Trauma Stage: Bargaining

After we somehow manage to work through denial and learn to start coping with the anger, all of the underlying emotions connected to the trauma we survived start to become much more clear. It can be so overwhelming that the intensity is often too much and we don’t know how to cope with it all. You’re finally getting a first look at the real magnitude of what you’ve lost or what you’ve been through. At this point it’s an overwhelmingly natural response to want to gain control of your situation. The only way the brain can conceive of to get that control is through bargaining, though often through irrational means.