Signs Your Body Is Releasing Trauma During or After Addiction

Trauma occurs when a disturbing experience has lasting effects on a person’s mental and physical well-being. Events like attacks, disasters, and accidents, as well as ongoing exposure to abuse or stressful situations, can cause this condition. Survivors may not be aware that they are storing trauma in their bodies, even though it’s common to experience physical symptoms like muscle tension, increased reactivity, and gastrointestinal issues as their bodies try to process their injury. People who suffer from trauma may also experience anxiety, difficult emotional states, and psychological symptoms like fragmented traumatic memories. These symptoms will continue until their body can let go of the trauma. As trauma release happens, people may experience positive and negative symptoms like tremors and emotional outbursts that may release tension and lead to catharsis.

This article will explore signs of trauma release, its connection to addiction, and how to cope with the process.

How Trauma Release Manifests Physically and Emotionally

Past trauma can manifest as emotional and physical symptoms that surface without warning. The imprints of trauma can change how the brain and nervous system work, disrupt memory, create muscle tension, and put stress on the body’s circulatory and endocrine systems. To get back to normal, the body will attempt to release the traumatic energy, which could show up as involuntary movements or outbursts of feeling. When this happens, a person may experience a sense of relief and ease, and feel physically lighter and happier, but they may also feel vulnerable and tired.

Sometimes, people will process and release trauma naturally and unconsciously as time passes. Signs this is happening include:

• Involuntary movements, like shaking or tremors
• Sensations of warmth and tingling, especially in the hands and feet
• Muscle relaxation and release of tension
• Mood swings, flashbacks, unexpected emotional responses and emotional expressions like crying and laughter or outbursts of annoyance or anger
• Vivid, recurring nightmares or dreams
• A slower resting heart rate and lower blood pressure
• Experiencing a sense of calm

As a person releases trauma, they may become more sensitive to their environment. This often signals that they can begin healing, which can be a rewarding yet difficult process. Releasing trauma while working through complex emotions can be both cathartic and exhausting. Consciously extracting images and impressions from painful memories and dreams can help people process and move past troubling events, but it may also involve significant discomfort. Nevertheless, people who recognize signs that their bodies are trying to recover may be better equipped to manage the process and release trauma successfully.

What Happens When the Body Stores Trauma?

Trauma can produce a range of symptoms that are linked through the “mind-body connection.” When a person experiences trauma, their nervous system goes on guard as the body stores an imprint of the event. This response is protective, but sometimes, if the brain perceives that a situation is similar to a traumatic event from the past, it can overreact. Unfortunately, these defensive actions can show up as depression, brain fog, distractibility, memory issues, insomnia, anxiety, paranoia, and fear. Survivors may also experience periods of hyperactivity or fatigue and have a hard time regulating their emotions.

The body can also store trauma in its muscles, connective tissues, and organs. Unprocessed trauma can activate or worsen existing medical issues like inflammation, migraines, chronic pain, and cardiovascular disease. They may also experience frequent nausea and changes in appetite. Stored trauma can also reduce a person’s tolerance to stress and make them feel exhausted, avoidant, or restless. Some people become hypersensitive to loud noises and bright lights. They may also experience panic attacks that leave them short of breath. This is the body’s way of signaling distress.

Paying attention to physical sensations is crucial. Many survivors find that their body feels tense, restricted, or even numb. Cultivating body awareness can help individuals recognize these stored tensions and begin to process them. Often, these stored sensations disrupt a sense of safety, making it difficult to relax and feel secure. By learning to listen to the body, individuals can begin to address the underlying trauma and reclaim their well-being.

How Trauma Gets Stuck in the Body

Trauma gets stuck in the body when its fight-or-flight response to stress stays active after a threat is gone. The brain’s amygdala, which processes feelings of fear, remains sensitive and keeps the body in a persistent state of hypervigilance. If the body can’t process or let go of the emotions that relate to the trauma, it may store the experience as a “somatic memory” . When this happens, a person may relive what they felt during the traumatic event later on. Severe or ongoing trauma may have lasting effects on a person’s health. Experiencing a series of traumatic events can also make it harder to heal. With somatic experiences, somatic therapy is recommended.

Understanding How the Fight or Flight Response Works

The “fight-or-flight” response is an innate survival mechanism that protects people from life-threatening situations. It stimulates the body to release hormones like adrenaline, noradrenaline, and cortisol so it can react quickly enough to fight or flee from danger. As blood flows toward the brain, muscles, and essential organs, they will become more alert, their pupils will dilate to let in more light, and their muscles will become primed for action.

Once a threat has passed, it may take an hour for the body to relax and function normally. Unfortunately, repeat exposure to stress can disrupt this trauma recovery process. Some trauma survivors may stay in fight-or-flight mode for months or years. People who have experienced war, mass shootings, domestic violence, workplace bullying, child abuse, and other violent events may overreact in triggering situations. They may experience anxiety when they hear an alarm bell, find themselves in crowded spaces, or have a conflict with someone they know because their body will interpret these situations as highly dangerous. It’s common for survivors to have incomplete memories of their experiences, but stressful situations can still cause physiological reactions like sweaty palms, a pounding heart, and nausea.

