Somatic Symptoms of Childhood Trauma
Trauma physically hurts. You might think a traumatic experience or event is only imprinted on the brain, but it also lives in the body.
These traumatic experiences appear as somatic or physical symptoms. Whether memories are buried or ever-present, the body always remembers.
What is childhood trauma?
Also known as Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE), childhood trauma refers to any type of events that happen to children from age 0-18 that are violent, dangerous, frightening, or life-threatening. These also include events like neglect, emotional, physical, or sexual abuse that are a threat to the child’s life or bodily autonomy. When children witness traumatic events such as domestic violence, substance abuse, natural disasters, war, genocide, accidents, or other types of significant loss, such as the death of a loved one, this is also childhood trauma.
Any kind of distressing or terrifying event that affects a child’s emotional, mental, and physical well-being and makes a child feel unsafe can be a traumatic experience.
When children spend their early years overwhelmed and upset, due to the events of childhood trauma, this can have long-lasting consequences that continue to present in the teen years and can reach beyond into adulthood. Those children who grew up feeling helpless and hopeless quite often become adults who endure mental health issues as well as countless physical challenges.
What are somatic symptoms?
Somatic symptoms are body aches or complaints that can’t be readily explained and may or may not be diagnosed with other medical issues. These adult somatic symptoms are strongly associated with adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and can cause various disabilities, bodily weakness, emotional suffering, and other physiological manifestations.
The symptoms from childhood trauma might include such things as:
Chronic gastrointestinal disorders
Unexplained body pain
Recurring headaches
Persistent chest pain and dizziness
Regular sleep disturbances
Constant lack of energy and fatigue
A recent report from the Jama Network found that adults with a history of ACEs were also “found to have chronic health disorders such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, osteoarthritis, metabolic syndrome, and even cancer” with somatic symptoms appearing more frequently in women than in men.
Research has also shown that post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is by far the most common psychiatric disorder occurring after a traumatic event (or after ACEs) in children, teens, and adults, and that the symptoms of PTSD may start to occur as soon as one month after a direct or indirect exposure to a traumatic event.
In US adults, PTSD has an estimated lifetime prevalence between 3.8% and 4.7% and between 0.4% and 3.8% in European adults. Among children and adolescents, the prevalence of PTSD is even higher, with an estimated risk of developing PTSD after a traumatic event between 20% and 50%.
Moreover, somatic symptoms can significantly interfere with quality of life, individual functioning, and school attendance, leading to adverse health effects even in the adolescent years.
What is a somatic (body) memory?
Somatic memories are intense bodily sensations that cause trauma survivors to physically relive pain and fear from childhood experiences.
Some ACE adults may relive bodily (somatic) memories, which are memories stored in the body and expressed through physical sensations or symptoms. During these flashbacks, your body feels exactly what you experienced during an abusive episode. Although the abuse may be far in the past, these sensations can significantly disrupt the survivor’s life.
How trauma gets trapped in the body and nervous system
Trauma gets stored in the body via the nervous system when intense emotions from the traumatic experiences aren't expressed. Stored in the body doesn't mean only in what we think of as our “physical body”. For example, often muscles are chronically tense as a result of trauma (stiff shoulders, aching back), but it's more complex than that. Here, we refer to the “feeling” body, which you access when you engage in somatic experiencing. It's the body memory where the trauma is stored.
Also, your brain and limbic system (a complex system of nerves and networks in the brain) are part of the body where you feel ‘whole body’ somatic experiences. The limbic system regulates basic emotions, such as happiness, fear, and anger, and also drives behaviors like hunger, sex, and caring for one's offspring. When the limbic system is disrupted from a traumatic experience, it can go into overdrive or underperformance, resulting in hypervigilance, memory issues, emotional dysregulation, anxiety, and, as previously discussed, an increased risk of mental health conditions such as PTSD.
We need our limbic systems to function optimally in order to regulate our emotions, memories, and motivation, as well as survival behaviors such as fight-or-flight responses. Without that regulation, the “body” can stay in a state of hypervigilance, always primed for danger.
Releasing the somatic symptoms of trauma
In the groundbreaking book, “The Body Keeps the Score”, author Dr. Bessel van der Kolk uses scientific advances to illustrate how trauma reshapes the brain and body of a trauma survivor and to explain how our bodies are impacted by childhood trauma. He believes that trauma becomes trapped in the cells that make up your body, down to the molecular level, causing your body to remember sounds, smells, touches, and tastes that the memory cannot store. He suggests that without proper treatment and therapies, the trauma compromises a survivor’s ability to experience healthy engagement, self-control, and trust in others and themselves.
This all might sound rather dire, but there is good news. As Dr. Bessel van der Kolk says, with the right treatment and therapy it’s entirely possible to release bodily trauma and repair your limbic system through neuroplasticity, a process of rewiring and changing the brain’s neural pathways, structured brain “retraining” programs, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and lifestyle changes like stress reduction, mindfulness, functional sleep, theatre or drama expression, meditation, yoga, breathwork and other holistic somatic therapy to move the trauma from the body.
The overall goal is to calm the nervous system, allowing it to function more efficiently. Think of it this way: when your body experiences somatic symptoms, it stays tense, already ready to spring into action and fight the danger—that’s what it’s been primed to do, because it needs you to survive the trauma. When those areas of your body learn that you are safe and you can relax—there’s no danger anymore, you survived—that is when the trauma is released.
How The Place Retreats can help you
Everyone is different in how they experience somatic symptoms, so there is no one-size-fits-all method of releasing the somatic symptoms of childhood trauma.
At The Place Retreats, we allow you to safely experience the sensations, acknowledge the truth, and work through the stored trauma.
Our Balinese haven is a supportive and luxurious sanctuary where our clients can focus on their mental well-being as they learn to process and heal from childhood trauma. Free from the pressures, distractions, and stress of everyday life, guests at The Place Retreats rediscover themselves through our evidence-based therapies and personalized care.
We can design a tailor-made retreat that includes somatic therapies such as daily yoga and integrative therapy to support your healing.
All of our retreats are led by our expert team of therapists and feature a holistic approach that integrates body, mind, and spirit.
At The Place Retreats, we offer:
CBT Psychotherapy Sessions
Integrative Therapy
Japanese Acupuncture & Traditional Chinese Medicine
Craniosacral Therapy
Medical Qigong
Rolfing® Structural Integration
Massages (Esalen® Massage & Bodywork, Balinese Massage, The Ultimate Healing Massage)
Individual Sound Therapy
Full-Spectrum Breathing
Private Yoga Sessions
Personal Training and Fitness
And so much more!
Our retreats allow you to reclaim your power. No matter what happened in the past, it’s over. You survived. Now it’s time to THRIVE.
If you’re ready to release the somatic symptoms of childhood trauma and bring true healing to your life, reach out and schedule your free 15-minute consultation with one of our team members today.
