Understanding the Nervous System and Trauma: Why It Matters for Healing

When we talk about healing from trauma, we often focus on the emotional impact, but did you know your nervous system plays a central role in how trauma affects you? Learning about the nervous system and its response to trauma can be incredibly empowering for survivors. By understanding this system, we gain tools to manage stress, reclaim calm, and create a pathway to healing.

trauma and the nervous system: "neruons that fire together, wire together".

What Is the Nervous System and Its Function?

The nervous system is our body’s communication highway. It’s responsible for receiving, processing, and responding to information from the outside world and our inner experiences. It consists of two main parts:

1. The Central Nervous System (CNS): This includes the brain and spinal cord, serving as the control center for our thoughts, emotions, and movements.

2. The Peripheral Nervous System (PNS): This connects the CNS to the rest of the body and includes the autonomic nervous system (ANS), which manages automatic functions like heart rate, digestion, and breathing.

The ANS has two branches crucial for trauma:

• The Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS): Known as the “fight or flight” system, it helps us respond to perceived threats by increasing alertness, heart rate, and blood flow to muscles.

• The Parasympathetic Nervous System (PNS): Often called the “rest and digest” system, it calms the body down, helping us return to a balanced state after stress.

How Does Trauma Affect the Nervous System?

Trauma can make the nervous system “stuck” in survival mode. Instead of moving smoothly between calm and alert states, a trauma-affected nervous system may stay activated or shut down, even when there’s no real danger. This is why trauma survivors might feel chronically anxious, hyper-vigilant, or, conversely, disconnected and numb.

"Neurons That Fire Together, Wire Together": The Science Behind Trauma Responses

At Aware NL, we believe that understanding the connection between the brain and trauma is a powerful first step toward healing. A key principle in neuroscience, "neurons that fire together, wire together," helps explain why trauma responses can feel so automatic—and how we can rewire those patterns to promote healing and resilience.

When we experience trauma, certain neural pathways in the brain become activated repeatedly—like fight, flight, freeze, or fawn responses. Over time, these pathways strengthen, making them our brain's default reactions to perceived stress or triggers. This is why seemingly small events at work or in daily life can feel overwhelming or even paralyzing.

Why Understanding the Nervous System Is Key for Healing

For trauma survivors, understanding these responses offers hope and control. Instead of feeling at the mercy of symptoms, we learn that the nervous system is doing exactly what it was designed to do - keeping us SAFE (just perhaps at the wrong times).

Knowledge empowers us to manage these responses, calming the body and reducing symptoms. So, here's the good news: thanks to neuroplasticity, the brain's incredible ability to rewire itself, we’re not stuck with these patterns forever.

By practicing techniques like grounding exercises, mindfulness, and intentional breathing, we can create new, healthier neural connections. With time, consistency, and the right tools, it's possible to weaken the old pathways and strengthen new ones that support calm, focus, and resilience.

At Aware NL, this science underpins everything we do. Whether it’s through our workshops, resources, or coaching, we provide practical strategies that help individuals and organizations rewire those "firing" patterns and build environments where healing and growth are possible.