Trauma isn’t just something you remember. It’s something your brain holds onto.
You’ve probably wondered why certain sensations or memories feel stuck in your mind.
- Why does your heart suddenly race when something reminds you of the past?
- Why do certain memories feel jumbled or out of order?
- Why is it so hard to just let go and move on?
This is because of how traumatic events change the brain.
When you go through something extremely stressful or frightening, your brain reorganizes itself to protect you.
Some parts go into overdrive and make you more alert to danger, while others slow down and make it harder to think clearly or remember details.
This is by no means a weakness or your inability to cope… it’s just the way your brain does its job to keep you safe.
If you’re curious what happens when we experience an overwhelming situation or something terrifying, you’re in the right place.
Continue reading and you’ll find out what’s really happening when you experience trauma.
The Brain’s Response to Trauma – A Neurobiological Perspective
Trauma physically changes how the brain works.
According to trauma expert Dr. Bessel van der Kolk, these changes happen in three major ways:
The Brain Becomes Overly Sensitive To Danger
After a traumatic event, the brain sees threats everywhere, even when there’s no real danger.
This happens in the survival part of the brain that reacts automatically and not in the thinking part that helps you assess situations logically.
The Brain Struggles To Filter Out Unimportant Information
Normally, your brain helps you focus on what matters and inhibit things that don’t.
After trauma, this system malfunctions and makes it hard to ignore small details that feel important but aren’t actually a threat.
This can make ordinary situations feel overwhelming.
The Connection To Your Own Body Becomes Weaker
Trauma can numb the brain’s ability to recognize what’s happening inside your body.
This is a protective mechanism. When terrifying things happen, physical sensations such as a racing heart or tight chest can be intense.
To protect you, the brain turns down those signals and makes it harder to feel emotions or bodily sensations.
This dissociation is a common effect of trauma.
Research has shown that trauma doesn’t just leave emotional scars but it physically changes brain structure and function, particularly in areas like the amygdala, hippocampus, and prefrontal cortex.
These changes help explain why after a traumatic experience we may experience hypervigilance, memory issues, and difficulty regulating emotions.
Three key areas are impacted:
- Amygdala (fear center)
- Hippocampus (memory organizer)
- Prefrontal cortex (decision-maker and emotional regulator)
1. The Amygdala – The Brain’s Alarm System
The amygdala is a small, almond-shaped structure inside our brains. Basically, the word “amygdala” comes from the Latin word for “almond” because of its shape.
Even though it is a tiny structure, it plays a huge role in processing emotions, especially fear and survival instincts. It’s like the brain’s watchdog or alarm system. It is always scanning for danger and deciding when to sound the alarm.
Before a traumatic experience, your brain responds to danger in a balanced way. If you hear a loud car horn, you might feel startled for a moment, but your brain quickly realizes everything is fine, and you calm down.
But after a traumatic event, the brain’s alarm system (amygdala) gets stuck in high alert. It starts reacting to everyday things (loud noises, sudden movements, or certain smells) as if they are serious threats. Those everyday situations end up triggering a panic response.
Even in completely safe situations, the body feels like it is in danger. This fight or flight response becomes easily triggered.
Why does it feel so real? Because your amygdala isn’t logical. It doesn’t ask if something is dangerous, it just reacts. It reacts as if the threat is still happening, and this is based on what it remembers.
2. The Hippocampus – When Memories Don’t Feel Like the Past
The hippocampus is the brain’s memory organizer. It helps distinguish between past and present and ensures memories are stored in an orderly way.
Before a traumatic experience, the hippocampus helps process memories logically, so past events feel like they happened in the past.
But after a traumatic event, the hippocampus shrinks and becomes less effective. Instead of neatly storing traumatic memories, it scrambles them. This leads to
- Intrusive memories (flashbacks)
- Time distortions (feeling like the trauma is happening now)
- Gaps in memory (trouble recalling details or remembering events clearly)
Because the hippocampus isn’t processing trauma as a past event, it can feel like it’s still happening, even if it occurred years ago.
For instance, someone who survived a violent situation might react as though they are in danger when they see someone who looks like their past aggressor, even if they are in a completely safe environment.
