What Does a Traumatic Experience Do To Your Body and Brain?
Reviewed by 
Dr Sheri Jacobson
Going through a traumatic experience is hard enough. What follows can be even more confusing.
In the days and weeks afterwards, your moods might swing, you might feel anxious or want to withdraw, and everyday life can feel hard to manage. Your body may react too, with fatigue, muscle tension or a flu-like feeling.
For most people, this settles within a few weeks. But for some, the body stays on alert long after the event has passed. As a therapist who works with complex trauma and nervous system dysregulation, I see both.
In this article I'll explain what happens in your body and brain straight after a traumatic experience, and what is going on when trauma seems to stay "stored" in the body for years.
[VIDEO EMBED: https://youtu.be/RLvXidOsAQs]
Part 1: What happens straight after a traumatic experience?
When something overwhelming happens, your nervous system moves into survival mode. This is often called the fight, flight or freeze response, or more clinically, an acute stress response.
This response exists to protect you. It gives you the energy to react fast when something is genuinely dangerous, such as an accident, a natural disaster or an attack.
But many traumatic experiences aren't life-threatening. Losing someone you love, witnessing someone else get hurt, being betrayed or being targeted by fraud can all trigger the same response. That's why your reaction might feel bigger than the event seems to warrant, which can confuse you and the people around you. It isn't an overreaction. It's your nervous system doing its job.
What a traumatic experience does to your body
The stress response is physical and biochemical. It is far from "all in your head".
Adrenaline gives you a burst of energy. Your heart rate and blood pressure rise, your breathing speeds up to get more oxygen to your cells, and your liver releases glucose for fuel.
Cortisol redirects your resources. Released by the adrenal glands, it dials down systems you don't need in an emergency, such as digestion and immunity, so more energy is available to deal with the threat.
These changes are useful in the moment, but they take a toll afterwards. You may feel exhausted, and your muscles may ache from being braced. If cortisol stays high for several days, your lowered immunity can leave you more likely to pick up a cold.
What a traumatic experience does to your brain
During a traumatic event, the brain's threat-detection system takes the lead. The amygdala, a small almond-shaped area deep in the brain, acts as an alarm centre and processes experience through feeling rather than logic.
At the same time, the parts of the brain involved in careful reasoning become less active, so fast, instinctive reactions can take over. This is why people often make decisions in a crisis that don't make sense to them later.
If the amygdala stays on high alert for a few weeks afterwards, you might react strongly to small things, feel constantly on edge, or experience "brain fog".
[Read more in our piece, 7 Signs You Are Experiencing Emotional Shock.]
What is "normal" after emotional shock?
It's normal to feel anything but normal after a traumatic experience. Body and mind both need time to recover from a reaction that is physically and psychologically demanding.
Some reactions are delayed. You might feel fine for several days, or numb while others around you are upset. That doesn't mean the experience hasn't affected you.
Symptoms can be physical, emotional, or both. Some people mainly feel unwell and tired for a few weeks. Others mainly notice anxiety, low mood or irritability.
Try not to compare yourself to others. Two people can go through the same event and respond very differently. Your nervous system's response is shaped by your own history, so not reacting the way someone else does says nothing about whether your experience is valid.
For most people, things ease within about a month. Leaning on people you trust, talking to others who shared the experience, and looking after yourself with rest, regular meals and less unnecessary stress all help that recovery.
Part 2: When trauma stays in the body
Sometimes the nervous system doesn't return to its usual state after a traumatic experience. This is more likely if the trauma happened early in life, went on over time, or was never processed. A recent event can also land on top of older, unresolved trauma, which is why some people find their symptoms don't settle. (Read more in our article on the effects of childhood trauma on the brain.)
Trauma reshapes how the brain functions, and that has a knock-on effect on the nervous system and the body. Many people feel as if part of them is still stuck in the moment the trauma happened.
Stuck in fight or flight, or shut down
When trauma stays in the nervous system, it tends to show up in one of two ways.
Hypervigilance. You stay in a cortisol- and adrenaline-fuelled state of fight or flight, constantly scanning your environment for threat. It can be hard to relax, rest or sleep.
Shutdown. Your system goes the other way, into dissociation and withdrawal. You might feel numb, flat or disconnected from yourself and others.
Many people move between the two.
