication of a healthy Scale.<\/strong><\/p>

The constant need to survive leads to a pronounced Drift (\u0394). Attention becomes fixated on threats, deprivation, or potential pain. Over time, this state becomes an automatic neurochemical chain reaction and behavior, shaping the contours of personality. The primary pain remains unconscious due to the peritraumatic amnesia (Lanius, Paulsen & Corrigan, 2014), while the individual becomes trapped in repetitive thoughts and behaviors aimed at constantly avoiding an undefined, invisible danger.<\/strong><\/p>

Finally, Memory<\/strong> (M) stores the accumulated experience of survival as the only safe strategy for existence. This creates a personality organized around the trauma, while painful memories and sensations remain disconnected from consciousness and \u201cnumbed,\u201d respectively.<\/strong><\/p>

The fractal nature of trauma on a microcosmic scale<\/strong><\/p>

On a small scale, trauma manifests as a biochemical fractal. The traumatic fractal is self-reinforcing because the same structures and mechanisms continue to reproduce (Morgan & Nikolitsa, 2026). Emotions, beliefs, and behaviors are expressions of this new traumatic system.<\/p>

Shawn Cummings (2026) extends this perspective to the neurochemistry of the personality. Drawing on the discoveries of Candace Pert (1997), he argues that trauma is imprinted throughout the body via neuropeptides and that personality is essentially a learned neurochemical homeostasis.<\/strong> Behaviors, relationships, and self-narratives are not merely psychological constructs but mechanisms that maintain the familiar chemical environment\u2014that is, the cocktail of neuropeptides\u2014which the organism has learned to maintain over the years without it having changed.<\/strong><\/p>

Thus, an organism addicted to cortisol and adrenaline may constantly reproduce crises and conflicts, while an organism addicted to social acceptance will organize its life around the need for acceptance. Cummings (2026a) explains that \u201cresistance to change\u201d and \u201cselective attention\u201d are not merely psychological phenomena but functions of a biological system striving to maintain homeostasis.<\/strong> The brain\u2019s reticular activating system[3]<\/a> does not evaluate whether what is being protected is good or bad, beneficial or destructive to the individual\u2019s overall health. It protects what has become established. From this perspective, we can better understand why an individual may continue to maintain a connection with the abuser, as a result of this necessary maintenance of neurochemical homeostasis and frequency. Trauma functions as a deeply ingrained neurochemical pattern that does not simply change through<\/strong> willpower or cognitive awareness.<\/strong><\/p>

It is now well established that \u201ctop-down\u201d[4]<\/a> cognitive processes are insufficient to transform the traumatic imprints found in deeper brain structures, especially when it comes to early developmental traumatic experiences (Corrigan & Hull, 2018). For many traumatized people, verbal expression of emotions remains difficult and often ineffective.<\/strong> Furthermore, \u201cthe clinical picture of a person with complex and chronic post-traumatic stress is a shattered nervous system, a lack of nourishment at all levels, irrational or exaggerated fears that impair functioning, zero self-esteem, chronic physical symptoms, physical and psychological pain, and much more\u201d (Nikolitsa, 2024, p. 210). More often than not, what emerges in the therapeutic sessions is not an adult, present self, capable of self-reflection and introspection. Very often, aspects of the personality emerge that are either in a state of collapse or hypervigilance, protecting the person from the terrifying exposure of the self to a stranger (i.e. the therapist). These aspects of the self are certainly not adults but were created due to dissociation at younger ages, when there was a real danger to the organism.<\/p>

\u00a0<\/p>

The fractal of trauma on a macrocosmic scale <\/strong><\/p>

\u00a0<\/strong>On a macrocosmic scale, this manifests in its repetition from generation to generation (Nikolitsa, 2024). A trauma fractal \u201cmay manifest as the unresolved, unprocessed pain of an ancestor that is activated and operates within the unconscious material of the descendants without their knowledge, as invisible pain or an obstacle or a temperament or a learned emotion or belief\u201d (p. 167). These are <\/span>specific patterns of psycho-somat<\/strong>\u03bf<\/strong>-cognitive expression that are maintained and reproduced on a macrocosmic scale throughout the lineage of each individual and, on an even larger ontological scale, across the entire human species. <\/strong>We can better understand the unexplored aspects of human consciousness, such as the one mentioned above, through quantum mechanics and the existence of fields, rather than through matter and the imprints of consciousness on matter. <\/span>Human beings are fields themselves, and, as Federico Faggin explains, a field creates events in space and time as it interacts with other fields, but is not determined by space or time<\/strong>. Each person\u2019s consciousness and subjective experience (qualia) is not located within the brain but in a field with which the brain resonates (Faggin, 2024). Thus, <\/span>the recurrence of a trauma can occur regardless of space or time, regardless of explicit or implicit memory.<\/strong><\/p>

