What Is a Trauma Response?

Going through a traumatic event often leaves a lasting impact on a person. Even if it’s something that happened in childhood, you might carry the effects of your trauma with you for years.

While people process and react to trauma differently, it’s not uncommon for those who have experienced it to struggle with trauma responses.

A trauma response is an automatic reaction to a perceived threat or trigger, typically one that is related to the trauma you previously experienced.

In essence, it’s a survival method and a defense mechanism.

However, the keyword is “perceived.” Most of the time, the threats aren’t real, but the reminder of what you went through can be very vivid.

What are the Types of Trauma Responses?

Trauma responses can look different for everyone. It depends on how your mind and body tend to react to threats, even perceived ones. You’re likely to respond with fight or flight, which most people understand.

Read More: “How Trauma Therapy is Helpful fo Trauma”

Fight can cause you to react with aggression or force. Flight will cause you to avoid the situation or get as far away from it as possible.

There are other responses to consider, as well. The “freeze” response can cause you to feel numb, as though you’re paralyzed with fear and can’t do anything about it. The “fawn” response can cause you to try to appease the source of the threat in hopes that it won’t do you any harm.

Some people even react with a “faint” response, which literally causes you to physically collapse from the stress of fear.

Leaning on Survival Instincts

All of these responses are survival instincts. Trauma responses can manifest physically, emotionally, or psychologically. Some people experience more physical symptoms, like nausea or aches and pains.

Others might deal with such intense fear that they have trouble sleeping at night due to nightmares.

As you might expect, leaning on these survival instincts is helpful when there’s an actual threat. However, when the fear isn’t based on reality, it can become a problem.

Trauma responses can cause you to live in a constant state of uncertainty. You might feel like you’re always on edge or have to be on guard for something that might come up.

Needless to say, that can have a negative impact on your overall quality of life, including your relationships and how you see yourself.

What Causes a Trauma Response?

Trauma responses are typically caused by specific triggers that remind you of the traumatic experience you went through. It could be a certain place, situation, or even a person.

Read More: “How to Cope When Current Events Trigger Past Trauma”

These triggers can be so small and unassuming that they can wreak havoc on your mental well-being.

Even smells, sounds, or your own thoughts and emotions can serve as triggers, causing one of the responses listed above to come forward, even if there is no real threat.

Healing From Trauma

Again, dealing with trauma responses can take a toll on your day-to-day life. Thankfully, you don’t need to carry around the impact of your trauma forever, and it doesn’t need to define your future.

A combination of trauma therapy and self-care can make a big difference in the healing process.

At Denver Metro Counseling our trauma trained therapists incorporate Polyvagal practices which help to regulate the nervous system. We have a collection of them on our Denver Metro Counseling YouTube channel for you to check out.

Trauma therapy will help you better understand the source of your trauma, as well as common triggers, so you can work through them more effectively and change the way you perceive the things that typically cause a response.

By being self-compassionate and taking care of your well-being throughout the healing process, you’ll start to recognize that you’re more than what you’ve experienced.

If you’re ready to take that journey together, contact us to set up a consultation.