People did not evolve to experience stress and anxiety on a long-term basis. Eventually, living with stored trauma will have physical, emotional, and mental repercussions. Many scientists believe that staying in the fight-or-flight state for too long can weaken a person’s immune system and contribute to illness. Unresolved trauma may provoke or worsen infections, chronic pain, autoimmune diseases, and cardiovascular diseases. Stress can also increase a person’s appetite, lead to weight gain, and contribute to irritable bowel syndrome. Traumatic experiences can make it more difficult for people to focus, learn, create new memories , and regulate their emotions. This may lead them to develop unhealthy coping mechanisms as they seek relief.

How Trauma Contributes to Addiction

People who have a history of trauma may have a hard time regulating their moods, dealing with intrusive thoughts, and staying calm. After a while, they may start looking for ways to numb their distress. Unfortunately, some of these coping mechanisms can worsen and perpetuate their disorder.

Often, traumatized people turn to drugs or alcohol because these substances can provide immediate psychological relief from suffering. When trauma disregulates a person’s nervous system and causes ongoing discomfort, substances like alcohol, opioids, and benzodiazepines can offer relief from anxiety, depression, sadness, and pain. Some of these drugs slow down the central nervous system, which can temporarily alleviate trauma release symptoms like shaking, anxiety, and agitation.

Pleasurable substance use can temporarily reduce unpleasant feelings, but it can also drive compulsive behavior. Traumatic experiences like violence, job loss, the death of a family member, and neglect can make people more susceptible to addiction. The stress of trauma can alter a person’s brain function so that they have less control over their emotions and actions. This may lead them to turn to intoxicating substances to self-medicate and cope with their symptoms. Over time, using these substances worsens stress and causes bigger problems. People may eventually develop a tolerance to alcohol and drugs that leads them to use more of them to achieve the same effect. They may neglect their jobs and families or engage in risky behavior to keep a supply of the substance on hand and end up in financial or legal trouble.

How Trauma Release Affects Addiction Recovery

When a person is detoxing from addictive substances, they may experience withdrawal as a stressor and respond by sweating, shaking, and experiencing cravings and other forms of physical or emotional discomfort. Sometimes, these symptoms can overlap with and worsen trauma responses, making the early stages of recovery especially challenging. Professionally administered trauma-informed therapies can help patients navigate their symptoms, especially when they are combined with holistic healing methods like mindfulness, breathwork, and movement-based therapies.

Strategies for Trauma Release in Recovery

Trauma-informed care is a treatment approach that recognizes how trauma impacts addiction and mental health conditions. It integrates that knowledge into compassionate, effective therapies that acknowledge and respect people’s cultural differences. The key principles of trauma-informed care include creating a safe space for clients that helps them build trust through transparent communication and engagement in predictable, consistent therapeutic practices.

Patients begin the healing process in a calm environment where they feel respected and heard. Therapists and providers partner with their clients to establish routines that reduce anxiety and reinforce progress. They incorporate peer support along the way by encouraging survivors to talk to each other about ways they deal with their suffering. They also teach patients practical coping strategies for managing their trauma release journey, such as deep breathing, exercising, eating well, and reaching out to friends and family for support.

Trauma-informed addiction treatment programs empower clients by taking their experiences seriously and encouraging their eventual autonomy. They usually start with a comprehensive evaluation of a patient’s substance use and their history of trauma, which allows therapists to offer tailored treatment plans and educate their clients about their experience. The programs often combine substance abuse treatments with trauma-specific therapies that include:

• Mindfulness and grounding techniques that teach people to stay present when they feel overwhelming emotions.
• Breathwork and meditation exercises that calm their nervous systems.
• Journaling and creative activities that teach people to express and process emotions safely.
• Physical activities like yoga, stretching, and exercise that help the body release trauma.

Evidence-based therapies, like EMDR (Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing), psychotherapy, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), can provide additional tools for managing stress, emotions, and triggers. Treatment programs also offer long-term professional support and resources to maintain recovery and address trauma.

When to Seek Professional Help

If you or someone you care for is showing emotional or physical signs of trauma that are interfering with daily activities, work, and relationships, it’s important to seek professional help, especially if addiction is at play. Trauma-informed addiction treatment can help people recover and progress in their healing journey.

Recreate Life Counseling offers evidence-based treatment programs for a variety of addictions and mental health conditions. Our inpatient, partial hospitalization, and intensive outpatient programs help people get to the root of their addictions, release trauma safely, and learn to live healthy and fulfilling lives.

Get the Best Trauma-Informed Addiction Treatment at Reacreate Life Counseling

Get the Best Trauma-Informed Addiction Treatment at Recreate Life Counseling. Emotional release is a natural part of healing. The positive effects of working through trauma are often more lasting when the process is managed in a supportive environment. At Recreate Life Counseling, our compassionate professionals understand the complexities of understanding trauma and its impact on addiction. We offer various therapeutic approaches, including trauma therapy, designed to help individuals navigate the recovery process. We prioritize self-care and self-compassion, recognizing their importance in fostering wellness. Our goal is to assist clients in integrating their healing into daily life, promoting both mental and physical health. If you or a loved one is struggling, contact Recreate Life Counseling today for professional treatment that leads to positive long-term outcomes and increased self-awareness.

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Published on: 2025-03-04
Updated on: 2025-03-04