What Is Trauma? Causes, Symptoms & How Somatic Therapy Can Help
Published: January 2025 | Last reviewed: May 2026
Please note: This post discusses trauma, abuse, and related emotional experiences. If reading this brings up difficult feelings, please visit our Resources page or get in touch, we're here to help.
This article discusses the what trauma is, the causes, the various types of trauma, trauma symptoms, and some treatments.
elixir /ɪˈlɪksɪə,ɪˈlɪksə/
|| The Soma Experience ||
noun
A magical or medicinal potion that heals or cures
Dr Peter Levine, the founder of Somatic Experiencing, describes trauma simply and powerfully: trauma is something that happened that was too much, too fast, too soon. When a situation overwhelms our ability to cope, it prevents the nervous system from returning to its natural balance.
This article explains what trauma is, what causes it, the different types, the symptoms to look out for, and how therapies like Somatic Experiencing can help you heal.
What Is Trauma?
Trauma is an event — or series of events — that breaks our threshold to cope. It is overwhelming, something that happened too fast and too much for our central nervous system to process. As a result, the system becomes stuck, unable to complete its natural response cycle.
As Dr Peter Levine describes it:
“the result of perceiving a situation as a threat and being unable to complete a satisfactory fight, flight, or freeze response...trauma is playing out in the theater of the body””
It's not the event itself that creates trauma, but how our nervous system responds to it. Two people can experience the same event and have entirely different reactions, one may process it and move on, while another may find it deeply destabilising. Trauma is personal. It is not a sign of weakness.
Our energy becomes dull, without direction or purpose, and unable to sustain life around it. But as the bank breaks, a counter-force rises from within, your healing energy, that pushes against the force of the breakage. Focus. Notice.
What Causes Trauma?
There can be many causes of trauma, and these can be:
Emotional (psychological) or physical trauma - stemming from abuse
Sexual assault
Childbirth
A disaster - such as a car crash or a natural disaster such as an earthquake
Medical - like a life threatening illness, or a surgery since another person is probing all sorts of instruments into you without seeing you as a human, and being compassionate. This could lead to another trauma of not being seen
Loss of a loved one
Being kidnapped
Terrorism
War
Types Of Trauma
There are many possible causes of trauma. These include:
Acute trauma: A single stressful or dangerous event.
Chronic trauma: Repeated and prolonged exposure to highly stressful events such as child abuse, bullying, or domestic violence.
Complex trauma: Exposure to multiple traumatic events.
You may also encounter:
Developmental or childhood trauma: Adverse experiences in early life that shape how we relate to ourselves and others in adulthood.
Secondary (vicarious) trauma: Trauma experienced by witnessing or being closely connected to another person's traumatic experience — common in caregivers, healthcare workers, and journalists.
Birth trauma: Distressing or frightening experiences during childbirth, which can affect both the birthing person and their partner.
It's not the event that causes the trauma but how we react to the event. Someone may experience bullying but the person may grow from it, while another may find it becomes difficult to feel safe.
Trauma Symptoms: Emotional & Physcial Signs
Trauma can show up differently in everyone. Here are some of the most common signs:
Emotional and Mental Symptoms
Shock, denial, or disbelief
Anger, irritability, and mood swings
Guilt, shame, and self-blame
Feeling sad or hopeless
Confusion and difficulty concentrating
Anxiety and fear
Withdrawing from others
Feeling disconnected or numb
Avoiding people or places associated with the trauma
Physical Symptoms
Difficulty sleeping, nightmares, or night terrors
Being startled easily
Racing heartbeat
Aches, pains, and muscle tension
Fatigue
Edginess and agitation
Flashbacks (reliving the experience)
Intrusive thoughts or images
Trauma is closely linked to conditions such as PTSD, anxiety, and depression. If you recognise these symptoms in yourself, know that recovery is possible, and you don't have to navigate it alone.
Effects Of Untreated Trauma On The Mind & Body
If trauma is left unaddressed, the mind and body remain stuck in a state of fight, flight, or freeze because the threat feels as though it still exists. What began as a temporary survival response can become a long-term way of being, affecting how you relate to yourself and the people around you.
The body works hard to suppress these intense, unresolved sensations, and over time, this suppression takes a toll. Sleep, appetite, the immune system, and your capacity for connection can all be affected.
“These sessions with Verinder have been such a great experience. Running a new startup, it’s been important to take the time to manage stress, prevent burnout and maintain a sense of balance. I highly recommend somatic therapy to anyone looking to feel grounded and restored during busy times.”
