Trauma in the Body: How Childhood Experiences Shape the Nervous System

Trauma healing is rarely linear, and for many people, the body holds onto more than we realize. This article is about how our childhood experiences shape our nervous system and how somatic therapy offers an option toward regulation, embodiment, and genuine safety.

Understanding the body’s

memory

When we think of childhood trauma, we often imagine memories or events, but trauma is as much a physiological imprint as a psychological one.

Research on Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) shows that early stress and neglect can alter how the body’s stress-response systems develop, leading to heightened reactivity, chronic tension, or emotional numbness later in life (Felitti et al., 1998).

Many of you know psychiatrist Bessel van der Kolk’s The Body Keeps the Score (2014), where he describes: when overwhelming experiences cannot be processed or completed, the body learns to stay on alert. Over time, muscles tighten, breathing becomes shallow, and even moments that feel safe for others can feel uneasy to us. Trauma becomes a state of the nervous system, not a story from the past.

The nervous system and safety

Neuroscientist Stephen Porges’ Polyvagal Theory helps explain why some people stay in survival mode even when life becomes more stable. The autonomic nervous system (ANS) constantly scans for cues of safety or threat. If you grew up in an unpredictable or unsafe environment, your body may have learned that vigilance or shutdown are the safest options.

As adults, that wiring can persist. We might experience anxiety, chronic pain, dissociation, or difficulty trusting others; symptoms that reflect how the body learned to adapt. Somatic therapy approaches this not as pathology but as an intelligent survival strategy that can be gently rewired.

What somatic therapy actually does

Most somatic therapies (including Somatic Experiencing®, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, and related modalities) invite awareness of the body’s sensations, impulses, and micro-movements as pathways for regulation and integration. It is less about analyzing trauma and more about helping the nervous system experience completion and choice.

A small but growing body of research supports its effectiveness. A randomized controlled trial of Somatic Experiencing® showed significant reductions in PTSD and depression symptoms compared with a control group (Brom et al., 2017). Meta-analyses of body-oriented and movement-based therapies like these report consistent improvements in trauma symptoms and emotional regulation (van de Kamp et al., 2019; Rosendahl et al., 2021).

Rather than focusing on catharsis, somatic approaches emphasize pacing and titration, or working with small amounts of activation and allowing the body to self-regulate before moving deeper. This helps prevent retraumatization and builds resilience over time.

Revisiting childhood through the body

Working with childhood trauma somatically is not about re-experiencing the past but about recognizing how it shows up now:

• A tight chest when speaking up.

• The urge to disappear during conflict.

• Numbness when receiving care.

By tracking these body responses with curiosity and support, clients can begin to renegotiate the survival patterns formed early in life. Often, this involves discovering sensations of safety, like grounded feet, a full breath, a moment of rest, that didn’t feel safe in childhood.

Over time, the body learns that safety is possible in the present. From there, emotional processing and cognitive insight tend to emerge naturally.

How it differs from talk therapy

Traditional psychotherapy focuses primarily on thoughts and emotions. Somatic therapy centers on interoception, or the ability to sense the internal state of our body, and uses that awareness to restore regulation. Many people combine both approaches; talk therapy provides narrative understanding, while somatic work provides the physiological capacity to stay present with what the mind remembers.

In this way, somatic work becomes a bridge between insight and embodiment, helping people not only understand their history but also live differently in their bodies.

When to consider somatic work

Somatic therapy can be especially helpful for:

• Adults who experienced neglect, emotional volatility, or abuse in childhood.

• People who feel “stuck” even after years of talk therapy.

• Those struggling with hypervigilance, chronic muscle tension, digestive issues, or dissociation.

It is not about erasing the past but restoring the nervous system’s flexibility to respond to life with more ease.

When to focus on other methods

Somatic approaches are powerful, but they aren’t right for every situation. It’s important that safety and stability come first. You may want to pause or seek additional support before beginning somatic trauma work if:

• You’re currently in an active crisis.

• You have untreated psychosis, mania, or a severe dissociative disorder that makes body awareness unsafe or disorienting.

• You’re using substances to cope in ways that make it hard to stay present or regulate.

In these cases, it’s often more effective to begin with stabilization and external support, for example, talk therapy, medication management, or crisis resources, before adding somatic work. Once there’s enough safety and regulation, the body can begin to integrate trauma more gently and effectively.

A compassionate, body-based approach to healing

Healing childhood trauma requires more than insight. It asks the body to participate. Through gentle attention, paced awareness, and respect for the body’s own timing, somatic therapy supports the possibility of feeling safe again.

“Trauma is not what happens to us, but what we hold inside in the absence of an empathetic witness.” — Peter Levine, Ph.D., founder of Somatic Experiencing®

References

• Brom, D., Stokar, Y., Lawi, C., Nuriel-Porat, V., Ziv, Y., Lerner, K., & Ross, G. (2017). Somatic Experiencing for posttraumatic stress disorder: A randomized controlled outcome study. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 30(3), 304–312.

• Felitti, V. J., Anda, R. F., Nordenberg, D., Williamson, D. F., Spitz, A. M., Edwards, V., ... & Marks, J. S. (1998). Relationship of childhood abuse and household dysfunction to many leading causes of death in adults. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 14(4), 245–258.

• Porges, S. W. (2011). The Polyvagal Theory: Neurophysiological foundations of emotions, attachment, communication, and self-regulation. W. W. Norton.

• Rosendahl, S., et al. (2021). Effectiveness of body psychotherapy: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 12.

• van de Kamp, M. M., et al. (2019). Body- and movement-oriented interventions for posttraumatic stress disorder: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 32(6), 967–976.

• van der Kolk, B. (2014). The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, mind, and body in the healing of trauma. Viking Press.

Autumn Body Therapy

Somatic work invites the body back into the conversation. Whether through subtle movement, grounded presence, or new sensations of safety, it helps translate survival into connection.

If you’re exploring somatic therapy in Phoenix, I encourage you to begin gently—read, pause, notice your body, and reach out only when it feels right. Healing doesn’t rush; it unfolds in rhythm with safety.