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When Your Alarm System Stays On: Understanding Trauma

10 min readEvidence-based
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Traumatic experiences can affect how safe you feel, how you react to reminders and how you relate to other people. "Trauma" can mean an overwhelming event, such as a serious accident, assault, disaster or sudden loss. It can also mean the lasting emotional impact of that event.

Trauma is common. International surveys suggest that about 70% of adults go through at least one potentially traumatic event in their lives. Yet most people recover over time with support. Only a minority go on to develop Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). In Australia, a national survey found that 5.6% of people aged 16–85 had PTSD in the past year.

Whatever your experience, your distress deserves attention, whether or not a diagnosis applies.

Types of traumatic experience

  • Single events: such as a car crash, assault, natural disaster or medical emergency.
  • Repeated or ongoing trauma: such as family violence, bullying, abuse or unsafe work.
  • Complex trauma: repeated harm, often in childhood or in close relationships, where escape was hard. This can affect how you manage emotions, see yourself and relate to others.
  • Vicarious trauma: repeated exposure to other people's trauma. This is common for first responders, health workers and support staff.

Not every painful or stressful experience is trauma. Most people face hard times, such as disappointment, conflict or loss, and cope with them in time. What makes an event traumatic is how overwhelming it was, the support available afterwards and what it came to mean to the person. Recognising our capacity to recover matters as much as recognising harm.

How trauma can show up

Strong reactions are common in the days and weeks after a frightening event. They often settle on their own. PTSD is when symptoms last longer than a month and get in the way of daily life. Symptoms fall into four groups:

  • Reliving: unwanted memories, nightmares or flashbacks, where it feels like the event is happening again.
  • Avoiding: staying away from reminders, including places, people, conversations, thoughts or feelings.
  • Changes in mood and beliefs: guilt, shame, numbness, feeling cut off, trouble trusting, or beliefs like "nowhere is safe" or "it was my fault".
  • Feeling on alert: being on edge, easily startled, irritable, unable to concentrate or sleep.

Complex PTSD includes these symptoms plus ongoing difficulty managing emotions, a deeply negative sense of self and problems in relationships. Trauma can also contribute to depression, anxiety, substance use and physical health problems.

Why a reminder can feel like a threat

After a frightening event, the brain's alarm system can become tuned to anything linked with it. A sound, smell, place or body sensation can set off a strong reaction, even when you are safe now. Someone who was in a crash might feel their heart race at a certain intersection. Avoiding it brings relief. But over time it can shrink the places they feel able to go. It also stops the brain from learning that the danger has passed.

Traumatic memories can feel different from ordinary memories. They may be broken up, vivid and feel like they belong to the present, not the past. Your reactions don't mean you are damaged or weak. And if you are still in danger, safety and practical support come first.

What helps recovery?

Most people are resilient, and recovery is the most common outcome. In the early weeks, it helps to feel safe, have people around you, get practical help, return to routines and talk about what happened when you are ready.

Being pushed to go over every detail straight after an event, sometimes called "debriefing", is not recommended. A Cochrane review found that single-session debriefing did not prevent PTSD and may have made some people worse. If symptoms last longer than about a month, or are severe, trauma-focused treatment is recommended.

How therapy can help

A review of 114 trials found strong support for trauma-focused therapies, including Cognitive Processing Therapy and EMDR, for adults with PTSD. Australian guidelines recommend trauma-focused therapies as first-line treatments. Below are four approaches our psychologists use. Each offers a different path to recovery, and they can be combined.

Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT)

CPT is a type of trauma-focused CBT developed by psychologist Patricia Resick and colleagues. It focuses on how trauma can change the way you think about yourself, others and the world. After trauma, people often get caught on painful conclusions, called "stuck points". Examples include "It was my fault", "I should have stopped it", "I can't trust anyone" or "The world is completely dangerous". These beliefs can keep PTSD going, along with guilt, shame and anger.

CPT usually runs over about 12 weekly sessions. In therapy, you might:

  • Learn about PTSD and why recovery can get stuck.
  • Write an "impact statement" about what the trauma has meant for you.
  • Identify stuck points and gently question them with worksheets, looking at what you knew and could do at the time.
  • Work through five key themes that trauma often affects: safety, trust, power and control, esteem, and intimacy.
  • Choose whether to write a detailed account of the trauma. This is optional.

CPT never excuses anyone who caused harm. It helps you reach more balanced, accurate conclusions, which often eases guilt and shame. The US National Center for PTSD describes CPT as one of the most effective treatments for PTSD.

Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR)

EMDR focuses on how traumatic memories are stored. Memories of trauma can stay raw and vivid, so reminders trigger the same fear, images and body reactions as the original event. EMDR aims to help the brain process these memories so they feel more like the past.

