Trauma Through the Lens of Types: What Deconditioning Actually Requires (And Why Self-Care Isn't Enough)

In this session from HD Wild, Jamie Palmer makes the case that deconditioning isn't just a spiritual concept — it's a nervous system process rooted in the same patterns as complex, lowercase-t trauma. Jamie introduces the most common nervous system states in deconditioning work (functional freeze and fawn), explains why abandoning ship is a nervous system response rather than a rational decision, and introduces two original concepts: post-traumatic shrinkage and post-traumatic growth. This is practitioner-level content designed to help HD coaches meet clients where they actually are.

What You'll Learn:

• Why complex trauma and deconditioning share the same nervous system patterns

• The difference between self-care and somatic deconditioning — and why practitioners need to know this distinction

• The three nervous system states (ventral, sympathetic, dorsal) and what each looks like in clients

• What "abandoning ship" is, why clients do it, and how to recognize it in your sessions

• Post-traumatic shrinkage vs. post-traumatic growth — and which types/profiles tend toward each

• How to support clients through the commitment tests that come as deconditioning deepens

• Why the work done in the coaching container doesn't count until it works in the wild

Key Timestamps:

• 0:00 — Introduction: trauma through the lens of types

• 1:29 — Functional freeze and fawn as the most common deconditioning patterns

• 3:18 — How most of us were conditioned to live outside our design

• 4:20 — Why self-care supports but doesn't replace somatic deconditioning

• 5:59 — Deconditioning as a practice: ebbs, flows, and the lobster metaphor

• 8:08 — Abandoning ship: the nervous system roots of avoidance in business

• 10:00 — All the ways we abandon ship (and the excuses we use)

• 11:20 — How different types present when activated

• 13:25 — Taking responsibility for current reality as a practitioner skill

• 14:30 — Commitment tests: sharks that come as deconditioning deepens

• 15:31 — Why the coaching container is safe — and the wild is not

• 17:56 — The deconditioning is integrated only when it works in real life

• 19:22 — Post-traumatic growth: the moments that break us open

• 21:31 — The three nervous system states: ventral, sympathetic, dorsal

• 25:52 — Post-traumatic shrinkage vs. post-traumatic growth

• 28:34 — Which types tend toward shrinkage and which toward growth

• 30:17 — The seven presentations of the not-self

  
  

  Resources for Diving Deeper => If you would like elevate the depth, nuance and embodiment of human design I invite you to join me in HD Wild ⁠https://hdinthewild.com⁠

  D⁠ownload the eBook & Workbook For the Series

  
  

  I acknowledge the risk involved and take full and complete responsibility for myself and my actions. I am aware of the risks of entering into deconditioning work which may include but is not limited to, re-traumatization, triggers, PTSD, etc. I take full responsibility for entering into deconditioning work.