so fascinating! I am involved professionally in trauma and am doing some fabulous training right now called "Somatic Experiencing". It is a philosophy developed by Peter Levine et al. Basically, it has to do with body memory. We tend to repeatedly place ourselves (unconsciously) in situations that feel familiar and have the chance to work through the original trauma (could be physical or emotional). It is a trauma vortex. It's how abused people keep marrying an abuser. There has been a boundary rupture that causes a form of neglect in awareness....leaving a person vulnerable to further assault.
The nervous system does acclimate to a certain level of intensity which is the push into chaotic situations. Boring doesn't feel normal or "alive" so in a trance we seek out what we perceive as regulation (drama and pain). Its almost like we associate the feeling of pain with feeling alive. It's a total disconnect from reality but that reality is the one that our perception chooses.
It all has to do with how the hippocampus and amgydala process emotion, situations, memory and then the impact that the neocortex has as it interprets the information. All of these impulses are sent via neurotransmittors and neurochemicals. There is definitely a lot of science behind all of this. I have a huge reference library on this due to professional needs so let me know if you are ever interested in more info.
The real question is what do we do with this situation.....of course I'm going to try and get into the solution here! There are a lot of things that help......... f2f meetings settle our nervous systems and calm us, meditation, connecting with others that allow us to see ourselves in other perspectives, movement (dance, yoga, pilates), counselling, massage, body therapy, a session with a SE practioner (somatic experiencing). SE is actually a "trauma recovery" method. Our autonomic nervous systems (fight/flight) can get caught in a "freeze" and that sets up the repetitive nature of our expereinces.
Probably way more than you wanted to know....just chiming in to say that there is science behind what we are experiencing....and there are solutions!
Good stuff here abs!