How Trauma Affects the Brain: A Closer Look

May is Mental Health Awareness Month — a time to highlight the importance of emotional well-being, normalize seeking support, and bring more awareness to how experiences like trauma affect us not just emotionally, but neurologically as well.

When we hear the word trauma, we might picture a life-altering event — an accident, assault, or significant loss. But trauma is also any experience that overwhelms our nervous system’s ability to cope and regulate. And while it deeply affects our emotions and relationships, it also changes how our brain functions on a physical and chemical level.

Understanding what’s happening in the brain during and after trauma can bring clarity, validation, and even hope — especially for those wondering “Why can’t I just move on?” The answer lies in how the brain reorganizes itself in response to threat.

🧠 Amygdala: The Brain’s Alarm System

The amygdala is the brain’s built-in alarm system. It detects threat and triggers the body’s survival response — activating fight, flight, or freeze. After a traumatic event, the amygdala becomes hypervigilant and reactive, sending out false alarms even when no real danger is present.

This heightened activity contributes to the persistent anxiety, hyperarousal, and emotional reactivity many trauma survivors experience. It’s not an overreaction — it’s a brain doing its best to keep you safe, even when safety isn’t actually at risk. Research shows this increased amygdala activity plays a key role in PTSD and fear-based responses.

🧠 Hippocampus: The Memory Organizer

The hippocampus helps store and organize memories, especially by distinguishing between past and present. After trauma, this region can become dysregulated or even shrink in volume, which affects how traumatic memories are processed.

This is why survivors may re-experience traumatic events as if they’re happening in real time — through flashbacks, vivid imagery, or physical sensations. As noted in this clinical review, the hippocampus is often compromised in those with PTSD.

🧠 Prefrontal Cortex: The Logical Thinker

The prefrontal cortex is responsible for decision-making, emotion regulation, and reasoning. It typically helps calm the amygdala during stress. But after trauma, this connection weakens — making it harder to access logical thinking in moments of emotional overwhelm.

This is why someone might intellectually know they are safe, but still feel intense panic or distress. The brain's regulatory system is simply struggling to kick in.

🧠 Anterior Cingulate Cortex: The Emotional Balancer

The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) helps regulate emotional responses, focus attention, and integrate thought and emotion. Trauma can impair this area’s function, contributing to emotional dysregulation and difficulty coping with distress.

This can leave trauma survivors feeling emotionally flooded or unable to "dial down" intense reactions, even during day-to-day stressors.

🧠 Insula: The Body’s Internal Sensor

The insula processes signals from within the body — like heartbeat, breath, and pain — and helps interpret them as part of emotional experience. After trauma, the insula often becomes overactive, leading to hypersensitivity to bodily cues.

As described in this neuroscience review, this may explain why some survivors experience strong physiological symptoms of anxiety or panic without knowing the trigger. It's also why body-based approaches to healing — such as somatic therapy or mindfulness — can be so powerful.

Why This Matters for Healing

Understanding how trauma affects the brain shifts the conversation from “What’s wrong with me?” to “What happened to me — and how did my brain adapt to survive it?” That shift is powerful. It validates that trauma responses are not weakness or failure — they are survival strategies deeply wired into the nervous system.

The hopeful news is that the brain can change. Thanks to neuroplasticity, trauma-informed therapies can help rewire and calm an overactive fear response while strengthening emotional regulation. Approaches like EMDR, Internal Family Systems, Parts and Memory Therapy and somatic therapies are designed to support this kind of healing.

Healing isn’t about erasing the past — it’s about building safety in the present. With the right tools and support, the brain can learn to feel calm, safe, and connected again.

A Gentle Reminder for Mental Health Awareness Month

This Mental Health Awareness Month, take a moment to reflect on how far you’ve come — even if it doesn’t always feel like progress. Healing is not linear. Some days you may feel strong; other days, exhausted. Both are valid. Both are part of the journey.

You are not broken. You are a human being who has endured, adapted, and survived. And now, you deserve to feel safe, supported, and whole again.

If You’re Looking for Support

At Murphy’s Therapy Corner, LLC, I offer trauma-informed therapy rooted in compassion, neuroscience, and evidence-based care. Whether you're navigating complex PTSD, anxiety, or childhood trauma, therapy can help you reconnect with yourself and your sense of safety.

Feel free to contact us to schedule a consultation or learn more. I’d be honored to support you on your path forward.