How To Spot Hidden Trauma Responses, From A Psychologist

Identifying trauma responses is not easy—especially when it comes to hidden signs. 

As psychologist and trauma expert Peter Levine, Ph.D., said on a recent episode of the mindbodygreen podcast, "Trauma isn't just what happened to us, but rather it's what we hold inside." It's this reason that trauma responses aren't always so cut and dried. 

First up: Strong responses (commonly known as trigger responses) to something that may not call for such an intense outburst. 

"Many of us, particularly if this is big trauma, we have things that happen kind of out of the blue. For example, we're...we're at a party, and we meet somebody, and all of a sudden we feel terror and rage. Where is that coming from?" Levine says. 

Along the same lines as that above, you may find your body reacting to a trigger more than your conscious mind. "You know, we're in a situation with somebody and all of a sudden we're angry, or our guts tighten up, or our shoulders become tense… These are replays of trauma," Levine says. 

Many people assume trauma bonds exist only between the person being traumatized and the person inflicting trauma on someone—but according to Levine, the term defies those definitions. 

"Sometimes when we've been traumatized, we're drawn to the trauma person…[or] we're drawn to somebody who reminds us of that," he says. 

Whether it's a personality trait, tone of voice, physical resemblance, or even a way someone makes you feel that is reminiscent of a person who traumatized you in the past, it's worth taking note of—and avoiding when you can. 

"We want to be judicious," Levine says about identifying new friends or love interests. "We want to take the time to get to know somebody and see if they really are a person that would be nourishing that we might want to cultivate a friendship with." Or, if they simply remind you of someone from the past.

Trauma shows itself in strange ways, many of which you may not spot unless you know the signs of a trigger response ahead of time. As a rule of thumb, take a mental (or physical) note when you think you may have experienced an emotional or physical trauma response. By collecting the puzzle pieces, you'll have a better chance of seeing the full picture.