Trauma and Anxiety
Trauma and Anxiety: Understanding the Body’s Survival Responses
Trauma and anxiety can have a major impact on your life, from how you function on a daily basis to making important decisions. Alone, trauma refers to a deeply shocking experience that cannot be processed properly, while anxiety is a feeling of worry, fear, or unease that prepares you to react (fight or flight). Both trauma and anxiety are rooted in survival psychology, which is why many people who have had a traumatic experience often feel anxious because of it.
Knowing how to protect yourself from an undesired situation is a sign of strength. Every human being will experience something traumatic sooner or later in their life, whether that is a traffic accident, loss of a loved one, or discrimination in an unstable environment. Learning more about anxiety and trauma reduces shame and increases safety.
The Importance of Survival
All living beings have the same ultimate goal, and that is to survive. No matter the circumstances, our nervous system is constantly scanning for safety or threat. Your nervous system can’t tell what’s real or imagined. For real! When a person experiences a trauma, the way they perceive threats changes because the nervous system maintains a state of chronic hyperarousal or shutdown, even when the person is safe.
Many people develop anxiety as an adaptive survival mechanism after a traumatic experience. Even after the immediate danger has passed, the person becomes highly sensitive to external factors and maintains themselves in alert mode.
Instead of seeing trauma and anxiety as something that has negatively impacted your life, think of them as intelligent responses. All your body is doing is actively seeking ways to protect itself after overwhelming experiences. However, this mechanism can become draining, frustrating, and scary over time. The anxiety could appear right after or long after the original threat has passed, and finding adequate support can help you feel better.
Four Survival Responses
When talking about trauma, which often precedes anxiety, there are four survival responses a person can develop as a defense mechanism. None of them is better than the other, and each has certain characteristics that have to be considered when treating trauma and anxiety.
Fight
Fight response includes symptoms such as anger, irritability, control, and hyper-alertness. A person who is in a fight mode will want to stay in the situation and combat the danger, whether it is presented in a human shape or something else, like a natural disaster. This type of response can show up as anxiety or perfectionism because such behaviors aim to protect against perceived threats, whether they are failure, criticism, or something else.
Flight
Unlike the fight response, a person who chooses to flee will want to avoid or run away from the undesired or threatening situation. The symptoms of a flight mode include restlessness, racing thoughts, and avoidance. Here, anxiety can appear in the form of constant movement and mental scanning.
Freeze
If a person freezes when they perceive a threat, it typically includes symptoms like numbness, shutdown, and dissociation. Unlike fight or flight, the freeze response implies that a person will not react to what is happening. This lack of reaction is actually an internal and quiet survival mechanism, which often leads to its symptoms being overlooked.
Fawn
Both freeze and fawn trauma responses have the body immobilize or placate in order to survive. In most cases, this response occurs when fighting or fleeing isn’t possible. Fawn includes pleasing others, crossing boundaries, and prioritizing them to avoid any type of conflict or harm. The main difference between these two responses is that fawn involves excessive appeasement.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the connection between trauma and anxiety?
Trauma and anxiety are closely linked because trauma can overwhelm the nervous system and leave the body stuck in survival mode. Even long after a traumatic event has passed, the body may continue to react as if danger is still present, creating ongoing anxiety, hypervigilance, or panic responses.
Can anxiety exist without obvious trauma?
Trauma isn’t only about major life-threatening events. Emotional neglect, chronic stress, relationship instability, or growing up without feeling safe can all be traumatic to the nervous system. Many people experience anxiety rooted in subtle or cumulative trauma rather than a single identifiable incident.
Why does anxiety feel physical, not just mental?
Anxiety is primarily a body-based survival response, not just a thought pattern. Trauma affects the nervous system, hormones, muscles, and breathing patterns. This is why anxiety often shows up as tightness in the chest, rapid heartbeat, digestive issues, or restlessness.
How Trauma and Anxiety Live in the Body
The amygdala acts as the brain’s alarm system, which activates whenever a person is experiencing trauma or anxiety. This alarm system triggers the release of stress hormones (adrenaline and cortisol), and the main function of the vagus nerve here is to calm the body. When someone experiences a traumatic event, this can cause a dysfunction in their system and lead to chronic stress responses.
Knowing that trauma and anxiety alter brain and body processes shows that talking to friends or family won’t correct them. Most people who begin talking to a therapist experienced in treating trauma and anxiety feel immense relief. An experienced mental health expert can address and treat common physical symptoms such as a tight chest, shallow breathing, digestive issues, insomnia, etc.
Gentle Ways to Support Trauma and Anxiety
Besides therapy, there are certain things you can start implementing in your daily life to alleviate your symptoms. People who have been struggling with trauma and anxiety have noticed that somatic awareness techniques make them feel more relaxed and energized. One of the reasons why somatic exercises work so well for people experiencing these symptoms is that they don’t require them to force themselves to relax. Instead, you are curious about how your body is feeling during these exercises and allowing the energy to flow.
Similar to somatic awareness, breath can be an excellent regulation tool when experiencing an anxiety attack or any other symptom. Bringing attention to your breath allows you to stay in the moment and calm your thoughts gradually.
When healing from anxiety or trauma, make sure you are gentle towards yourself. Consistency matters more than intensity or results. Be kind to yourself and do whatever soothes you in the moment. If you’re uncertain about the best approach, your therapist can also recommend personalized exercises after learning more about you.
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