The Nervous System & Trauma: Why You React the Way You Do
Trauma responses do not exist without the nervous system. Actually, no response you have can exist without the nervous system. Trauma, however, can rewire your responses, making seemingly normal situations feel overwhelming or unsafe. If you grew up in a restrictive or high-control environment, your nervous system may be stuck in survival mode, making emotional regulation and self-trust challenging. Understanding how trauma shapes your nervous system can empower you to break free from reactive patterns and reclaim control over your emotions. Keep reading to explore how trauma impacts your nervous system and why you respond the way you do. In this article, I will cover the four main trauma responses: fight, flight, freeze, and fawn.
What is the Nervous System?
Welcome back to high school biology! Here’s a quick refresher on how your nervous system works. It is divided into two main parts: the central nervous system and the peripheral nervous system.
The central nervous system (CNS) consists of the brain and spinal cord, acting as the command center.
The peripheral nervous system (PNS) consists of nerves, ganglia, and two subsystems:
The autonomic nervous system (ANS), which is further divided into the sympathetic and parasympathetic responses.
The ANS is responsible for your reactions to stress and recovery afterward. Unlike your thinking brain, the ANS runs automatically, ensuring quick reactions to perceived threats. This system is crucial for survival, but if you've experienced chronic stress, strict upbringing, or trauma, it may become overactive—keeping you in a constant state of alertness. This overactivity can manifest as chronic anxiety, hypervigilance, or even physical symptoms such as headaches, digestive issues, and chronic pain.
Trauma’s Impact on the Nervous System
After a distressing event, your body shifts into the parasympathetic response, which promotes rest and recovery. However, if the distress is prolonged or overwhelming—like growing up in an environment with emotional suppression, punishment, or unpredictability—it can become trauma. This disrupts your nervous system, making it hypersensitive to perceived threats.
Your brain, designed for learning and adaptation, can unfortunately reinforce trauma responses. If avoiding conflict or staying small kept you safe as a child, your brain will continue defaulting to these responses in adulthood, even when they no longer serve you. This is why trauma survivors often struggle with self-expression, boundaries, or trusting their instincts.
Additionally, trauma memories are stored differently than regular memories. Instead of being processed in the hippocampus, they are stored alongside emotions, close to where the nervous system initiates survival responses. This is why trauma triggers feel so visceral and automatic, often bypassing logic and making emotional regulation difficult.
The Fight-or-Flight Response
The fight and flight responses are two sides of the same coin, both aiming to protect you from perceived threats. These responses can manifest as:
Increased heart rate
Shallow breathing
Heightened senses
Digestive issues
Restlessness or difficulty sleeping
For trauma survivors, the fight-or-flight response activates more easily and intensely. This hypervigilance keeps you on edge, always scanning for danger—even in safe situations. You may react strongly to criticism, feel the need to constantly prove yourself, or struggle with overwhelming anxiety. Over time, this state of constant alertness can lead to emotional exhaustion, chronic fatigue, and even long-term health complications such as high blood pressure or autoimmune disorders.
Freeze & Fawn Responses
These two responses are often overlooked but are just as critical in understanding trauma:
Freeze Response: Feeling stuck, disconnected, or unable to act, often due to fear of making the wrong move. Dissociation and emotional numbness are common in those who have experienced ongoing trauma. Those with a dominant freeze response may find themselves paralyzed by indecision, procrastination, or shutting down emotionally during stress.
Fawn Response: People-pleasing, avoiding conflict, and prioritizing others’ needs over your own as a survival strategy. This is common in those raised in environments where approval was conditional or where expressing needs led to punishment. Individuals with a dominant fawn response often struggle with boundaries, feeling guilty for saying no, or consistently prioritizing others at their own expense.
How Trauma Reactions Affect Your Life
A nervous system stuck in survival mode struggles to find balance. This can lead to:
Chronic stress and anxiety
Emotional burnout and exhaustion
Difficulty trusting yourself or setting boundaries
Autoimmune issues, digestive problems, and chronic pain
Repeating unhealthy relationship patterns
Difficulty regulating emotions or feeling “too much” or “not enough”
Struggles with self-worth and self-trust
Many survivors of restrictive or high-control environments find themselves in relationships or jobs where they are undervalued, overworked, or taken advantage of. Recognizing these patterns is the first step in breaking free and healing.
Steps Toward Healing
Healing from trauma starts with understanding and self-compassion. Here are a few key steps to begin regulating your nervous system and breaking free from old survival patterns:
Awareness: Recognize which trauma responses show up most in your life and how they impact your relationships, work, and self-esteem.
Self-Compassion: Understand that your responses were adaptive strategies for survival. Instead of self-criticism, approach yourself with kindness.
Nervous System Regulation: Engage in activities that soothe your nervous system, such as deep breathing, meditation, movement, and grounding techniques.
Therapy and Support: Trauma is best healed in a supportive environment. Working with a trauma-informed therapist can help you safely process and rewire old patterns.
Healthy Boundaries: Learn to set limits with others and advocate for your needs without guilt.
Reconnecting with Yourself: Practice self-trust by listening to your needs, honoring your emotions, and creating a safe internal space.
Conclusion & Call to Action
Healing from trauma isn’t about "fixing" yourself—you were never broken. It’s about retraining your nervous system so that it no longer sees safety in survival-mode responses. Through therapy, mindfulness, and nervous system regulation techniques, you can begin to trust yourself, set boundaries, and step into the life you deserve.
If you grew up in a restrictive or high-control environment and are struggling with emotional burnout, trauma responses, or self-trust, you don’t have to navigate it alone. At Firestorm Counseling, we specialize in helping individuals like you break free from trauma patterns and reclaim their emotional freedom.
Book a session today and take the first step toward transformation.
You are not broken. You are healing.