The brain hasn’t filled the memory correctly, so it feels present instead of past.
3. The Prefrontal Cortex – When Logic and Emotion Fall Out of Balance
The prefrontal cortex is the brain’s control center. It helps with:
- Thinking rationally, planning
- Managing your feelings
- Making decisions
Before a traumatic experience, the prefrontal cortex helps you stay calm, think clearly, and make logical decisions. It keeps emotions balanced and helps you respond rather than react.
But after a traumatic event, this part becomes less active and makes it difficult to manage feelings, think through decisions or override fear-based reactions.
This is why someone might know they are safe but still feel unsafe. The brain isn’t sending strong enough signals to quiet the fear response.
For instance, someone who experienced childhood abuse or neglect may struggle to trust others, even in healthy relationships.
Even when they recognize they are loved, their brain still expects rejection because the part responsible for calming those fears isn’t working as well as it should.
Why Trauma Feels So Inescapable
Trauma changes how the brain processes the world.
It doesn’t just affect emotions but it also physically rewires the brain and makes it respond differently to daily situations.
The limbic system and fear circuitry become overactive, while areas that mediate rational thought show decreased activity.
This is why people who have been through a trauma exposure may experience:
- Hypervigilance – feeling constantly on edge, always scanning for danger, even when everything is fine.
- Emotional dysregulation – struggle to manage emotions, with feelings that feel too intense or unpredictable.
- Memory difficulties – including flashbacks or trouble recalling events clearly.
- Feeling disconnected from the present – feeling as if they are detached from the present moment.
These reactions have nothing to do with being weak or having a personality flaw. They are the brain’s way of trying to protect itself after a distressing experience.
In the midst of trauma, people may experience a “deer in the headlight” response, where they freeze completely (another survival mechanism).
Research shows that trauma physically changes key areas of the brain, including the amygdala, hippocampus, and prefrontal cortex. These changes affect how we process fear, store memories, and regulate emotions, which is why trauma can feel so inescapable.
The Brain Can Adapt Again
The brain doesn’t stay stuck forever. Just as trauma rewires it for survival, it can also rewire itself to heal.
That’s called neuroplasticity. The brain is built to adapt, rebuild and recover. Treatment of trauma focuses on this capacity for change.
Here’s what we know about recovery
- Therapy Helps Rebuild Pathways and Reconsolidate Memories
- Trauma-informed therapy can help process traumatic memories so they don’t feel like active threats.
Here are some therapy approaches that address the neurobiological consequences of trauma:
Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART)
Uses guided visualization and rapid eye movements to help process traumatic memories in a way that reduces emotional distress.
Polyvagal Theory in Therapy
This approach helps calm the nervous system by recognizing how the body reacts to stress.
Somatic Therapy
Somatic therapy uses techniques like deep breathing, gentle movement, and touch to help release trauma that the body holds onto.
Eye Movement and Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)
Uses guided eye movements or other forms of bilateral stimulation to help process traumatic memories in a way that makes them feel less intense over time.
Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT)
Helps you recognize and shift negative thoughts about your trauma so you can see things in a new way and feel less overwhelmed by them.
Key Takeaways
Trauma doesn’t just affect emotions…it reshapes the brain in ways that can impact memory, emotional regulation, and a sense of safety.
If you’ve struggled with response to stress, it’s not because you’re weak or broken.
Your brain adapted to survive.
Exposure to trauma, especially early life trauma, can significantly alter brain development and even affect gene expression.
But good news! Your brain is also wired for healing.
With the right support, it can learn to feel safe again.
Emotional trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder are not permanent states, they are conditions that can be addressed with proper care and understanding.
Trauma FAQs
1. Are trauma anniversaries real?
Yes, they are. Trauma anniversaries happen when a certain date, season, or event reminds your brain of something painful from the past. Even if you’re not thinking about it consciously, your body and emotions might react. You might be feeling anxious, unsettled, or emotional around the same time each year. This is because the brain holds onto the memory in a way that makes it feel like it’s happening again.
2. Can trauma cause ADHD?
Trauma doesn’t directly cause ADHD, but it can create symptoms that look a lot like it. After trauma, the brain stays in high alert, making it harder to focus, sit still, or manage emotions.