But we are not broken. Just disconnected. And reconnection is possible.
Ready to explore what trauma therapy could look like for you?Book a free 20-minute consultation and find out how Somatic Experiencing can help
How To Heal From Trauma: Treatments & Therapy
There are many approaches to trauma healing. Here are some that can help:
Ground yourself: Feel the sensation of your feet against the ground, and notice your body weight. This will help move away from the mental thoughts and into your body.
Talk to someone you trust if you feel lonely and isolated: This may be a friend, relative, or a specialist like a therapist. But keep the talking manageable, extended retelling can sometimes re-activate the trauma response.
Listen to the body: Like focusing on the sensations that bring in and out the breath.
Connect with nature: Walk, move, and become present to your surroundings lik the sounds and sights around you in the park. Nature has a natural regulating effect on the nervous system.
Take therapy: There are many evidence-based therapies that work with both the mind and body.
It’s with a compassionate other that we heal and therapy can be a powerful way to help you.
Somatic Experiencing For Trauma: How It Works
Somatic Experiencing (SE) is a body-based approach to trauma therapy, developed by Dr Peter Levine. Rather than focusing primarily on the story or narrative of what happened, SE also works with the physical sensations held in the body, the incomplete fight, flight, or freeze responses that keep the nervous system stuck.
In a session, you won't be asked to re-live or re-tell your trauma in detail. Instead, we work gently and collaboratively to help your nervous system complete what it couldn't finish at the time, releasing the stored energy and restoring your capacity to feel safe, present, and alive.
SE can help with:
PTSD and complex trauma
Burnout
Overwhlem
Anxiety and chronic stress
Chronic pain linked to trauma
Emotional numbness or disconnection
Developmental and childhood trauma
Other effective mind-body approaches include Compassionate Inquiry (developed by Dr Gabor Maté), Internal Family Systems (IFS), and EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing).
Frequently Asked Questions About Trauma
Can trauma be healed? Yes. With the right support and approach, the nervous system can learn to feel safe again. Recovery looks different for everyone, but healing is genuinely possible.
How long does trauma therapy take? This varies widely depending on the nature and history of the trauma, and your individual nervous system. Some people notice significant shifts in a handful of sessions; others benefit from longer-term work. We explore this together in your free consultation.
What is the difference between acute and complex trauma? Acute trauma stems from a single event. Complex trauma involves repeated or prolonged exposure to distressing experiences, often in early life, and typically requires a more gradual, layered approach to healing.
What if I can’t remember the events and what happened? We can still work to resolve the trauma since we’re working with the body and its sensations. You may not remember the events either because your nervous system has blocked you from the memories to help keep you safe, or the trauma happened in early childhood. But since we’re working with the body, we aim to bring calm to situations that you’ve found challenging.
Is online trauma therapy effective? Yes, research and clinical experience both support the effectiveness of online somatic therapy. Many clients actually find the familiarity of their own environment helpful during sessions. Soul Somatic Therapy works with clients online across the UK and internationally.
What happens in a Somatic Experiencing session? Sessions are gentle and conversational. We won't push you to relive difficult memories. Instead, we track sensations, build your capacity to stay present, and work at a pace that feels safe for your nervous system.
How is Somatic Experiencing different from talk therapy? Traditional talk therapy tends to work top-down, through the mind and narrative. Somatic Experiencing works bottom-up, starting with the body's sensations and impulses, which is where trauma is most often stored.
Summary
Trauma affects many people at some point in their lives. Its symptoms can appear emotionally, mentally, and physically, and when left unaddressed, it can quietly shape how we live, relate, and feel in our bodies.
Recovery is possible. Therapies like Somatic Experiencing work with the whole person, mind, body, and nervous system, to help restore a felt sense of safety and aliveness.
Book a free consultation call to find out more about online sessions and Somatic Experiencing.
Awareness - is the elixir to transformation.
Written by Verinder Sharma | Somatic Experiencing Practitioner (SEP), and trained in Compassionate Inquiry (Dr Gabor Maté). Verinder works with individuals navigating stress, trauma, burnout, overwhelm, anxiety, and nervous system dysregulation through online somatic therapy sessions.
elixir /ɪˈlɪksɪə,ɪˈlɪksə || The Soma Experience ||
“A magical or medicinal potion that heals or cures”
