When people think about trauma, they often think about thoughts, memories, or emotions.
They rarely think about digestion, breathing, muscle tension, immune health, or chronic fatigue.
But trauma does not live only in the mind.
It lives in the body.
As Reshie explains in the conversation:
“The nervous system doesn’t just store experience as memory. It stores it as physiology.”
This is why trauma so often shows up as stress-related illness, unexplained physical symptoms, or a sense of being disconnected from the body itself.
Stress Is Not Just Mental. It Is Biological.
Stress is a nervous system state.
When the body perceives threat, pressure, or overload, it shifts into survival mode. Hormones change. Breathing alters. Muscles tighten. Digestion slows. Immune function adjusts.
When this state resolves, the body returns to balance.
The problem arises when stress does not resolve.
As Reshie puts it:
“A system that never gets to come down stays organised around survival.”
This is how chronic stress and stress-related disorders develop. Over time, prolonged activation can contribute to exhaustion, inflammation, sleep disruption, anxiety, low mood, and physical illness.
The body pays the cost of staying alert for too long.
Trauma Creates Disconnection From the Body
One of the most overlooked effects of trauma is disconnection.
For many people, the body becomes a place of discomfort, unpredictability, or pain. Sensations feel overwhelming or confusing. Signals are ignored or overridden.
As Reshie explains:
“When it’s not safe to feel, the system learns not to feel.”
This disconnection may show up as:
- Difficulty noticing hunger, fatigue, or pain
- Feeling numb or detached from bodily sensations
- Living “in the head” while the body feels distant
- Ignoring early signs of stress or illness
Over time, this disconnection increases vulnerability. The body continues to carry stress, but the person loses access to the signals that would normally prompt rest, care, or regulation.
Why Trauma and Neurodivergence Often Overlap
Many people notice similarities between trauma symptoms and neurodevelopmental patterns.
This is not accidental.
As Reshie explains in the conversation:
“When a nervous system is under constant load, regulation becomes harder across the board.”
This is why there is often overlap between trauma responses and how nervous system dysregulation overlaps with ADHD. Both can involve difficulties with attention, emotional regulation, sensory sensitivity, and rest.
Understanding this overlap helps reduce misinterpretation. What looks like a personal failure or lack of discipline is often a system working under strain.
Hyperarousal Keeps the Body on High Alert
For many people, trauma lives as constant activation.
The body feels wired, tense, restless, or unable to switch off. Sleep is light or fragmented. Relaxation feels unsafe or unfamiliar.
As Reshie explains:
“If the body learned that danger can arrive at any moment, it stays ready.”
These patterns are common signs of a hyperaroused nervous system. Over time, hyperarousal increases the risk of burnout, illness, anxiety, and emotional exhaustion.
The body is not broken. It is responding to a world it learned was unpredictable.
Why Talking Alone Is Often Not Enough
Insight matters. Language matters. Understanding matters.
But trauma is not stored only in words.
As Reshie says in the conversation:
“You can understand trauma perfectly and still feel it in your body.”
Because trauma is physiological, healing must also be physiological.
This is why body-based approaches are often essential, especially when symptoms are persistent or deeply ingrained. Practices such as somatic and breath-based trauma work help the nervous system experience safety directly, not just conceptually.
These approaches support regulation by working with breath, sensation, movement, and awareness, allowing the body to complete stress responses that were interrupted or suppressed.
Healing Is About Reconnection, Not Control
Trauma recovery is not about forcing calm or overriding symptoms.
It is about rebuilding connection with the body in a way that feels safe and gradual.
As Reshie explains:
“The body doesn’t need to be controlled. It needs to be listened to.”
When the nervous system learns that sensations can be tolerated and supported, stress responses begin to soften. Energy returns. Signals make sense again.
This reconnection is not instant. It is a process of restoring trust between mind and body.
Watch the Full Conversation
This article is drawn from a longer clinical conversation between Reshie and Katrina, where they explore how trauma lives in the body, how stress shapes illness, and why disconnection is such a common survival strategy.
To hear these ideas explained in depth, with lived experience and clinical clarity, watch the full conversation below.