Physical and emotional signs of stored trauma
The chronic stress of unresolved trauma can affect cortisol regulation and adrenaline sensitivity. Common signs include:
- a heightened startle response
- ongoing muscle tension
- chronic fatigue
- disrupted sleep
- digestive problems
- executive dysfunction, such as difficulty planning, focusing or getting things started
- emotional numbness or feeling dissociated
Over time, this can make it hard to manage day-to-day life and to be fully present in your relationships.
It can help to think of emotion as energy in motion. When trauma is held in the body, that energy gets stuck. Part of the work in therapy is to gently get things moving again.
Implicit and explicit memory: why you can react without knowing why
In therapy, we work with two types of memory.
Explicit memory holds the facts and the story: what happened, when, and who was there. It's the memory you can talk through.
Implicit memory sits deeper, in the subcortical brain and the nervous system. Here, the body may still be in freeze or fight or flight, responding to the trauma as if it were still happening. You may not be consciously aware of it at all.
Implicit memories are often activated without you realising. You might suddenly feel fear, threat or agitation and not know why. Something may have reminded your nervous system of a past trauma: a tone of voice, a smell, or something you saw. These memories can also come from very early experiences, from before you were old enough to form conscious memories.
One example that comes up a lot is school trauma. Being bullied, feeling unsafe at school, or high conflict with teachers or other pupils can leave a held, implicit memory in the body. That memory then gets reactivated later in life, often in relationships.
This matters because your nervous system's state often comes before your story. The state your body is in shapes the story your mind keeps replaying.
How stored trauma shows up in relationships
If your body has learned that certain cues are unsafe, those cues can quietly shape how you relate to other people. You might notice that you:
- avoid conflict at almost any cost
- become a chronic people pleaser
- find it hard to speak up or advocate for yourself
- jump into reactions in a relationship before you feel in control of them
That last one is why trauma can feel "stored" in the body. Your body responds in ways you weren't prepared for. In reality, what we call stored trauma is usually a pattern your nervous system has learned. It formed over time by reacting to past activations that came up again and again.
The good news is that learned patterns can change.
How therapy helps trauma stored in the body
Many approaches to therapy work only with explicit memory, through talking about what happened. That can be valuable, but it doesn't always reach the implicit memory held deeper in the nervous system.
That's where somatic work and brainspotting come in. Brainspotting helps clients work with that implicit, held sense, even when they aren't cognitively aware of what's going on. Clients often find that they know, on a deeper level, what their body is responding to.
The aim is twofold: to work through the trauma, and to help rewire what's happening in the deep brain and nervous system. That allows the nervous system to return to a healthy state of flow.
As these implicit memory cues clear, people often tell me they feel:
- more confident in themselves
- happier
- able to communicate more clearly
- better able to handle everyday conflict as it comes up
When should I seek help?
It's normal to feel unsettled for several weeks after a traumatic experience. But it's worth talking to your GP or a therapist experienced in trauma if:
- your symptoms haven't eased after about a month, or are getting worse
- you feel constantly on edge, or numb and shut down
- old reactions keep surfacing in your relationships and you don't know why
- physical symptoms like poor sleep, fatigue or digestive problems have become long-term
Ongoing symptoms can be a sign that the experience has developed into acute stress disorder or PTSD. Whatever the label, support can help your nervous system find its way back to feeling safe.
Harley Therapy connects you with experienced, registered therapists who specialise in trauma and PTSD, including brainspotting. Book at our Harley Street or City of London clinics, or work with an online therapist wherever you are.
Stefan Walters - Psychological Therapist
Stefan Walters is a Systemic Psychotherapist and Certified Brainspotting Therapist, with training including Emotionally Focused Therapy, Narrative Therapy, and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy.
He specialises in complex traumatic stress and nervous system dysregulation, working with a dual-attunement framework that attends closely to both the relational and the somatic. Stefan is a Graduate Member of the British Psychological Society and a Member of the BACP. Stefan has been featured in The Guardian, The Times, and BACP.
13 Comments
When I was younger I had a traumatic experience after that I got social anxiety and panic attacks the attacks went away and the anxiety got better but it kept coming back I forgot about the trauma for a while and got on with life earlier this year it came back and I isolated myself from my friends my anxiety came back worse than ever I've got panic attacks as well again and I'm worried that it was caused by a recent trauma that's what triggered it to come back however I can't think of any traumas I may have had or maybe it's because I haven't dealt with it properly.
