The Neuroscience of Trauma and Why Body-Based Therapy Matters

If you’re a therapist working with trauma, you’ve probably noticed that sometimes talking about what happened just isn’t enough. Clients might understand their story inside and out, but still feel stuck in the same patterns of being anxious, hyper vigilant, or numb. That’s because trauma doesn’t just live in the mind; it lives in the body, too.

Recent advances in neuroscience help us understand why. Trauma changes how the brain and body communicate. It can hijack the nervous system, leaving clients stuck in survival states of fight, flight, or freeze, long after the danger is gone. That’s why so many therapists are turning to body-based approaches like Sensorimotor Psychotherapy.

In this post, I’ll unpack the neuroscience of trauma in a simple, down-to-earth way. I’ll also explain why working with the body is so important and how Sensorimotor Psychotherapy integrates these ideas to help clients heal.

What Happens in the Brain and Body During Trauma?

Trauma isn’t just an emotional experience; it’s a physical one too. When something overwhelming happens—a car accident, a sudden loss, an assault—the body’s survival system kicks in. The autonomic nervous system, which runs things like heart rate and digestion, goes into high gear. We might fight, flee, or freeze, depending on what feels possible in the moment.

Sometimes, though, the energy activated by trauma has nowhere to go. If a client couldn’t fight back, couldn’t escape, or felt helpless, that defensive energy can get stuck. Even years later, their body might still react as if the threat is right there. That’s why clients sometimes describe feeling “on edge,” “numb,” or like they’re watching life from the outside.

Bessel van der Kolk talks about this in his book The Body Keeps the Score. He describes how trauma can hijack the body’s alarm system, leaving people stuck in a state of hyperarousal or collapse. Pat Ogden’s work shows how these states can be tracked through subtle body cues—like tension, posture, or even the way a client’s eyes shift.

Understanding these processes helps us see why talk therapy sometimes falls short. It’s not just about telling the story—it’s about helping the body complete what it couldn’t do back then.

The Window of Tolerance: Staying Regulated During Trauma Processing

We all have a range where we feel balanced enough to think, feel, and engage with others. Dan Siegel calls this the window of tolerance. Inside that window, we can stay curious, connected, and open to new experiences.

But trauma can push people outside that window. Some clients might get stuck in hyperarousal, feeling anxious, jumpy, or angry. Others might drop into hypoarousal—feeling numb, disconnected, or spaced out. Both states make it hard to process trauma in therapy.

Body-based therapies like Sensorimotor Psychotherapy help clients notice when they’re moving outside their window. By tracking sensations, movements, and small shifts in the body, therapists can help clients come back into a place of balance. That’s where real healing happens—when clients can stay present with what’s happening in their body and mind.

Why Body-Based Therapy Matters

Trauma is stored in the body, and sometimes talking about it just isn’t enough. When the body’s stuck in a survival state—fight, flight, or freeze—clients might find themselves reliving the past even when they know they’re safe now.

Body-based therapy helps clients reconnect with sensations and movements that got interrupted or shut down during the trauma. By paying attention to the body, therapists can guide clients to complete these unfinished experiences, bringing a sense of relief and empowerment.

Sensorimotor Psychotherapy was developed to bridge the gap between talk therapy and the body. It combines mindfulness, movement, and relational awareness to help clients safely process trauma. Research backs this up—Pat Ogden and colleagues (2006) found that working with the body helps integrate trauma memories that otherwise stay stuck.

Sensorimotor Psychotherapy: A Body-Based Approach Rooted in Neuroscience

Sensorimotor Psychotherapy was developed by Pat Ogden in the 1980s to address the places where talk therapy leaves off. It’s grounded in the understanding that trauma shows up not just in thoughts and feelings but in the body’s automatic reactions and patterns.

This approach integrates body awareness with insights from attachment theory and relational dynamics. It looks at how early experiences shape the nervous system and influence how clients respond to stress and relationships now.

A key element of Sensorimotor Psychotherapy is something called sequencing. Sequencing helps clients process trauma activation in a stepwise way, following the body’s natural process of moving through tension, impulses, and release. It’s a method of tracking the body’s responses, helping clients complete what couldn’t happen during the trauma.

Pierre Janet, one of the early pioneers in trauma theory, described the importance of completing these defensive actions, sometimes called acts of triumph. When clients couldn’t fight or flee at the time of the trauma, that energy can get stuck. Sensorimotor Psychotherapy supports clients in completing these actions in a safe, contained way, restoring a sense of agency and self-protection.

This is why SP is so well-suited to working with both shock trauma and complex developmental trauma. It helps clients not just understand what happened but actually process it in the body, supporting real, lasting change.

What This Means for Therapists

Understanding the body’s role in trauma can change the way you work with clients. When you recognise that trauma is stored in physical sensations and automatic patterns, you can start to see healing in a new light. It’s not just about what the client says or remembers but about how their body holds and expresses their experiences.

Sensorimotor Psychotherapy gives therapists tools to help clients explore these body stories safely. By working with sensations, posture, and movement, therapists can help clients complete experiences that got stuck. This can be especially powerful for developmental trauma where relational patterns have shaped the body’s responses to stress.

Adding a body-based approach like SP to your practice can deepen your work with trauma survivors. It can help you support clients in finding new ways to feel safe, grounded, and connected to themselves.

If you’re curious about learning more, Sensorimotor Psychotherapy Australia offers training that builds a solid foundation in these skills. It’s a way to bring both your knowledge and your presence into the room, supporting clients in a deeper, more integrated way.

Trauma isn’t just a memory or a feeling—it’s something that can live in the body long after the event has passed. Understanding how the body holds trauma helps us see why talking about it isn’t always enough.

Sensorimotor Psychotherapy offers a way to work with trauma in the body, using tools like sequencing and mindful movement to help clients process what got stuck. This approach doesn’t just focus on what happened but on how the body responded and how it can find a sense of safety and agency again.

As therapists, we have a chance to support clients in a deeper way by bringing the body into the room. It’s not about choosing the perfect technique but about being present, curious, and willing to learn.

If you’re ready to explore how body-based therapy can enrich your work, training in Sensorimotor Psychotherapy might be the next step.

References

• Ogden, P., Minton, K., & Pain, C. (2006). Trauma and the Body: A Sensorimotor Approach to Psychotherapy. W.W. Norton & Company.

• van der Kolk, B. (2014). The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma. Viking.

• Janet, P. (1907). The Major Symptoms of Hysteria. Macmillan.