Education

How does trauma affect the body?

Resilience is the ability of our nervous system to easily adjust to naturally occurring stressors through the day. For example, we might startle when a police car turns its lights on behind us, but then easily settle down when it passes us and goes on. This is referred to as self-regulation and is mediated by the autonomic nervous system. We have these experiences of “startle and settle” throughout our day.

Trauma pushes the activation of our nervous system beyond its ability to self-regulate. Single event trauma (a severe car accident) and ongoing trauma (domestic violence) can cause our system to be “stuck on”. This is essentially the same as being in chronic “fight or flight” mode, which is highly adaptive if a situation remains dangerous. This can commonly feel like being keyed up or chronically anxious and can occur even as the result of a highly stressful work environment or exposure to witnessed violence (video games).

After long periods of being “on” our nervous system may go into more of a “freeze” state. This is self protective - if fight or flight isn’t an option, then freeze becomes reasonable in a life threatening situation. However, a freeze is supposed to resolve fairly quickly. This happens easily in animals in the wild, but not so easily in humans. This is often experienced as depression, apathy and lethargy. However, even if the “danger” is no longer present, these states of fight/flight and freeze can become chronic patterns in our bodies.

Due to the chronic nature of stress in our lives, plus trauma that many people experience, many of us can end up in a state of feeling chronically anxious or depressed. While we can function this way, it eventually takes a toll through chronic illness, autoimmune disorders, high blood pressure, poor sleep, weight gain and difficulties dealing with everyday life and relationships.

The earlier we intervene in this process the better.

Children who have experienced trauma tend to have behavioral issues rather than physical ones. As a result, they respond particularly well to body-based interventions.

If you are an adult, know that it is never too late to learn about how trauma has impacted you and your loved ones and for treatment to help.