Trauma and the Nervous System

What is Trauma?

Trauma is not defined by the event itself, but by how overwhelming, unsafe, or inescapable it felt to our nervous system at the time.

We often think of trauma as something that lives in the mind, however research and clinical experience have shown that trauma also lives in our body.

Sometimes we may have clear memories of the traumatic event, and other times, rather than the traumatic event being stored as a clear memory, it can be held as implicit, body based memory. What this means is that we may experience a range of difficulties without having conscious awareness of the original event.

This can show up in a multitude of ways, such as:- Sleep problems, chronic fatigue and exhaustion- Muscle tension, illness, unexplained pain- Struggling to relax and feeling constantly ‘on edge’- Feeling numb or disconnected from ourselves or others- Experiencing strong emotional reactions- Persistent feelings of guilt and shame

It’s important to remember that responses to trauma are not a sign of a weakness - they are protective strategies shaped by our past experiences.

What is the Nervous System?

In simple terms, the nervous system is the body’s communication and safety system.

It constantly sends and receives messages between the brain and the body, helping us sense what is happening around us and inside us. It’s main job is to decide: Am I safe right now, or do I need to protect myself?

When the nervous system senses safety, it allows us to relax, connect with others, think clearly, and respond calmly to situations. 

When the nervous system senses danger, it automatically prepares the body to protect itself by increasing our alertness, our heart rate, muscle tension etc. so that we can fight off a predator or flee from it. If the threat feels too overwhelming, or escape would be impossible, the nervous system will respond by freezing or shutting things down.

The different nervous system states include:

• Regulation and safety – where we experience calmness, connection to others, and where we have an ability to think clearly.

  
  

• Fight or flight – where we experience anxiety, hypervigilance or anger.

  
  

• Freeze or shutdown - where we experience numbness, exhaustion, or dissociation.

  
  

In everyday life, a healthy nervous system can move flexibly between both calm and activated states.

How does trauma impact the nervous system?

When an experience exceeds our capacity to cope and the body is unable to return to a sense of safety, our survival responses can remain active. What this means for someone who has experienced trauma, is that their nervous system can become stuck in survival mode (fight, flight or freeze state).

Rather than this being a conscious choice, these survival responses are the nervous system’s attempt to protect the individual based on past experiences when they were unsafe. Based on this understanding, these survival responses can be viewed as adaptive.

For people who have unprocessed trauma, their nervous system will continue to organise itself around survival rather than safety, with the body continuing to respond as if danger is present, even when the distressing experience has passed. This can understandably have a detrimental impact on someone’s day to day functioning.   How can therapy help restore balance to the nervous system?

Therapy can provide a safe, supportive and compassionate space to help people make sense of what they are going through whilst supporting them to experience safety in their body.

Some of the ways in which therapy can be helpful in teaching the nervous system that the danger has now passed include:- Establishing safety through the therapeutic relationship – Trauma often happens when we are either alone or with people who were unsafe, therefore experiencing safety with another human being who is predictable and welcomes all of your emotions, can be a healing experience. Restoring choice and agency – During a traumatic event, individuals often experience a loss of control, therefore, therapy consistently prioritises offering clients choice and a sense of control.

Teaching the nervous system that the present is different from the past – With trauma the body reacts as if ‘then’ is ‘now’, therefore part of the work may involve working with the client to distinguish between the past and present e.g. What is different now compared to back then? Expanding the window of tolerance – Our window of tolerance allows us to feel emotions whilst staying present within our body. Trauma narrows our window, and therefore therapy can help with gradually expanding it through supporting with processing traumatic memories and encouraging the use of grounding techniques.