Hi Elisa, yes, what happens when we have had a major trauma is that a tiny trigger can set it all off again at any time. So the anxiety and fear might go away for some time, then suddenly it's all back. This is why it's highly recommended you seek professional help if you had a big trauma. Nowadays there is a tool called EMDR which reprograms the mind to handle trauma differently, see if you can find a therapist who uses it as a good start. After that you might want to try CBT therapy which has been proven to work for trauma and anxiety. We wish you courage!
I was assaulted at work and was very upset.afterwards I felt stupid that I didn't see it coming.after quite a few days I'm not feeling myself very quiet.not thinking clearly.i think I'm listening to conversation then having to asked what has just been said,I'm also not sleeping well waking up from sleep for no reason that I know of,having periods if crying.whats wrong with me.mybhead feels numb .
You sound like you are experiencing emotional shock, which would more than make sense given the circumstances. http://bit.ly/emotionalshock . We do hope that you have reported the experience and that your workplace is providing counselling and support? Feeling stupid and like it is all your fault is not helpful. Nobody can 'see it coming'. But you can reach out and find the support you need and we hope you do. It's a hard thing to go through and support really helps.
Hi, I recently experienced a home invasion. I was home alone in the morning with my dog. My mom had just left for work and I heard a strange noise but I let it go i thought it was just a house noise but then I continued to hear it so I got up to see and someone was coming in the window. I immediately called 911 and was screaming and shouting. But I no longer feel safe here. I constantly think every sound is someone outside. How do I cope w this?
Hi Gabby, it sounds like you are going through emotional shock which is actually a normal response to such a traumatic experience. Emotional shock causes anxiety, edginess, panic, etc. It can take about 2 months to pass, during which it's important to practise good self care. Spend time with loved ones, exercise, rest often, etcetera - you will feel fragile so treat yourself carefully. Assuming you have installed practical things like window locks and an alarm system, and the anxiety is not based on actually living in an unsafe apartment, if you still feel entirely edgy and anxious after two months (or after moving to a safer apartment), then we would suggest seeing a counsellor as the experience might have triggered PTSD or anxiety disorder.
My stress is minimal compared to many ,this has been most helpful. I am 81 yrs my husband in his 90th, I he is very healthy, but allowed me to do most of the practical things. I began to have woosey episodes, feeling very strange,I already had a docs appointment,but called paramedics, saw doc, nothing much wrong, had 24hr EGG monitor,handed back after 24hrs, immediately went to dentist, large molar pulled, arrived home ,doc phoned to go immediately to hospital, not a good experience,no good or drink for hours, no paracetamol for pain from pulled tooth, no salt mouth wash to prevent infection no sleep etc. On a high while there for 2days, still on a high, came home next few days changed, exhausted,pulse and BP all OVER the place.I can't stand noise, and communication, just want to be left alone. Now I know this ok ,thanks to you.
Mavis it sounds very traumatic and even more so as it sounds you had nobody to turn to to feel supported by as unfortunately you are the 'strong' one perhaps. We think you might be in a state of shock. The good news is it does wear off. Read our article on shock here http://bit.ly/emotionalshock. Give yourself some time and self care to feel better. Take time alone, do things that are soothing for you personally, whatever that is. Best, HT.
My coworker lied and my boss yelled at me for 30 minutes with false accusations. I was in shock. The next day, I went to speak to my boss to say that " I would like an opportunity to respond to those false accusations," and she played dumb and said she didn't remember saying that. I was more confused but trusted my boss. She even apologized. Then after the first quarter she fired me and claimed it was due to eliminating my position which is completely untrue due to the fact that I am the top producer and liasion between all of their clients. I'm so mad at myself for not pushing harder so I could protect myself and make sure I was treated fairly. I believe she tricked me into being quiet cuz what else could it be. I keep replaying it over in my head and keep asking myself, if I did something differently could I have prevented this?? I am very traumatized and feel like its all my fault. I am a very social person but for the last 8 months I have not talked to anybody. I feel like I don't trust anyone and I am devastated. I wasnt given the fair chance to respond and in hindsight i can see this but at the time I was too scared and confused to know what was going on. The coworker that did tgis triangulated me and I also have anger and rage. My whole friend group was work and now I have no friends. What do u think of this whole situation and what my boss did? I dont trust anybody.
