Blog: Trauma & The Nervous System
When we talk about healing after trauma, we often focus on emotions or memories. But there’s another crucial layer that’s sometimes overlooked: our ability to feel what’s happening inside our bodies.
This inner sense is called interoception — and for many trauma survivors, it can become blurred, confusing, or even switched off altogether. In this blog, we’ll explore what interoception is, how it connects to the nervous system, and what happens when it’s disrupted.
What Is Interoception?
Interoception is your body's ability to perceive internal sensations.
It helps you notice:
Your heartbeat speeding up or slowing down
The feeling of hunger or thirst
Changes in temperature
The need to stretch, move, or rest
Emotional shifts like anxiety, calmness, sadness, or excitement
In a well-functioning system, interoception acts as a bridge between body and mind, sending signals that help you meet your physical and emotional needs. You don't have to think about it consciously — your body simply tells you what it needs, and you respond.
How the Nervous System Regulates Interoception
The autonomic nervous system (ANS) manages automatic functions like breathing, heart rate, digestion, and stress responses. It is always scanning for cues of safety or danger, adjusting your internal state accordingly.
The ANS has three main states (according to Polyvagal Theory by Dr. Stephen Porges):
Ventral Vagal State: When we feel safe, socially connected, calm, and engaged.
Sympathetic State: When the system activates for fight-or-flight, preparing for danger.
Dorsal Vagal State: When the system moves toward freeze, shutdown, or dissociation to survive overwhelming threats.
Interoception relies on the nervous system being balanced and responsive. When the body feels safe, signals from within are clear and manageable. When the nervous system is dysregulated, these signals can either become overwhelming (hypersensitivity) or fade into the background (numbness or disconnection).
What Happens When Interoception Is Disrupted?
When trauma, chronic stress, or overwhelming events occur, the body sometimes turns down the volume on internal sensations as a survival strategy.
You might experience:
Vague or confusing body signals (e.g., not realizing you are hungry, tired, or stressed until it becomes extreme)
Numbness or disconnection from parts of the body
Difficulty identifying emotions (sometimes called alexithymia)
Feeling overwhelmed by sensations (e.g., feeling flooded by panic, nausea, or pain without warning)
Loss of trust in bodily signals ("I can't tell what I feel, or if it's real")
In short, trauma can cause the body's communication pathways to become tangled or muted, making it harder to stay connected to ourselves in the present moment.
Rebuilding Interoceptive Awareness
Healing interoception doesn't happen overnight. It's a process of gently inviting awareness back into the body — without overwhelming it. Some approaches that can help include:
Somatic practices: Gentle body scans, mindful movement, and breathwork
Safe, consistent grounding techniques
Therapeutic touch or bodywork
Working with a trauma-informed therapist
Restoring curiosity toward bodily sensations without judgment
The goal isn’t to force yourself to “feel more,” but to slowly rebuild a sense of safety inside your skin — to listen, respect, and respond to your body's signals with compassion.
A Final Thought
If you notice yourself feeling disconnected, numb, or overwhelmed by your body's sensations, you’re not broken — you are adaptive.
Your body did what it needed to survive. Healing is about creating the right conditions for trust and connection to return.
