What Is Trauma Caused By? Physiological Sources Explained

Is trauma just a trendy word to describe human experiences today? Many people use the word “trauma,” but what is trauma, and how do you know if you have unhealed trauma in your life?

The National Survey of Children’s Health found that almost 50% of children in the US have had at least one significant traumatic experience (Perry & Winfrey, 2021) According to the World Health Organization (2024), around 70% of people globally will experience a potentially traumatic event throughout their lives, but less than 6% develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Understanding Trauma

So hang with me. To understand trauma, we have to first understand the brain.

The basic function of the brain is to survive and to make memories to survive. The brain creates memories and associations through the biological structure termed “neurons.” I bet you have heard this term before. These neurons send chemical signals through our bodies as a form of communication.

You may have heard the phrase “what fires together, wires together” in a biology class or “where attention goes, neurons grow, and connections flow.” This means that as memories are made, connections between neurons occur and build neural pathways or “roadmaps” in the brain. It is quite a brilliant design that the Lord has given his people.

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. – Psalm 139:14

For a moment, I want us to think about oranges. What comes to mind when you hear the word “oranges?” Pause and notice the memories and senses that arise. Maybe there are images of vibrant orange juice in a glass for breakfast or the orange tree in the yard of that vacation house you visited when you were young.

The sweet smell, juicy taste, or stickiness on your hands from peeling it might come to mind. Regardless of the moments that come to mind, your brain has associated different memories and sensations with oranges. My brain instantly went to the netted bag full of mandarin oranges at the grocery store.

Our bodies have five main senses: sight, sound, taste, touch, and smell. These are all wrapped up in our neural pathways, and we associate these senses with memories, whether positive, neutral, or negative. Have you ever had a song that took you back to when you were a child or a passing smell of cologne that reminded you of your grandfather?

Maybe you saw a sweater that reminded you of your best friend, or you recently had a taste of a candy that you typically only had in elementary school (grape-flavored Big League bubble gum and sour Skittles for me). These associations are because of the neural pathways connected in our brains.

What is trauma?

Okay, we have that part down. Now we can start talking about trauma. Check out this video https://youtu.be/BJfmfkDQb14?si=iuAqbOxwzsgS40Lz with Dr. Bessel Van Der Kolk answering the question, “What is trauma?”

It is important to know that trauma is on a spectrum, and it is subjective. What may be traumatic for one may not be traumatic for another. Take, for example, a house fire. The house fire may be traumatic for a six-year-old who has no knowledge of house fires, and it may not be traumatic for the father, who is a firefighter.

Trauma happens when memories get stuck in our nervous system and are not filed and properly stored away in our brains. Our brain then becomes triggered and sends messages to our body. I want to go back to the brain again (it is kind of a big deal, you know?).

The brain develops from the inside out and the bottom up. This means that the first part of the brain to be formed is the brainstem, and the last structure of the brain to be formed is the prefrontal cortex (Perry & Winfrey, 2021).

The brainstem is termed the “cockroach” or “animalistic” part of the brain, and it functions off of instinct. I like to call it the basement brain. This is where the nervous system’s response of fight, flight, or freeze comes into action when the brain feels it is in danger.

The cortex processes abstract concepts such as creativity, thinking, language, values, time, and hope. This is the first part of the brain that shuts down when you feel you are in danger (Perry & Winfrey, 2021). Have you ever felt so anxious that you couldn’t think constructively? (Me every time I am volunteered for karaoke). This is the brain functioning in protection mode and just trying to keep you out of danger.

Neuroception

Remember that the basic function of your brain is to survive? The brain assesses cues and data from your environment, inner world (memories), and relational space, and compares them to past experiences to determine if you are safe or not. This is called neuroception. (Gobbel, 2024)

Gobbel (2024) shares that, along with comparing to memories, inside cues may include questions such as “Am I too hot or cold, Do I need to go to the bathroom? Am I hungry, tired? Am I sick?”

Outside cues include environmental factors in the spaces and places we are in. This goes with our external senses of sight, sound, touch, smell, and taste. Is the music too loud? Are people running into me? What do I see around me? What is that smell?

Between/Relational cues include the brain constantly scanning and asking questions such as “Are you there? Physically, mentally, and emotionally? Are you present with me? Do you see me? All of me?” The brain scans to see if the other person is in connection mode and their nervous system is feeling safe.

Robyn Gobbel (2024) shares that the brain is concerned about what is going to happen next above all else. If you think of neuroception as a constant stream in the brain, the stream is 80% past stream and only about 20% present stream. The events of your past have a significant impact on whether your brain decides whether you are safe or not.

Okay, I want to talk with you about felt safety. This is a term I learned from a boss of mine who directed me to Robyn Gobbel’s valuable work (go check out her online resources at https://robyngobbel.com/). Felt safety is when both your brain and body feel safe due to the input cues coming in through neuroception. The inside, outside, and relational cues are all sending signals of homeostasis.

Are you hanging in there with me?

Danger Signals

The neuroceptive input (inside, outside, and between) is naturally minor cues of danger to the nervous system. They prompt us to regulate ourselves and reach homeostasis again. If I need a drink of water, I get a drink of water. If the music is too loud, I turn it down or go somewhere quieter. When a person suffers from trauma and has a more fragile nervous system, these cues are often more intense.

If there are more cues of safety, we are in connection mode; if there are more cues of danger, we move into protection mode.

When a traumatic event happens, the brain associates different senses with the experience/s as well. Neuroception, remember? A common example is of our great war veterans who have come back and struggled with unhealed trauma in their brains and bodies.

The example that Dr. Bessel Van Der Kolk gives in his book “The Body Keeps the Score” is that of a veteran walking along on a date with a woman on the sidewalk when a car misfires, and this veteran man instantly hits the ground due to associating the misfire of a car with the firing of gunshots (2015). His brain instantly went into fight or flight mode, and his nervous system was activated.

With trauma, the 80% past stream becomes more like a tsunami when triggered and floods the body, making the present moment feel dangerous, even though it is safe. Hence, a war veteran may hit the ground due to hearing a car misfire.

According to the American Psychiatric Association (2013), common symptoms of trauma can include distressing memories, dreams, and flashbacks, psychological and physiological distress due to cues that resemble the traumatic event, avoidance of anything that resembles the event, feelings of detachment, negative beliefs/cognitions, and reduced interest in significant activities.

These symptoms often cause relational issues in work, extracurriculars, and your day-to-day functioning. If you are experiencing any of these or continue to question if you have unhealed trauma, I would love to connect.

There are many approaches to treating unhealed trauma. Approaches include, but are not exhaustive to, individual therapy utilizing Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), narrative therapy, exposure therapy, bilateral stimulation, somatic techniques, dance, movement, art, massage, theatre, acupuncture, group therapies, and others.

As God creates us to be a people that walk in wholeness with Him, He created our brains and bodies to be able to heal physically and emotionally. Remember those neural pathways we talked about earlier? If there has been a misalignment with His Word or an association that triggers danger when you are actually safe, these neural pathways can be rebuilt because they are neuroplastic, meaning change can happen! There is hope for you.

If you believe that you have unhealed trauma and want guidance in your healing process, I encourage you to make an appointment today.

The Lord will surely comfort Zion and will look with compassion on all her ruins; he will make her deserts like Eden, her wastelands like the garden of the Lord. Joy and gladness will be found in her, thanksgiving and the sound of singing. – Isaiah 51:3