Understanding Trauma, Stress, and Recovery
Key Insights from Reshie’s NCPC Singapore Keynote
In this keynote, Reshie from the Living Free Institute shares a clear and compassionate way of understanding trauma, why it happens, and how recovery is possible. Drawing from more than 15 years of clinical work in trauma, addiction, and rehabilitation, He explains a system that helps people answer three deeply human questions:What is trauma?How do we recover from it?And why does it affect some people more than others?What Trauma Really Is (and What It Isn’t)
Many people believe trauma is simply a bad or frightening event. A car accident. A violent attack. A disaster. While these events can be traumatic, the event itself is not the trauma.Trauma, at its core, is an injury.The word “trauma” comes from Greek and literally means wound. Just as the body can be physically injured, the mind and nervous system can be injured too. Ancient medical traditions understood this well. The separation between “mental” and “physical” injury is actually a very modern idea.Three Ways Trauma Can Occur
Reshie explains trauma using a simple knife-and-skin analogy:- Big Trauma (Big-T Trauma) Some events are so overwhelming that they would injure almost anyone. Like an extremely sharp knife, they cut regardless of how resilient someone is.
- Small Trauma (Small-t Trauma) Sometimes the “knife” isn’t very sharp, but the person is vulnerable. This can happen during childhood, old age, or periods of stress, grief, or exhaustion. What seems minor from the outside can still cause deep injury.
- Complex Trauma (Repeated Injury) This is the most common and most overlooked form of trauma. The knife is blunt, the skin is tough, but the injury happens again and again. Ongoing bullying, emotional neglect, chronic workplace stress, verbal abuse, or repeated invalidation slowly wear the system down.
How Trauma Shows Up in the Body and Mind
Because trauma is an injury, it leaves signs. Not everyone experiences the same symptoms, but trauma commonly shows up across several areas:- Avoidance Pulling away from people, situations, or emotions. Much like an injured animal hiding to stay safe.
- Arousal Anxiety, panic, anger, rage, or sudden emotional reactions. The nervous system is constantly on high alert.
- Intrusive Symptoms Unwanted memories, thoughts, or emotional flashes. The brain keeps replaying the past, trying to understand what went wrong.
- Negative Beliefs “I’m not safe.” “The world is dangerous.” “People can’t be trusted.” “The future is hopeless.”
- Changes in Behaviour Coping strategies that may include overworking, withdrawal, substance use, or perfectionism.
- Body-Based Symptoms (Somatic Symptoms) Chronic pain, fatigue, gut issues, inflammation, or unexplained physical illness. When emotional injury has no outlet, the body often carries the burden.
How Recovery Works: The Space Between What Happens and How We Respond
Life will always involve stress. That part is unavoidable.What is changeable is what happens between an event and our response to it.Recovery at Living Free focuses on mastering that space.The Five Key Systems Involved in Healing
- The Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) This is the most important part of recovery. Trauma disrupts the system that tells us what is safe and what is dangerous. When this system is dysregulated, everything feels threatening. Learning to calm and regulate the nervous system accounts for around 50% of recovery.
- The Thinking Brain Trauma shapes how we interpret the world. When the body feels under threat, thinking becomes rigid, negative, and black-and-white. Calm the body first, and the mind follows.
- The Stress Hormone System (HPA Axis) Long-term stress affects sleep, energy, metabolism, digestion, and hormones. Many people with trauma feel constantly exhausted, wired, or depleted.
- Environment Healing cannot happen in an unsafe or overwhelming environment. Recovery includes changing external conditions where possible.
- Memory Processing Trauma memories remain intrusive until they are understood and integrated. The brain is not trying to punish us. It is trying to protect us.
Why Trauma Affects Some People More Than Others
Many people eventually ask, “Why me?”Reshie explains that vulnerability to trauma is influenced by multiple factors working together:- Biology and Genetics Certain genetic traits may increase sensitivity to stress and injury, not directly to addiction or illness, but to trauma itself.
- Childhood Environment Lack of safety, emotional neglect, bullying, or chronic instability increases vulnerability.
- Hidden or Overlooked Traumas Many experiences are not recognised as trauma but still shape the nervous system deeply.
- Parts of the Self Different “parts” of us develop to survive. Understanding these parts helps people make sense of their reactions instead of blaming themselves.