Some people who experience childhood trauma develop patterns of distractibility, impulsivity, and restlessness, which can sometimes be mistaken for ADHD.
That said, ADHD is a neurodevelopmental condition, and while trauma can make symptoms worse, they aren’t the same thing.
3. Can trauma cause memory loss?
Yes. Trauma can affect your memory in different ways. Some people have gaps in their memory or can’t remember details of what happened. Others have memories that feel scattered or out of order. This happens because trauma affects the hippocampus, the part of the brain that organizes and stores memories.
Some people may experience dissociative amnesia, where the brain blocks out distressing memories as a defense mechanism.
4. What trauma causes BPD?
Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is often linked to early-life trauma, such as childhood neglect, emotional abuse, or an unstable caregiving environment. While not everyone who experiences trauma develops BPD, research shows that a history of chronic emotional distress, abandonment, or attachment disruptions can contribute to the development of BPD symptoms.
5. When is trauma triggered?
A trigger is anything that reminds your brain of a past traumatic experience, even if you don’t realize the connection right away. It could be a smell, a sound, a place, or even a certain feeling.
When a trigger happens, the brain reacts as if the trauma is happening right now, which can cause intense emotions, panic, or flashbacks.
6. When does trauma become your identity?
After experiencing trauma, it can start to feel like it defines who you are. You might see yourself only through the lens of what happened, thinking, “I’m broken,” or “I’ll never be the same.”
This happens because trauma reshapes how the brain sees safety, relationships, and self-worth.
Healing involves rebuilding a sense of identity beyond the trauma, so it becomes something you lived through, not something that defines you.
7. Why is trauma-informed care important?
Trauma-informed care means understanding how trauma affects the brain and body so that people can get support in a way that feels safe and doesn’t make things worse.
It’s about working with therapists, doctors, or teachers who recognize that certain behaviors (like shutting down or overreacting) might be linked to past trauma, not just bad choices or personality traits.
This kind of care helps people heal without re-triggering their trauma.
8. Will trauma ever go away?
The effects of trauma don’t just disappear, but they can become much more manageable over time.
The brain has a built-in ability to change and heal, which means the intensity of trauma reactions can fade with the right support, therapy, and life experiences.
Trauma may always be part of your story, but it doesn’t have to control your life.
FAQs About Get Reconnected Psychotherapy Services
1. What types of therapy do you offer?
We offer individual therapy for a variety of concerns, including anxiety, depression, self-esteem, people-pleasing, burnout, ADHD, phobias, trauma and PTSD, fertility-related mental health. We also offer couples counselling and select group workshops.
2. Do you specialize in trauma therapy?
Yes, we offer trauma-informed therapy, including Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART), somatic-based therapy, and cognitive-based approaches, to help clients process and heal from traumatic experiences.
3. What approaches do you use in therapy?
We use a range of evidence-based approaches tailored to your needs, including:
- Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
- Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)
- Dialectical Behavioural Therapy (DBT)
- Accelerated Resolution Therapy (ART)
- Somatic Therapy
- Mindfulness-Based Interventions (MBI)
- Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) for couples
- Gottman Method for relationship therapy
4. What’s the difference between psychotherapy and counseling?
Psychotherapy focuses on deep emotional work to help process past experiences, learn healthier coping strategies that lead to long-term changes.
Counselling is often more short-term and solution-focused where you address specific issues or life challenges. Both approaches can be beneficial, depending on your needs.
5. How do I know if therapy is right for me?
Therapy can help if you’re feeling overwhelmed, stuck, or struggling with emotions, relationships, or life transitions.
If you’re unsure, scheduling a free consultation can help determine if therapy is a good fit.
6. Do you offer virtual therapy sessions?
Yes! We provide virtual psychotherapy across Ontario through a platform called Jane App.
7. How do I book a session?
You can book a free consultation through our website, Get Reconnected Psychotherapy Services, or contact us via email.
During the consultation, we’ll discuss your needs, answer any questions, and determine if we’re the right fit for you.
source https://getreconnected.ca/the-neurobiology-of-trauma/
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