Do you hold onto a memory that you wish you could forget?
It might feel like something is “living” inside you, causing tightness in the chest, chronic stress in the shoulders, or a stomach that clenches without warning. This intuitive sense that trauma “gets stuck” is more than a metaphor. Modern neuroscience and somatic psychology show that traumatic experiences can leave lasting imprints on both the brain and the body.
Understanding how and why this happens is a crucial step toward healing. Trauma doesn’t mean you’re broken or beyond repair. It means your nervous system adapted to overwhelming experiences, and with the right support, it can adapt again.
How Trauma Shapes the Brain
Trauma activates survival regions of the brain, particularly the amygdala, which scans for danger, and the hippocampus, which helps organize and store memory. When an overwhelming event occurs, these structures respond rapidly to protect you. However they also form patterns that can persist long after the danger has passed.
Key Brain Changes Associated With Trauma
- Heightened threat detection: The amygdala can become overactive, meaning the brain begins to detect danger everywhere, even when you’re safe. This can manifest as constant vigilance, anxiety, irritability, or strong startle responses.
- Disrupted memory processing: Trauma can impair the hippocampus’s ability to organize experiences into coherent memories. This is why traumatic memories may feel fragmented and behave differently from typical memories.
- Impaired regulation: The prefrontal cortex may temporarily “shut down” during trauma. When this pattern becomes chronic, it becomes harder to calm yourself, think clearly under stress, or feel in control of your reactions.
These changes reflect the brain doing its best to keep you alive, though they can be misunderstood as “weaknesses” to some. Additionally, these protections can persist long after the threat has ended, creating ongoing suffering in everyday life.
How Trauma Lives in the Body
The body plays just as central a role in trauma as the brain. According to research from Dr. Bessel van der Kolk and other leaders in somatic therapy, trauma profoundly affects the autonomic nervous system, the body’s built-in stress-regulation network.
Common Physical Patterns Linked to Trauma
- Tension in the shoulders, jaw, chest, and abdomen
- Chronic inflammation
- Immune dysregulation
- Digestive issues
- Sleep disturbances
- A sense of “shutting down” during stress
Many of these patterns are the result of incomplete survival responses. The body prepared to flee, fight, or protect itself but didn’t get the chance to complete the action. As a result, the energy of that moment gets “stuck” in the body.
Why Trauma Gets Stored
Your nervous system encodes experiences through patterns of activation. When a traumatic event overwhelms your capacity to cope, the nervous system may stay on high alert, become numb or disconnected, or swing between the two.
This is why people often say they “can’t relax” or they shut down in times of conflict. These aren’t behavioral problems—they’re nervous system adaptations that helped you survive and now need support to recalibrate.
What This Means for Healing
The most empowering truth is this: What becomes “stuck” can also be released.
The brain is capable of rewiring. The body can complete unfinished stress responses. The nervous system can learn safety again.
Healing typically involves:
Regulation
Learning to calm the nervous system through breathwork, grounding, somatic therapy, mindfulness, and body-based practices.
Processing
Approaches like EMDR, Internal Family Systems (IFS), somatic experiencing, and trauma-informed talk therapy help the brain integrate fragmented memories into coherent narratives.
Connection
Supportive relationships help the brain and body rebuild safety and trust.
Meaning-making
Understanding how trauma shaped your responses fosters self-compassion.
How Forest Bridge Approaches Trauma Healing
At Forest Bridge, we recognize both the neuroscience and the lived experience of trauma. Healing is not just about processing the past but also about creating a future where your mind and body no longer feel trapped in survival mode.
Our approach includes:
- Trauma-informed psychotherapy
- Somatic and body-based modalities
- Psychedelic-assisted therapy and preparation
- Integration support
- Education for families and loved ones
- Community-building and connection practices
Remember: trauma does not define you. It describes what happened to you, not who you are or who you can become.
A Final Word of Reassurance
If you’ve ever felt like something inside you is “stuck,” you’re not imagining it. Your mind and body are trying to protect you in the best way they know how. With the right support, these systems can soften and heal, even after years or decades.
Reach out to Forest Bridge today to learn more about our holistic therapies and how they can start you on the path to healing from unresolved trauma.
Comments will display here