Hi Sophie, it's good that you are able to understand you are in a state of rage. If this has gone on for 8 months or more it's a vey good idea to seek therapy as that is a long time to be frozen in anger. Our guess is that this is not just about this situation but is a much, much bigger story stretching back to childhood, with experiences where you didn't have any control and then felt must somehow be your fault. Rage is like a snowball, created from experiences we have as children and young adults, and then growing a new layer with all of our adult experiences. Then one day a difficult thing happens and it becomes the focus of all our rage and we lose ourselves to our rage, and tell the story again and again of what happened, becoming frozen in victimhood. The fact that you also feel guilt and low self-esteem and trust issues over it furthers our belief that this is a much bigger story, we'd also imagine there are some relating issues at play that make life difficult. And the fact that you made your job your whole life over having a balanced life is another red flag. All these issues can be helped and changed with therapy, but it's a commitment you must make and won't be instant but take time. But if you have the courage to take that first step of seeking help we think you'll find it well worth it. Sometimes the worst things turn out to be the best things as they push us to finally seek support and change long standing patterns that keep us stuck in a constant cycle of conflict and misery. On a practical note, do talk to an employment lawyer. Best, HT.
Hi, Harley Therapy, some people have severely deficient autobiographical memory, a condition about which very little is known. Only a few people with SDAM have been studied and there is only a tiny handful of papers in the literature. Let us say that someone with SDAM goes through an experience that might reasonably traumatise a neurotypical person. Would you expect that their inability to recall episodes in their lives would shield the person with SDAM from the trauma? To be a little more specific, in the case of someone who suffered abuse in boarding school, would you expect that SDAM would prevent them from developing the syndrome of characteristics that is typical of boarding school survivors? Or would you, on the contrary, expect that because the person cannot recall their past, their trauma cannot be approached by any psychiatric therapy?
Hi there Martin. The brain is still a very mysterious thing, and each person is unique in the way their brain decides will be processed as trauma or not. We are not brain experts, that would be neuroscience not psychology, so nothing we say below is law or useable evidence it's an informed opinion. Then again even neuroscientists are still like astronauts trying to fully understand space in all its intricacies. What we can say is that it's not advisable to compare your trauma to that of others. It's best to consider, and in a very honest fashion, do I have symptoms? Am I unhappy, do I find relating difficult, am I anxious? If so, then seek support. We would say, though, that we aren't sure where you get the idea that abuse survivors remember. We'd say most have very little to no memory, or can go years or decades before having a sort of memory. The brain is designed to protect us in many ways. We find that if someone has an abusive past they for the most part they will have symptoms (see our pieces on abuse for more). The brain can hide things, but the trauma still processes, in often very physical ways even, anxiety, sleeplessness, jumpiness, etc. If there are zero symptoms, if someone is very happy, easily relates to others, has great self esteem, easily loves and is loved, we'd say it's unlikely there was trauma or that they are extremely lucky with a very unique makeup. As for a person who can't recall their past being beyond help, absolutely the opposite, again MOST abuse survivors have very little memories, or only remember more in therapy and most will never know 'exactly what happened', all they do know is that they are unhappy with symptoms. We always advise that obsessing on what did or did not happen is addictive and normal but best managed, as unless we have a time machine one day most of us will never know. Focus on getting help with the symptoms. The rage, the depression, anxiety, relating issues. That is what we DO have control over. Best, HT.
Is it possible to experience one time auditory and hallucinatory phenomena at the instant of catastrophically shocking emotional trauma? Something so shocking was revealed to me, that the realization of it caused a simultaneous flash of light and something similar to a snap right behind my eyes. I perceived a snap/flash right behind my eyes, which then caused such dizziness I had to hold onto the counter, followed and finishing with a quite strong wave of nausea. I'm not prone to imaginary thoughts; this was quite vivid a sensation/memory. I do not even remember the rest of the night. Within 6mos I was unable to function with clinical depression. Have you ever heard anything of the sort? Was it just my imagination? Why am I still broken 28 yrs later, with this still vivid memory of the instant my world shattered? I appreciate your time, expertise and advice with this. Thank you.
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