Trauma and Your Nervous System: Understanding and Healing Together
When we hear the word trauma, many of us instinctively think of dramatic, life-altering events, accidents, abuse, or natural disasters. But trauma is far more nuanced and pervasive than we often recognise. It doesn’t just stem from what happens to us but from how our nervous system processes those experiences.
If you’re thinking, I don’t have trauma, this message is especially for you. Trauma isn’t defined by the event itself but by the internal impact of overwhelming experiences. These moments, when the stress response in our body is triggered but left incomplete, create cycles of tension, fatigue, and disconnection that are stored in the body. Over time, these unresolved stress cycles can lead to the symptoms we associate with mental health challenges—anxiety, depression, dissociation, and more.
This is not a sign of dysfunction or failure. It’s your body doing its best to keep you safe in a world that sometimes feels overwhelming.
Understanding the Impact of Stored Stress
Your nervous system’s primary job is to assess safety and keep you alive. When you feel unsafe, your body reacts instinctively:
Fight or Flight: You feel the urge to escape or defend yourself.
Freeze: You shut down or disconnect to conserve energy.
Fawn: You prioritise appeasing others to avoid conflict or danger.
These are not conscious choices, they’re biological responses to perceived danger. But when the stress cycle isn’t completed, the unresolved energy doesn’t just vanish. Instead, it stays with you, waiting for a safe moment to finish what it started.
The problem? Many of us live in environments or situations where safety feels elusive. Instead of resolving, those stress cycles get triggered again and again, compounding the impact on our nervous system and reactivating the pain of past experiences. This re-traumatisation creates a cycle that can feel impossible to escape.
The Cumulative Nature of Trauma
Trauma doesn’t have to be caused by a singular, dramatic event. It can build over time, through smaller experiences that add up:
Feeling unseen or unsupported.
Navigating environments that don’t accommodate your needs.
Encountering unmet emotional or physical needs in childhood.
For neurodivergent individuals, such as those with ADHD or Autism, the risk of trauma is heightened. A hyper-connected nervous system means that situations others might find neutral can feel overwhelming or unsafe. Over time, this creates an internal environment where the nervous system remains on high alert, perpetuating cycles of stress and imbalance.
Symptoms Are Signals, Not Failures
The symptoms that emerge from unresolved trauma, whether it’s anxiety, depression, executive dysfunction, or even physical pain, are your body’s way of signalling that it’s still trying to protect you. These responses aren’t evidence of disorder or failure, they’re proof of a nervous system doing what it was designed to do in the face of overwhelming circumstances.
However, modern society often frames these responses as “disorders”, labelling them as flaws rather than recognising them as natural adaptations to stress and trauma. The truth is, your nervous system is responding exactly as it should to a world that doesn’t always feel safe.
How to Support Your Nervous System
Healing begins when we stop blaming ourselves for our symptoms and start working with our bodies to restore balance. Here are some ways to begin that process:
Create Safety
Healing requires a foundation of safety. This doesn’t mean you have to control everything around you but focus on creating small moments of security, whether that’s a soothing routine, a trusted connection, or a safe space to retreat to.
Complete Stress Cycles
To release stored trauma, your body needs to finish the stress response it started. This might involve:
Gentle movement, like yoga, walking, or stretching.
Expressing emotions through journaling, art, or talking to a trusted person.
Deep breathing to signal safety to your nervous system.
Engage Your Social Nervous System
Connection is one of the most powerful ways to regulate your nervous system. If direct socialising feels overwhelming, try low-pressure options like spending time in shared spaces, being with a pet, or engaging in small, positive interactions.
Honor Your Neurodivergence
If you’re neurodivergent, recognise that your nervous system may process the world differently—and that’s okay. Seek environments, practices, and relationships that honour your needs and provide space for genuine connection.
Practice Self-Compassion
Your symptoms are not your fault. Approach your healing journey with patience and kindness, understanding that progress comes through small, intentional steps, not quick fixes.
Taking the Next Step
Your nervous system is trying to protect you, it always has been. But healing requires partnership. It requires you to listen to your body’s signals, create moments of safety, and take intentional steps toward completing the cycles that have kept you stuck.
You don’t have to do this alone. Whether through therapy, community, or self-guided exploration, the path to nervous system balance is one of reconnection…with yourself, your body, and the world around you.
Take a moment today to ask yourself:
What would safety look like for me right now?
How can I gently support my body in moving toward balance?
Healing is possible. It’s a journey, not a destination, but with each step, you move closer to living a life that feels whole and connected.
Are you ready to take that step? Let’s start together.