Trauma can have a profound impact on both mental and physical health. Many believe that trauma is not solely a psychological experience, but that it can also manifest physically in the body. This raises an important question: is it possible to hold trauma in your body?
What is Trauma?
Trauma describes any disturbing or distressing event that overwhelms an individual’s ability to cope. It can be caused by a single distressing event or prolonged exposure to extremely stressful situations. Examples of traumatic events include natural disasters, serious accidents, physical or sexual assault, war, torture, or the sudden loss of a loved one.
Not everyone who experiences a traumatic event will develop long-lasting symptoms. Those who do can be diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Common PTSD symptoms include flashbacks, nightmares, severe anxiety, uncontrollable thoughts about the event, and avoiding reminders of the trauma.
How Trauma Affects the Body
During a traumatic event, the body goes into “fight or flight” mode. Resources are diverted away from body systems not needed for immediate survival. The heart races, muscles tense up, and stress hormones like cortisol flood the body.
Usually, the body returns to normal functioning after the perceived threat is gone. But with trauma, these biological changes can persist long after the traumatic event ends. Prolonged stress can alter levels of key hormones, disrupt important neural pathways in the brain, and even change the way DNA is read and transcribed.
Structural and functional changes anywhere in the body as a result of trauma are referred to as “somatic” or body-based effects. Here are some common examples of how trauma can manifest in the body:
| System | Effects of Trauma |
|---|---|
| Neurological | Chronic hyperarousal, altered brain chemistry, migraines, seizures |
| Cardiovascular | Increased heart rate, hypertension, accelerated atherosclerosis |
| Respiratory | Hyperventilation, shortness of breath, asthma-like symptoms |
| Gastrointestinal | Ulcers, irritable bowel syndrome, nausea |
| Musculoskeletal | Somatic pain, muscle tension, decreased mobility |
| Immune | Lowered immunity, autoimmune disorders, inflammation |
The Brain-Body Connection
The physiological changes caused by trauma highlight the intimate connections between the brain and the rest of the body. Signals passing along the vagus nerve and stress hormone receptors tie the brain closely with the immune system, gut, and cardiovascular system.
When trauma impacts the brain, downstream effects can ripple out along these connections to alter physiological processes elsewhere in the body. For example, anxiety and depression resulting from trauma can disrupt the gut microbiome, compounding psychological distress with gastrointestinal issues.
Likewise, the persistent release of stress hormones due to trauma can lead to high blood pressure, muscle tension, and increased inflammation. Traumatized individuals describe feeling like their bodies are “on guard” all the time, even when real threats aren’t present.
Somatic Experiencing
Therapeutic approaches designed to address the mind-body impacts of trauma are growing increasingly popular. Somatic experiencing (SE) is one such approach.
Developed by psychologist Dr. Peter Levine, SE focuses on resolving the biological changes wrought by trauma that linger in the body. Through techniques like mindfulness, guided movement, and touch, SE aims to discharge trapped “fight or flight” energy and restore the body’s innate capacity to self-regulate.
For example, an SE patient with chronic neck pain after a car accident might focus on sensations in their neck while slowly turning their head side-to-side. This fosters awareness and release of residual muscle tension.
Proponents believe that SE provides a way for the body to “complete” the biological processes that were interrupted by trauma. However, high quality research on SE’s efficacy remains limited.
Holistic Healing
Other holistic modalities take mind-body approach to healing trauma as well. Examples include:
- Yoga – Gentle movement paired with breathwork can soothe the nervous system and release muscular holding patterns.
- Acupuncture – Fine needles inserted along meridian points balance energy flow to reduce anxiety, ease pain, and improve sleep quality.
- Massage therapy – Kneading tight muscles, stimulating pressure points, and increasing body awareness relieves both physical and emotional tension.
- Craniosacral therapy – Light touches on the skull, spine, and connective tissues restore the flow of cerebrospinal fluid around the brain and central nervous system.
A multi-pronged approach combining both body-based and talk therapies may be most effective when treating trauma.
The Autonomic Nervous System
To fully understand how trauma can lodge itself in the body, it helps to take a closer look at the autonomic nervous system (ANS). This subdivision of the nervous system controls unconscious bodily processes like breathing, heartbeat, and digestion.
The ANS has two contrasting branches:
- Sympathetic nervous system – Activates the “fight or flight” stress response.
