Dr Marlene Phillip | Trauma Ed

2437 followers

Follow

Follow

Follow

369 saved

823

117

Trauma does this to the brain

#trauma #traumahealing #traumahealing #healing #brain

2025/6/5 Edited to

Trauma has profound effects on the brain, significantly impacting areas such as the hippocampus, which is crucial for memory and learning. Many individuals who have experienced trauma report difficulties with focus, as the brain’s ability to process information becomes compromised. This alteration in brain function can lead to irrational responses from the amygdala, escalating emotional reactions in stressful situations. Research indicates that traumatic experiences can cause neurochemical changes, affecting mood regulation and increasing susceptibility to anxiety and depression. This makes understanding the brain's response to trauma vital for effective healing strategies. Therapeutic interventions, such as cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing), aim to address these neural alterations, facilitating recovery and improving overall mental health. Furthermore, awareness of these brain changes helps in creating supportive environments for individuals coping with trauma. Community support, coupled with an understanding of potential cognitive and emotional challenges, can significantly enhance the healing process. Healing from trauma is not just about addressing the emotional scars but also about promoting neuroplasticity, enabling the brain to adapt and recover from traumatic events effectively.

117 comments

Dr. Dr. Do you have a preferred way of treating C PTSD from childhood and adulthood and ADD? I am 65 and still struggling with recovering. I wonder if I ever will? I've seen so many therapist,Dr.s spiritual etc. I feel like Im missing something I should be doing. Should I just accept how I am and do the best I can?

See more comments

Related posts

The image shows the title 'How Child Abuse Changes the Brain' above a black and white photo of a child's silhouette sitting alone in a doorway. Text below explains that child abuse causes brain changes with lasting physical, emotional, and psychological effects.

The image displays the title 'How Child Abuse Effects the Brain' and text explaining that childhood is crucial for brain development, and abuse can disrupt this, leading to significant changes in brain structure.

The image lists ways child abuse changes the brain, including decreasing the Corpus Callosum and Hippocampus, causing overactivity in the Amygdala, dysfunction in the HPA Axis, and less volume in the Prefrontal Cortex.

This is what trauma does to a child’s brain

Some wounds aren’t visible, but they can change everything. What a child goes through can shape how their brain develops. It can affect memory, emotions, stress response, and even their ability to feel safe or trust others. This is why healing isn’t always simple. And this is why awareness m

2 likes

What betrayal trauma does to your body

Get your Betrayal Recovery Guide today 🙏 #betrayalrecovery

425 likes

Four books on trauma healing are displayed: 'What Happened to You?', 'No Bad Parts', 'The Body Keeps the Score', and 'It Didn't Start With You'. The image is titled 'BOOKS TO READ ABOUT Childhood Trauma' and states 'Essential for healing'.

Books for Healing & Understanding Trauma

Heal your inner child by learning about yourself on a deeper psychological level #traumahealing #childhoodtrauma #traumabooks #booksoflemon8

2204 likes

How Trauma Impacts the Brain 🧠

Trauma doesn’t just affect how we feel it changes how the brain functions. When trauma is ongoing or overwhelming, the brain adapts to survive: 🧠 Prefrontal Cortex (shrinks) Responsible for rational thought, decision-making, and emotional regulation. Trauma can make it harder to think clearl

130 likes

Trauma Changes Your Brain (and so does THIS!)

🧠Neuroplasticity is a blessing when it’s geared toward healing. ⁣ ⁣ 🧠Our brain, though, can also change in response to trauma. Notably, our amygdala, the fear center of the brain gets larger. Also, the prefrontal cortex and amygdala stop having important conversations. ⁣ ⁣ 🧠As our amygdala grow

1 like

Rewiring the Brain After Childhood Trauma

Why does childhood trauma hurt so much—even decades later? Because when you’re a child, you’re not just experiencing pain… You’re being wired by it. Trauma during key developmental stages shapes your brain, your beliefs, your nervous system, and your sense of safety. It doesn’t just hurt—it

