Trauma Types & Healing

What Is Trauma?

Trauma is not just what happened to you. It is what happened inside you - in your nervous system, your body, your sense of safety - as a result of what happened. Two people can experience the same event and one develops trauma while the other does not. The difference lies in how the nervous system processes and stores the experience.

Types of Trauma

Acute Trauma

Results from a single overwhelming event - an accident, assault, natural disaster, or sudden loss. The nervous system is shocked and may not complete its natural stress response cycle, leaving survival energy trapped.

Chronic Trauma

Results from repeated, prolonged exposure to overwhelming events - ongoing abuse, domestic violence, chronic illness, or living in a war zone. The nervous system adapts to sustained threat, often becoming stuck in fight-or-flight or freeze.

Developmental Trauma

Occurs during childhood when a child's nervous system is still forming. Neglect, emotional unavailability, inconsistent caregiving, or early medical procedures can wire the nervous system for hypervigilance, anxiety, or shutdown. This is often the hardest to recognize because it feels like "just who I am."

Complex Trauma

Results from prolonged, repeated trauma - especially in situations where escape feels impossible. Complex trauma includes difficulties with emotional regulation, self-concept, and relationships. It is common in survivors of childhood abuse, domestic violence, and captivity.

Medical Trauma

Results from medical procedures, diagnoses, hospitalizations, or chronic illness. The body experiences medical interventions as threats, even when they are life-saving. Medical trauma is widely underrecognized and often compounds with other trauma types.

Intergenerational Trauma

Trauma that is passed down through families and communities - through genetics, parenting patterns, cultural narratives, and epigenetic changes. The effects of historical trauma, colonization, and systemic oppression show up in the nervous systems of descendants.

How Trauma Shows Up in the Body

• Chronic muscle tension, especially in the jaw, shoulders, and pelvis
• Digestive issues, IBS, or autoimmune conditions
• Sleep disturbances - insomnia, nightmares, or sleeping too much
• Hypervigilance - always scanning for threat, difficulty relaxing
• Emotional numbness or dissociation - feeling disconnected from your body
• Chronic pain without a clear medical cause
• Difficulty with intimacy, trust, or emotional closeness
• The 4 F responses: fight, flight, freeze, or fawn

How Trauma Healing Works

Healing from trauma is not about forgetting. It is about changing your body's relationship to the past so that it stops running the show in the present.

Somatic approaches like Somatic Experiencing® work by helping the nervous system complete the survival responses that were interrupted during traumatic events. Instead of retelling the story, you work with the physical sensations and energy that the story left behind.

The process typically unfolds in phases: safety and stabilization, processing and discharge, and integration and meaning-making. This is not linear - it is a spiral, revisiting themes at deeper levels as your capacity grows.

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