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Complex PTSD Recovery [on Spotify] : We Are Traumatized Motherfuckers
Jun 13, 2026 · 19 min · 7 segments
It's anecdotally accepted; unideal communication experiences can correlate with the throat seizing up. In this paper, Beck et al examine "Laryngo-Responders" and find surprising connections between…
We know by now, hopefully, if you've been here for more than a few minutes, that the body responds to stress in undiagnosable and debilitating ways.
What we might not know is stress counts as anything that offsets balance mentally, physically, and or emotionally, and the three are related.
A single dose of stress can be significant, but regularly or chronically repeated stress responses establish a basis for lasting diseases, dysfunctions, and pathologies.
We make a point to say stress responses because the original stress event doesn't have to continue to be present.
the brain or body may continue to react as though it is.
Common provokers are early childhood traumas, depression, and anxiety.
We know that stress, trauma, abuse, and mistreatment lead to somatic impairments, potentially with significant delay.
What we don't know is why some biological systems are affected instead of others, and why this is seen variably between individuals.
One area of trauma-inspired dysfunction is thought to be the throat, specifically the larynx, which takes care of speaking and swallowing.
Muscle tension dysphonia, as we've heard recently, is anecdotally connected to stress load and has the outcome of losing the ability to speak.
It is characterized by excessive abnormal tension in the muscles around the larynx, voice box, and it causes the vocal cords to overexert and work inefficiently, resulting in a strained, hoarse, or weak voice, vocal fatigue, and throat pain or tightness.
Although the link between imbalance and eventual voice loss or any other functional disorder is not currently understood, there is some common wisdom that somatic ailments are somehow symbolic or reflective or... awfully coincidental presentations of prior life experiences for instance not being able to stand up for oneself could manifest in back issues or in this case not being able to speak for self-protection or expression during or after a stressful event could lead to later voice impairments psychosomatic illness therefore could be metaphorical or directly representative of traumatic events.
Another theory is that the most at-risk part of the body will simply accept the dysfunction caused by the stress.
The imbalance will strike here.
If the voice or throat is already compromised, it could acquire the burden of the trauma.
And lastly, there is the possibility that particular personality plus situational factors come together to cause some people to experience voice and throat responses, while others don't.
In light of these unknowns and observations, researchers began referring to those affected as laryngoresponders.
Individuals who, for unknown reasons, experience distress alongside changes in the throat, causing voice or sensational disorders.
Some folks report pain or vocal alterations during or after upset.
Others do not.
What is the difference between the two? Of course, the diverse nature of the stress experience is probably part of this discrepancy.
Stress itself isn't a determinedly negative thing, though it is marked by tension and it comes with change.
Some stressful events are positive, like new jobs, babies, marriage.
Others are traumatic.
We know by now, hopefully, if you've been here for more than a few minutes, that the body responds to stress in undiagnosable and debilitating ways.
What we might not know is stress counts as anything that offsets balance mentally, physically, and or emotionally, and the three are related.
A single dose of stress can be significant, but regularly or chronically repeated stress responses establish a basis for lasting diseases, dysfunctions, and pathologies.
We make a point to say stress responses because the original stress event doesn't have to continue to be present.
the brain or body may continue to react as though it is.
Common provokers are early childhood traumas, depression, and anxiety.
We know that stress, trauma, abuse, and mistreatment lead to somatic impairments, potentially with significant delay.
What we don't know is why some biological systems are affected instead of others, and why this is seen variably between individuals.
One area of trauma-inspired dysfunction is thought to be the throat, specifically the larynx, which takes care of speaking and swallowing.
Muscle tension dysphonia, as we've heard recently, is anecdotally connected to stress load and has the outcome of losing the ability to speak.
It is characterized by excessive abnormal tension in the muscles around the larynx, voice box, and it causes the vocal cords to overexert and work inefficiently, resulting in a strained, hoarse, or weak voice, vocal fatigue, and throat pain or tightness.
Although the link between imbalance and eventual voice loss or any other functional disorder is not currently understood, there is some common wisdom that somatic ailments are somehow symbolic or reflective or... awfully coincidental presentations of prior life experiences for instance not being able to stand up for oneself could manifest in back issues or in this case not being able to speak for self-protection or expression during or after a stressful event could lead to later voice impairments psychosomatic illness therefore could be metaphorical or directly representative of traumatic events.
Another theory is that the most at-risk part of the body will simply accept the dysfunction caused by the stress.
The imbalance will strike here.
If the voice or throat is already compromised, it could acquire the burden of the trauma.
And lastly, there is the possibility that particular personality plus situational factors come together to cause some people to experience voice and throat responses, while others don't.
In light of these unknowns and observations, researchers began referring to those affected as laryngoresponders.
Individuals who, for unknown reasons, experience distress alongside changes in the throat, causing voice or sensational disorders.
Some folks report pain or vocal alterations during or after upset.
Others do not.
What is the difference between the two? Of course, the diverse nature of the stress experience is probably part of this discrepancy.
Stress itself isn't a determinedly negative thing, though it is marked by tension and it comes with change.
Some stressful events are positive, like new jobs, babies, marriage.
Others are traumatic.
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