Maybe you’ve felt it before: your heart races, your body tenses, and your mind starts replaying moments from the past as if they were happening all over again. Sometimes, it’s subtle: a feeling of unease in certain situations, an urge to shut down emotionally, or an overwhelming need to avoid certain places or people. Other times, it’s more obvious outbursts of anger, numbing through substances, or deep anxiety that won’t let go. If any of this sounds familiar, you might have experienced a trauma response.
What Is a Trauma Response?
A trauma response is how the body and mind react to a real or perceived threat based on past experiences. These responses are deeply wired into the nervous system and often happen automatically, without conscious control. They are survival mechanisms that once helped protect you from harm.
Trauma itself is an emotional response, and it can manifest in a few different ways. When the brain perceives danger, it activates the fight, flight, freeze, or fawn response. These are normal reactions meant to keep you safe, but when the event(s) is over, and the trauma goes unprocessed and unresolved, the body and brain continue to react as if the danger is still present. This can make everyday situations feel overwhelming and trigger responses that seem out of proportion to the moment.
Types of Trauma Response
Initial trauma responses—how you react during and immediately following an event—generally fall into four categories, each serving as a protective mechanism. How you respond to trauma largely depends on your genetics, social background, and any past experiences you’ve had.
- Fight: This response is marked by aggression, anger, or the need to control situations. It can look like frequent outbursts, difficulty handling authority, or feeling constantly on edge.
- Flight: This response is all about avoidance. People with a flight response often struggle to sit still, feeling restless and on edge, always needing to be on the move.
- Freeze: When fight or flight isn’t possible, the body shuts down. This can look like dissociation, numbness, difficulty making decisions, or feeling stuck in life.
- Fawn: The fawn response involves prioritizing the needs of others to avoid conflict or rejection. This often stems from growing up in environments where it felt safer to please others rather than express personal needs.
How you initially respond to trauma isn’t as important as how the trauma continues to impact your mental health over the long run. Many people who experience trauma develop mental health conditions like PTSD, anxiety, depression, and substance use disorder. It’s these long-term issues that play a role in your health and well-being.
Living With Unresolved Trauma
Just like you don’t get a total say in how your brain and body respond to trauma in the moment, you don’t have full control over how they respond after the event(s) ends. If you don’t process your trauma, your brain and body can’t learn that you’re not constantly in danger.
PTSD—which can show up within weeks, months, or even years after the trauma occurs—can cause you to experience episodes that are similar to your initial trauma response. Some PTSD episodes make you feel like you’re reliving the experience through flashbacks or nightmares, which can lead to outbursts of anger, a need to isolate yourself, or risky behavior.
But PTSD isn’t the only way unresolved trauma can affect your mental health. You might deal with chronic anxiety, depression, or substance use without flashbacks or nightmares directly related to your experience(s).
Processing Your Trauma During Treatment
You can process your trauma, and you don’t have to do it alone. Professional trauma treatment uses evidence-based methods that have been proven to help people who experience traumatic events. You’ll have a safe space where you can express your feelings and talk about your experience and how it impacts your life—all without judgment or shame. Licensed professionals will develop a personalized plan to help you process your unresolved trauma so you can make progress and move forward again. Your plan might include:
- Medication: For many people, medication is a safe, effective part of treatment that helps re-balance your brain chemistry, which can change after experiencing trauma. They can help you have more stable moods and sleep better, which are sometimes hard to address with therapy alone.
- Psychotherapy (talk therapy): Trauma-focused cognitive-behavioral therapy (TF-CBT), eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR), and prolonged exposure (PE) therapies help people who survive trauma process their trauma and feel less stressed in situations that feel similar to previous experiences.
- Group support: Trauma can make your feelings more complicated. Shame, guilt, and loneliness can all stem from unresolved trauma—and group support can address them all.
There’s a future where your past doesn’t hold you back. Help is available, and you deserve to take it.
Start Trauma Treatment at Red Oak Recovery® Today
At Red Oak Recovery®, we understand the complexity of trauma and how it intertwines with substance use and mental health. Our clinically driven trauma treatment program for men is designed to help you process and heal in a way that feels safe and effective. Through a combination of evidence-based therapies, experiential therapy, and group support, we can help you find lasting change. You don’t have to carry this alone. If you’re ready to take the next step, reach out today at 828.382.9699 or complete the online form.