In therapy, you might:

  • Prepare by learning ways to settle yourself, such as grounding or imagining a calm place.
  • Choose a target memory and notice the image, the negative belief (such as "I'm powerless"), the feelings and body sensations linked to it.
  • Briefly hold the memory in mind while following side-to-side eye movements, sounds or tapping, in short sets with check-ins.
  • Strengthen a more helpful belief, such as "I survived" or "I'm safe now".

Treatment starts with history-taking and preparation, so you have skills to settle yourself before any processing begins. You don't usually need to describe the event in detail. Over time, the memory often becomes less vivid and distressing. EMDR is one of the treatments recommended in Australian and international PTSD guidelines. Read more about EMDR.

Internal Family Systems (IFS)

IFS sees the mind as made up of different "parts". From this view, trauma can leave hurt parts, called exiles, carrying heavy burdens: intense fear, shame or helplessness, and beliefs such as "I'm not safe", "it was my fault" or "I'm broken". Other parts become protectors. Some stay on high alert, avoid reminders or keep people at a distance. Others act fast when pain breaks through, by going numb, zoning out, drinking or lashing out. These protectors developed to help you survive, but they can get stuck in extreme roles, acting as if the danger is still happening.

IFS also describes a Self: a core of calm, curiosity, compassion, clarity and courage that trauma cannot destroy. In therapy, you might:

  • Get to know protective parts first, and appreciate how they have kept you safe.
  • Ask their permission before approaching painful material, so protectors set the pace.
  • Witness hurt parts from Self, so they no longer feel alone with what happened.
  • Help them release their burdens, so protectors can step back.

This can bring clarity, connection and harmony to the inner system. A 2026 trial of an online group IFS program for adults with PTSD found large reductions in symptoms, with high satisfaction and attendance.

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)

ACT focuses on how trauma can narrow life. Understandably, people often try hard to avoid painful memories, feelings and reminders. That avoidance can protect in the short term. But over time, it can mean missing out on relationships, work and activities that matter.

In therapy, you might:

  • Notice painful thoughts, such as "I'm damaged", as thoughts rather than truths.
  • Make room for difficult feelings and body sensations, using grounding and mindfulness skills.
  • Come back to the present when memories pull you into the past.
  • Reconnect with your values, such as closeness, independence or contribution.
  • Take small, meaningful steps back into life, even when fear shows up.

For example, you might notice fear rise at the shops, name it, breathe with it, and still finish your shopping because independence matters to you. Acceptance never means accepting abuse or staying in danger. It means that trauma no longer gets to decide how you live. ACT skills can also support other trauma therapies.

Other options

Prolonged Exposure is another trauma-focused CBT. It involves gradually revisiting the memory and returning to avoided situations, so they lose their power. A history of repeated or complex trauma does not mean treatment can't help. Some people first need time to build skills for managing strong emotions. Others can start trauma-focused work sooner. Medication may also help some people. Talk to your GP or a psychiatrist about this.

Looking after yourself

  • Keep routines: regular meals, sleep and daily structure help the nervous system settle.
  • Stay connected: spend time with people who feel safe, even if you don't talk about what happened.
  • Use grounding: noticing what you can see, hear and feel right now can help when memories intrude.
  • Be careful with alcohol and drugs: they may bring short-term relief but tend to make symptoms worse.
  • Be patient: recovery is rarely a straight line. Hard days are not failures.

Supporting someone after trauma

Being there matters more than finding the right words. Listen if they want to talk, but don't push for details. Avoid minimising ("at least…") or blaming. Offer practical help, let them stay in control of their recovery, and encourage professional support if things don't improve. Look after yourself too.

Getting support at Invision Psychology

Our psychologists offer EMDR and trauma-focused therapy at our clinics in Rockhampton (2/72 Bolsover Street) and Yeppoon (3/26 James Street), and by telehealth for people across Central Queensland and beyond.

  • You don't need to know which therapy you want. Your first appointment is a chance to talk about what's happening and what you'd like to change.
  • Medicare: with a Mental Health Treatment Plan from your GP, you may be able to claim a Medicare rebate for up to 10 sessions each calendar year. See our fees.
  • NDIS: we work with self-managed and plan-managed NDIS participants.

Make an enquiry or call 07 5641 4888.

If you need help now

If you or someone else is in immediate danger, call 000. For 24/7 support:

  • Lifeline: 13 11 14
  • Beyond Blue: 1300 22 4636
  • 13YARN (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people): 13 92 76
  • Kids Helpline (ages 5–25): 1800 55 1800
  • 1800RESPECT (sexual, domestic or family violence): 1800 737 732

An appointment enquiry is not an emergency service.

About the author

Alex Parkes BPsychSci, GradDipPsych, MPsych, MAAPi
Founder and Principal Psychologist, Invision Psychology. Level 1 trained Internal Family Systems practitioner.

Published September 2026 · Last reviewed September 2026 · Next review due September 2027

This article gives general information based on published research. It is not a substitute for personalised advice from a qualified health professional.

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