- Parasympathetic nervous system – Promotes “rest and digest” relaxation.
Chronic stress from trauma can cause these branches to fall out of balance, creating a state of hyperarousal where the body constantly feels under threat. Restorative practices like yoga aim to recalibrate the ANS by boosting parasympathetic activity.
Polyvagal Theory
Advances in neuroscience have further illuminated the crucial role the ANS plays in trauma. Polyvagal theory, developed by Dr. Stephen Porges, asserts that how the vagus nerve is functioning is key.
The vagus nerve is the main nerve of the parasympathetic nervous system. Via feedback loops with the brain, it controls the physiological changes that occur with feeling safe versus feeling in danger.
Polyvagal theory states that trauma essentially “hijacks” the vagal pathways, disrupting healthy ANS functioning. As a result, the body struggles to exit defensive physiological states even without any real threat present.
Therapies that restore healthy vagal tone have been shown to be helpful for trauma recovery. For example, chanting, deep breathing, and expressing emotions can stimulate healing vagal pathways.
The Impact of Early Life Trauma
Trauma experienced during critical developmental periods in early life can uniquely alter the mind-body connection. Since the nervous, endocrine, and immune systems are still maturing, trauma can literally shape how these bodily systems grow.
For example, research shows that infants who undergo painful medical procedures without pain relief demonstrate heightened pain sensitivity later in childhood. Extreme early life stress also increases the risk of developing autoimmune disorders and mood problems as an adult.
That’s why addressing trauma experienced in the first few years of life is incredibly important, yet complex. Therapies that involve touch, movement, and parent-child interaction can help “reprogram” disrupted physiological development.
Somatic Disorders
In some cases, trauma that becomes lodged in the body can crystallize into specific physical disorders. Examples include:
- Conversion disorder – Unexplained symptoms affecting voluntary motor or sensory function, such as seizures or paralysis.
- Fibromyalgia – Chronic widespread muscle pain and tenderness.
- Chronic fatigue syndrome – Debilitating fatigue along with flu-like symptoms.
- Complex regional pain syndrome – Persistent arm or leg pain with swelling and skin changes.
These “functional somatic syndromes” emerge when the mind-body disturbances caused by trauma coalesce into distinct disease states. Getting to the root psychological trauma is key for successful treatment.
Somatoform Disorders
Somatoform disorders describe psychiatric conditions where mental and emotional distress manifest as physical symptoms. Examples include:
- Somatic symptom disorder – Physical complaints that cause excessive worry or disrupt daily life.
- Conversion disorder – See somatic disorders above.
- Hypochondriasis – Health anxiety focused on fear of serious illness despite lack of real medical cause.
- Body dysmorphic disorder – Obsessive focus on perceived flaws in physical appearance.
Again, unresolved trauma often underpins these disorders. And because symptoms are physical, these conditions are typically misdiagnosed at first and ineffectively treated.
Is All Disease Partly Psychosomatic?
The theory that all physical disease stems in part from unresolved emotional distress, subconscious conflicts, or past trauma is controversial but gaining attention.
Literature on phenomena like “cancer personality” and psychoneuroimmunology points to some possible mechanisms. However, more research is needed to assess to what extent psychological factors broadly contribute to disease vulnerability.
Most experts caution against assuming patients’ illnesses must be psychosomatic. But attention to emotional health is still considered an important part of overall well-being in both prevention and disease management.
Cautions About “Somatazation”
When taken too far, the notion that physical symptoms stem from emotional roots can be problematic. Patients – especially women – have long had serious medical conditions dismissed as “all in their head”.
The term “somatization” is sometimes misused to imply symptoms are imagined or “made up”. In reality, mind-body disorders cause very real suffering and deserve compassionate care.
Etiquette around language is evolving, as terms like somatic symptom disorder replace older ones like psychosomatic. The key is respecting patients’ symptoms while exploring potential psychological contributions.
The Bottom Line
Research confirms trauma certainly impacts both mind and body. Effects range from subtle disruptions in stress physiology and gut health to debilitating somatic disorders.
Healing approaches that address the mind-body connection can benefit trauma recovery. However, more rigorous study is needed on many somatic therapies and mind-body mechanisms.
In most cases, trauma’s physical effects are not imagined. But neither are they untreatable. Integrative care that looks beyond the brain to the whole person offers much hope.