What Are Common Trauma Responses? 16 Signs and Pathways to Healing
Awareness is the First Step Toward Healing
Welcome, dear reader,
If you're here, you might be sensing that something isn't quite right. Perhaps you feel on edge, fatigued, or disconnected. These are not signs of weakness or transient feelings due to the current state or phase of life, but at times stemming from common trauma responses, the body's way of signalling it needs care. The good news? Awareness is the first step toward healing.
At New Leaf with Nisha, I don't believe in labelling trauma as "big T" or "little t." I believe all your experiences are valid as most often many of these events have shaped you to who you are today. If something felt overwhelming, life-changing, or deeply painful, it deserves to be acknowledged.
This is why I find the concept of Trauma Exposure Responses, described by Laura van Dernoot Lipsky in Trauma Stewardship, so powerful. It gives us language for the many ways stress and overwhelm show up in our lives. Recognising these responses creates awareness, not judgment. Healing begins the moment you can notice your reactions and meet them with compassion, perhaps even with a little humor to soften what feels heavy.
Awareness is the first step: noticing how trauma exposure responses can fragment our thoughts.
What Are Trauma Exposure Responses?
A trauma response is the physical, emotional, and psychological impact of being repeatedly exposed to distress, whether directly or indirectly. This is common among caregivers, leaders, health professionals, and anyone navigating high-pressure environments. These responses can quietly shape how we feel, relate, and move through the world. Learning to name them is the first step toward restoring nervous system balance and reconnecting with ourselves.
16 Trauma Exposure Responses to Notice in Yourself
These are not be misconstrued as weaknesses as they are signals from your body and nervous system, asking for care and attention.
Emotional & Psychological Responses
1. Helplessness or Hopelessness
A heavy feeling or sense that nothing will ever change, often accompanied by emotional exhaustion. Its like carrying exhaustion you can’t put down.
Reflection: Can you name one small thing within your control today?
2. Feeling You Can Never Do Enough
That persistent whisper: "Am I doing enough? Am I enough?" Often tied to survival-driven over-functioning.
Reflection: How might your worth exist separate from your productivity?
3. Hypervigilance
Feeling constantly on edge, scanning for danger even in safe spaces. A hallmark of a nervous system stuck in "on."
Reflection: Find your feet on the floor. What do they feel? Can you notice the sensation of the ground holding you?"
4. Emotional Numbing
Shutting down feelings to cope with overload. It can feel like a disconnection from yourself or others.
Reflection: What is one small thing I can feel right now? (e.g., the texture of my chair, the coolness of the air on my skin)
5. Anger or Cynicism
Irritability or resentment masking much deeper hurt, grief, or powerlessness.
Reflection: Next time anger arises, ask: What small physical action can I take to care for myself right now?
6. Guilt and Fear
A sense of "I should have done more" or a fear of making mistakes, an indication often reflecting survival conditioning.
Reflection: Where might you be carrying responsibility that isn't truly yours?
7. Feeling Persecuted
The belief that others are against you, even in neutral situations. This feeling often emerges when safety feels scarce.
Reflection: What is one small, tangible sign that you are safe in this moment?
Physical & Somatic Responses
8. Chronic Exhaustion
A tiredness that rest cannot fix, and your body continues to signal long-term overwhelm.
Reflection: What might your fatigue be asking you to pause and take notice of?
9. Physical Ailments
Headaches, gut issues, tension, or frequent illness. Perhaps the body is expressing what hasn't been processed.
Reflection: What might your body be trying to protect you from by slowing you down?
10. Dissociation or Spacing Out
Losing time, feeling detached from yourself or surroundings - a protective response to overwhelm.
Reflection: Notice the sensation of your feet on the floor. Just feel the ground holding you.
11. Addictive Behaviours
Reaching for substances, screens, sex or overwork as ways to numb or escape.
Reflection: What is your body truly needing in this moment - a sense of comfort, safety, or rest?
Relational & Identity Responses
12. Difficulty Empathising or Connecting
Feeling emotionally unavailable, even with those you care for. Often a sign of nervous system overload.
Reflection: What is one small, safe connection you can make with another person or living thing today?
13. Minimising Your Own Experiences
Telling yourself "others have it worse" or downplaying your pain as it invalidates your own care needs.
Reflection: What if your pain is simply a signal from your body, asking for your attention? What would it be like to honour your pain as real and valid?
14. Over-Identification with Work (Grandiosity)
When self-worth becomes fused with productivity or achievements.
Reflection: Who are you beyond your roles and accomplishments?
15. Struggling with Complexity
Sometimes, we feel like things can only be very good or very bad. We have trouble seeing the small differences in between.
Reflection: What is one small thing that is okay right now, even if other things are difficult?
16. Isolation or Withdrawal
Pulling away from others to cope, even when connection could be supportive.
Reflection: What would it be like to allow yourself to want connection? What is one small sign of connection you can notice in your life right now?
Why Noticing These Responses Matters
Your responses are not personal failings. It shifts the focus from blame ("Why am I like this?") to understanding ("My body is trying to protect me, and this is how my body learnt to do it"). They are adaptations and ways your nervous system has tried to protect you. By noticing them in yourself and others, you can open the door to compassionate care rather than criticism. This is the first step toward restoring nervous system balance and connecting with yourself again.
From Awareness to Healing
Healing begins when you can give yourselves permission to pause and recognise what's happening within you. Trauma-informed counselling and somatic practices can support you to:
Restore nervous system regulation
Rebuild emotional safety
Reconnect with your body and relationships
Begin to trust yourself again
At New Leaf with Nisha, I offer a safe and supportive space for healing through trauma-informed counselling and somatic practices using a bottom-up approach. This means we don’t just talk about what happened we work gently with your body, nervous system, and emotions, helping you build safety, trust and connection from the inside out.
Your Invitation to Begin
If these responses feel familiar, know that you don't have to carry them alone.
Read my related blog: Stress Response vs Trauma Response
Because safety is foundational for healing.
References & Recommended Reading:
Lipsky, L. V. D., & Burk, C. (2009). Trauma Stewardship: An Everyday Guide to Caring for Self While Caring for Others. Berrett-Koehler Publishers.
Porges, S. W. (2011). The Polyvagal Theory: Neurophysiological Foundations of Emotions, Attachment, Communication, and Self-Regulation. W. W. Norton & Company.
Van der Kolk, B. (2014). The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma. Penguin.
Fisher, J. (2017). Healing the Fragmented Selves of Trauma Survivors. Routledge.
Johnson, S. et al. (2020). Workload demands and burnout in high-stress professions.
Vella, S. et al. (2023). Neurobiological mechanisms in trauma healing.
