09/04/2025
Such a great article in this week's newsletter from the folks at the Pain Reprocessing Therapy Center. So good, I had to share here. Sign up for their newsletter, or their support groups or find a practitioner on their website - https://www.painreprocessingtherapy.com/
"Trauma doesn't only exist in our memories; it can influence our personality, fear responses, stress thresholds, and sense of safety. Additionally, it can create or intensify pain and various chronic symptoms. The term "trauma" is used in everyday conversations. In this newsletter, we’ll explore the numerous effects of trauma and provide some tips on how to address it effectively.
Many assume that only major childhood traumas, known as ACEs (adverse childhood experiences), such as physical or sexual abuse, can lead to significant long-term effects. However, trauma can be defined more broadly. It includes any lasting emotional or physical impact from distressing experiences, whether those experiences involve the pressure to always succeed, a misdiagnosis that causes self-doubt, or ongoing stress that gradually wears you down.
The challenge with trauma is that its effects can linger and manifest in various ways. For many, one of the most challenging aspects of healing is the nervous system's failure to recognize safety—even when the danger has long since passed.
In terms of pain, we have found that patients often feel stuck along their recovery journeys if they are profoundly affected by a history of trauma. So, addressing trauma is clearly important. The question is: how much?
What Are the Impacts of Trauma?
Trauma can affect both the mind and body in ways that may not always be obvious:
Mental Health Issues: A history of trauma can lead to disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder, acute stress disorder, depression and anxiety disorders, substance use disorders, and difficulties in relationships.
Emotional Outbursts/Mood Swings: Individuals with a history of trauma may be more irritable, have higher reactivity, and have a lower stress threshold that can be triggered by situations that wouldn't typically affect those without such a history.
Tendency to Suppress Emotions: For some, expressing emotions may feel unsafe. As a result, pain and physical symptoms often become the body's way of expressing and communicating distress.
Stressful Triggers: For those with a history of trauma or PTSD, calm and still moments can actually feel unsafe, hindering their ability to use traditional relaxation or pain management techniques. These individuals may avoid reminders related to the trauma that can more easily surface in moments void of distraction or preoccupation.
Personality Traits: Many people with a trauma history may become self-critical, overly hard-working, detail-oriented, and even highly reliable. While these traits can be beneficial in a work environment, they can negatively impact one’s personal life. It is common for such individuals to take on fewer activities that bring them joy, and instead focus on responsibilities to please others and avoid conflict, failure, or disappointment.
Self-Esteem: Childhood trauma can significantly affect a person's sense of self. They may develop feelings of inadequacy, perceiving themselves as "less than" due to negative messages received from adults during their upbringing.
Chronic Pain: Traumatic experiences may lead to the development of chronic pain through nervous system dysregulation and central sensitization. Central sensitization happens when a sustained stress response makes the nervous system hypersensitive, causing the brain to misinterpret neutral sensations as painful. Additionally, stress and hyperarousal can cause muscles to remain tense for extended periods, leading to fatigue and pain.
Recognizing these patterns can help patients reframe their experiences, while also providing practitioners with valuable context for supporting recovery.
Trauma and Chronic Pain
Pain serves as your body’s way of communicating. Ideally, pain signals damage as soon as it occurs and disappears once the body has healed. However, when pain persists without a clear cause, it’s crucial to understand what your brain might be trying to convey to protect you. To effectively reduce and eliminate your symptoms, you may need to examine the sequence of events that led to their chronic nature, whether that’s fear of the pain itself or other psychological, environmental, and emotional triggers.
Trauma can have a direct impact on the nervous system and on one's perception of safety. If you are on edge and hypervigilant, you are more likely to misinterpret everything, including sensations, as more threatening than they actually are. So, even if there is a structural issue, a trauma and fear response can contribute to an added layer of suffering and ultimately amplify pain.
By understanding how trauma affects your nervous system and your brain’s learning of pain, you can work to unlearn these responses and replace any faulty beliefs or unnecessary fears that may have developed as a result.
A Common Question: How much trauma processing is necessary to resolve chronic pain?
Although emotions and trauma certainly impact hypervigilance and pain, pain reprocessing therapy is less about processing or releasing repressed traumas and more about addressing the feared emotions related to those traumas. The goal is to learn to recognize the physical manifestation of these emotions and experience them without alarm. What is most integral to healing is to become aware of why your brain is on high alert, understand that the fear and hypervigilance that once served you are no longer needed, and move forward with a sense of safety.
The Next Steps:
Raise Your Awareness: Reflect on your childhood: Those who have experienced trauma, especially subtly, often find it challenging to recognize how their childhood experiences have shaped them. If you suspect that you have faced subtle trauma but feel uncertain about it, consider asking yourself the following question:
How would you feel if a child you cared about were going through the same experiences you did, and you had to watch?
Allow yourself to feel the emotions associated with this question. Notice your initial reaction physically, cognitively, and emotionally, doing your best to communicate safety. Then, you can reflect on the behavioral patterns that your trauma response may have shaped.
Educate Yourself About Trauma: Learn about the effects of trauma on the body and mind. Understanding how trauma can influence your pain helps to demystify your experiences and can empower you on your healing journey.
Seek Professional Support: Consider talking to a therapist or coach who specializes in trauma and pain. They can help you navigate your experiences and provide strategies tailored to your needs.
Practice Mindfulness and Grounding Techniques: Engaging in mindfulness exercises, such as meditation or deep-breathing techniques, can help you reconnect with the present moment, reducing feelings of anxiety and fear.
If you have undergone severe trauma, it may be challenging to do this kind of work on your own. Slowing down may feel uncomfortable, but you’re not alone. For a nervous system shaped by stress, even small moments of calm can feel unsafe. Instead of long meditations, try starting small. Take a five minute walk without your phone or pause for a few deep breaths before bed.
These gentle practices gradually teach your brain that rest is safe, creating a foundation for healing.
Set Boundaries: Learn to establish healthy boundaries that protect your emotional and physical well-being. This might involve saying no to certain activities or commitments that drain you.
Practice Self-Compassion: Many who have undergone trauma reject things like self-care because of low self-esteem and internalized messages that they do not deserve compassion. Be gentle with yourself throughout this process. Healing takes time, and it’s important to celebrate your progress, no matter how small.
Embrace Joy: Pick up a fun hobby, spend quality time with friends or family, and participate in activities purely for the sake of enjoyment.
Remember, healing is not linear, and it’s okay to take the time you need to work through your trauma and pain. Each step you take can lead you closer to a sense of peace and well-being.