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>

The restoration of coherence<\/strong><\/p>

The fractal of trauma is a distortion of the fractal of health, the cohesion of the primordial blueprint of humans, before they begin to adapt to adverse conditions and experiences on Earth. Embodied self-observation is the necessary prerequisite for restoring coherence to a system, but also a healing tool and a source of strength for humans<\/strong> (Nikolitsa, 2024). Voluntary, conscious breathing is extremely important and necessary for maintaining presence in the physical body. When an individual experiences fear or panic of separation, breathing becomes shallower or stops, often without their awareness of it<\/strong>. The brainstem is the part of the brain that regulates breathing, both involuntarily and voluntarily. This is where most neuropeptides (Pert, 1997) -the chemical messengers that carry information between brain structures and help regulate our functions and emotions – are produced and released. The rhythm and depth of breathing, therefore, can serve as a bridge between the conscious and the unconscious, as it can trigger the release of neuropeptides from the brainstem into the cerebrospinal fluid and from there throughout the entire body.<\/strong><\/p>

Today we know that the contemporary therapeutic trauma models that allow the brain\u2019s ingrained healing process toward its spontaneous completion are the most effective and safe, as they enable a person to re-member, re-orient, re-process, and re-consolidate events, sensations and emotions into narrative memory, forever<\/strong> (Schwarz et al., 2017). The enduring legacy that Peter Levine (Levine & Frederick, 1997) through his work is the understanding that if the shock is not released from the body on a physical level, the human (mammalian) organism will expend vast amounts of energy, indefinitely, to avoid emotional pain.<\/p>

The \u201cbottom-up\u201d approach to trauma treatment is now widely recognized as the most effective method. However, because the chronic self-reinforcement of the fractal trauma in each individual intensifies the tendency toward over- or under-arousal of the Nervous System, it is also necessary to work in the opposite direction, \u201cfrom the top down.\u201d Reconnecting individuals with their bodily experiences within the context of a safe and supportive therapeutic relationship can help restore the effects of early attachment trauma and negative sensory experiences. It is now well established that the combination of both the \u201cbottom-up\u201d and \u201ctop-down\u201d approaches, the embodied focus on bodily sensations in the here and now, and the processing of trauma bypassing the neurochemical defenses, enables individuals to regulate their emotional and physiological responses, restoring a sense of agency, trust, and safety in their body<\/strong> (Lanius, et al., 2025).<\/p>

\u00a0<\/p>

Obstacles and difficulties<\/strong><\/p>

Precisely because, for years, an organism struggles to maintain homeostasis without being able to distinguish between what is beneficial and what is harmful to the health, the \u201chabits\u201d that for years may have momentarily numbed the emergence of psychological pain\/terror\/panic will continue to exist as a \u201cneed,\u201d as an automated neural pathway.\u00a0 Even if the root of the early emotional pain that created the need for dependence on a substance (nicotine, alcohol, drugs, sugar, processed foods\/junk food, gambling, pornography, excessive working, etc.), this addiction will remain connected and active in the neural network, due to its inherent capacity for plasticity and resilience.<\/strong> Donald Hebb[5]<\/a> explained this in 1949 by observing that one cell participates in the activation of another, leading to learned behaviors and emotions. While addictions function as a defense against the unbearable pain of our mammalian brain, they are also the cause of reduced coherence in our consciousness and our sense of agency. Thus, a necessary prerequisite to any deep and lasting change is the gradual desensitization to psychological pain, by interrupting whatever plays the role of addiction-defense, so as to create the conditions for ever-increasing access to the root of the pain <\/strong>(Ross & Halpern, 2009). Working with emotional pain reveals to us the transformative power of distress (Nikolitsa, 2024) and lights up what Peter Levine (1) says: \u00ab\u03a4o transform trauma, that\u2019s easy. For the personality to change, that takes a lifetime\u00bb.<\/p>

\u00a0<\/p>

Final Conclusions<\/strong><\/p>

From the moment of our conception until the end of our physical existence, our lives are marked by traumas, small and large. We strive to live this relatively brief experience on planet Earth as painlessly as possible, with a mammalian brain that experiences early separation from the mother as something incredibly painful, yet simultaneously inaccessible to explicit adult memory. We build the most ingenious defenses against anything that might hurt us in a similar way in the future, having now forgotten the original pain. We become what our cells have learned to produce as a compensatory mechanism, progressing with the genetic material each of us has inherited from our ancestors. Each person\u2019s soul is an \u201cextra component\u201d that is rarely mentioned in the fields of neuropsychology and\/or neurobiology. It is now accepted, even by materialist neurosurgeons, that the human brain does not fully explain the mind, but only some of its aspects<\/strong>; that it does not function like a computer; and that the human soul is eternal (Penfield, 1975 and Egnor, 2025).<\/p>

Finally, the tragedy of trauma is that it takes seconds to occur but years or even generations to \u201cerase[6]<\/a>\u201d.<\/strong> The wound that psychological trauma inflicts on one\u2019s being also shatters the ability to find meaning in life\u2019s constant suffering. In particular, the early loss of connection and security also entails the loss of connection to something greater than ourselves (Nikolitsa, 2024), a fact that creates an existential void and decisively influences adult life and our attitude toward difficulties. Many people gradually lose touch with their inner, spiritual core because of their identification with material reality. Those who keep this core connection intact, or seek to reclaim it as they go through life, usually move forward with a deeper awareness and greater capacity to heal their personal trauma.<\/strong><\/p>

\u00a0<\/p>