Trauma and Its Impact on Your Body
By Salima Shah, M.S.
When considering treatment for C-PTSD, it’s important to get the full picture of how it impacts your physical and neurological health. Let’s start with defining C-PTSD, or Complex-Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Most people are familiar with what PTSD is and are less familiar with CPTSD. An example of PTSD is when someone experiences a car crash and then has extreme difficulty getting back into cars due to intense panic attacks. This person can go see an EMDR therapist and after a period of time their anxiety and panic attacks decrease and they’re able to drive again. For someone with C-PTSD, they experience trauma starting in childhood and repeatedly throughout their lifetime. Think about someone who grew up with domestic abuse in the household and later entered into an abusive relationship as an adult. There are repeated incidents of trauma in this person’s life, it won’t take a year or even two years to heal. Although possible, there are many more factors involved compared to the person who experienced that one car accident. The person with C-PTSD has dysfunction in almost all parts of their life due to how it changed their brain.
You’ve probably heard the phrase “trauma is stored in the body”, but what does that actually mean? Traumatic experiences leave an imprint on a molecular level in the body. It’s in our muscle and connective tissue which thinly covers organs, nerves, and blood vessels. Something even more mind-blowing is, generational trauma is passed down biologically and in-utero. People can be predisposed to having PTSD after experiencing any form of trauma. Lastly, the body’s typical survival response, which was needed during the event, becomes overworked leading to a whole host of health issues.
Our Bodies Reveal What We Can’t See.
When we’ve experienced complex trauma, the body stays in a constant state of fight, flight, and/or freeze. When the body goes into survival mode it tenses up, this tension builds up the most in the hips. Evolutionarily, our hip abductors play a large role in preparing to do any of the above. They tense up to take a fighting stance, to start running, or to curl up in a ball. When the built-up trauma responses are released from the hips, people will experience overwhelming sadness, mourning, and anxiety. The mind may repress memories, but the body always remembers. Our bodies tell us to get help in any way they can, but until we understand in what ways we won’t receive the proper care and treatment.
Toxic stress is a result of being in constant survival mode. On a chemical level, high levels of cortisol (the stress hormone) and adrenaline (which help with reacting quickly) are pumping through the body more often than not. Something called the sympathetic system boosts cortisol and adrenaline which includes slowing down digestion which produces sugar to process for energy. Again, think back to cavemen time. The body fuels itself with what it needs when perceiving or experiencing danger. The parasympathetic system is in charge of regulating our digestion again and soothing the nervous system. But when a person has gone through complex trauma then the body is mostly functioning through the sympathetic system firing off. Get ready for the long list below of how that manifests in the long term:
Digestive issues (IBS, GERD)
Chronic pain (hyperalgesia, tension in the hips)
Autoimmune diseases and high levels of inflammation in the body
Development of ADHD (neurology changes, but still primarily genetic)
Speech/language impairment
In-utero impact of toxic stress (baby is getting all that cortisol and adrenaline too)
Somatic sensations (physiological response mimicking or bringing attention to areas of the body that went through the trauma)
Huge changes in brain structure harms development of social skills and academic success
Toxic stress (foggy brain, low energy, low threshold for additional stress)
Impaired sleep and immune system (insomnia, constantly getting sick)
High blood pressure (adrenaline is pumping blood through the heart faster)
Blood sugar imbalances (fatigue, health conditions)
Addictions (drugs soothe the nervous system)
Some examples of this are…
Racial trauma is connected to why many Black people, especially Black men, who are more at risk to develop hypertension and heart disease
After years of psychological abuse, a person develops a weak immune system and constantly calls out of work sick making it difficult to hold down a job.
Someone who grew up in an unstable, chaotic home develops IBS due to anxiety-induced stomach aches (gut feels like it’s in knots)
When pregnant women go through toxic stress and end up having a newborn baby who is harder to soothe, has acid reflux, and is premature.
Trauma Is Stored In The Body, and It Can Also Be Released
Various types of therapy are available for trauma work such as somatic therapy, TF-CBT, EMDR, EFT, exposure therapy, and a handful of others. One size does not fit all, so why would therapy? The same applies to choosing a therapist; finding a therapist is like finding a good pair of jeans. Not everyone will be a good fit for you, but that doesn’t mean quitting the search all together or to feel stuck with someone you don’t feel connected to. Find what works for you. Ask questions about their professional background, specialties, and overall therapeutic approach. In trauma work, the primary goal is to regulate your nervous system. The nervous system is the focus because that is associated with emotional dysregulation (extreme highs and lows in emotions), impulsive behavior, health issues mentioned above, reactiveness, and poor decision-making. The primary goal is to regulate the nervous system through various skills and actions.
How To Start Healing Trauma By Using Your Body
It is also necessary to pay attention to our physical health —“duh”, right? Well, taking care of our physical health is vital. Here are some ways you can start to take better care of your health:
Sleep hygiene contributes to improved sleep, if we are not well-rested then we are not fully available to ourselves. It helps with brain fogginess, the physical ability to function, and most importantly, energy. It’s hard to do much of anything when constantly feeling exhausted and mentally offline.
Limit alcohol and caffeine, both increase anxiety and alcohol intensifies depressive symptoms. Food is both fuel and a vessel to produce happy hormones, especially since most of your serotonin is developed in the gut.
Move your body! There are many studies on how yoga has been effective for PTSD. Trauma is released from the hips and yoga creates a mind-body connection. It slows down the racing thoughts, releases tension, and releases feel-good hormones in a more adaptive way. The trauma body deeply craves endorphins (pain-reliever hormone), and this can be done through other types of movement that you personally enjoy. Yoga isn’t for everyone and sometimes even triggers somatic sensations. Maybe you find calm in weight-lifting, rollerblading, taking long walks, swimming, or dancing. I would recommend reading up on how dancing and singing help us connect to the Vagus nerve (the main nerve for the parasympathetic system which helps us calm down). Other ways to connect to the Vagus nerve can range from cold water immersion to humming to listening to ASMR.
Practice grounding/mindfulness. Mindfulness is becoming aware of the surroundings in the present moment through the senses. . This practice and grounding tools (fall under mindfulness) are helpful when flashbacks and panic attacks surface.
Begin Working With A Trauma Therapist in Philadelphia, PA
Trauma can have lasting effects physically and mentally, but you don’t have to struggle alone. Our team understands the time it can take to navigate the ways you can heal from trauma using your body. This is why we are happy to offer in-person and online services across Philadelphia. You can start your therapy journey with Revive Therapy by following these steps:
Meet your eating disorder therapist
Start releasing past trauma from the body!
Other Services Offered With Revive Therapy
Our team understands you may be experiencing a variety of mental health concerns in addition to trauma therapy. This is why we are happy to offer mental health support including binge eating, body image issues, and more. We also offer support with EMDR therapy if you’re in need of more specialized care. Additionally, all services are offered via online therapy in Pennsylvania. Feel free to visit our blog to learn more or call now!