24 likes

heal your personal trauma

One subject that I neglect often is books related to healing personal and family trauma However, it's a subject that I would love to learn more about, since it tends to blend elements of spirituality and psychology -- two subjects that fascinate me Have you read any of these books or hav

187 likes

What trauma does to the amygdala

The amygdala is your brain’s emotional center. It’s the part that senses danger and helps you stay safe. When you go through trauma, that part gets stuck on high alert. So even when you’re not in danger, your body feels like you are. That’s why you feel anxious. Why you snap quickly. Why smal

32 likes

🧠 Neuroplasticity & Trauma

Trauma wires the brain for survival. It strengthens fear-based pathways because repetition teaches the brain what to prioritize, but neuroplasticity reminds us of something powerful: ✨ The brain can relearn safety. Through: ✔️ Therapy ✔️ Coping skills ✔️ Support ✔️ Repeated practice The

743 likes

how to release anxiety & trauma from the body

it's true what they say...your body remembers what your mind wants to forget. I hope these unique ideas give you some inspiration to move your body in tension-releasing ways! I like how structured these are. #lemon8partner #positiveenergy #wellnessessentials #healingtrauma #healinga

249 likes

What trauma does to the prefrontal cortex

Trauma impacts the prefrontal cortex, the part of your brain that helps you plan, think clearly, and make decisions. When you’re stuck in survival mode, this part goes offline. You may feel foggy, impulsive, or like you can’t focus. Healing starts with safety. Before you can think straight

98 likes

Understanding the Brain's Trauma

We discuss how trauma affects the body's stress response systems, leading to an overactive or underactive cortisol production and a hypervigilant amygdala. However, we also explore how practices like yoga, mindfulness, and trauma therapy can help reset the nervous system and reclaim a sense of

26 likes

The image displays the 9 questions of the Childhood Trauma (ACE) Test, covering various adverse childhood experiences. It includes a scoring guide, where each 'Yes' answer counts as one point, categorizing scores into lower, high, and significant trauma risk levels.

Childhood Trauma Leaves Marks We Can’t See 🫶

So many of us grew up carrying scars no one ever talked about. The ACE trauma test shows just how deeply childhood abuse, neglect, or chaos can shape our lives. But here’s the truth: your score does not define your future. Healing is possible. 💜 Every “yes” might represent pain, but it also repr

699 likes

Factors That Shape Trauma Recovery: ❤️‍🩹

We discuss how two people can experience the same trauma, but one may struggle deeply while the other heals. Factors like childhood wounds, mental health, and the severity of the event itself can shape whether PTSD takes hold. Strong support and understanding can help the brain rebuild, while lack

13 likes

How EMDR Therapy Uses Eye Movements to Heal Trauma

#EMDR #TraumaHealing #EyeMovements #NeuroscienceBasedTherapy Oregon

12 likes

Learning a new language may help brain health

Did you know that learning a new language could rewire your brain, even amid illness? A 2019 study found that just eight weeks of language training led to increases in grey‑matter volume in key brain regions for people with Multiple Sclerosis (MS), an unpredictable neurological condition where t

10 likes

A flat lay shows a cup of coffee on a wooden board, an open book, eyeglasses, and a smartphone on white bedding. Text overlays read 'TRY IT TODAY!' and 'This 20 Minute Journaling Practice Changed Trauma Research,' promoting a journaling method for healing.

The Journaling Method That Helped Trauma Survivors Heal

Trauma isn’t just stored in the mind—it’s stored in the body and nervous system too. This blog explores James Pennebaker’s expressive writing research and how journaling may help process unresolved emotional experiences. Learn the 20-minute trauma writing method, benefits of expressive writing, and

5 likes

🍂 Ways to Begin Healing Generational Trauma 🤍

A lot of us became parents before we fully healed ourselves. And that can feel overwhelming sometimes. But healing generational trauma does not begin with perfection. It begins with awareness. With intentional choices. With deciding that the pain stops here. This carousel shares small,

30 likes

NCLEX Trauma Pattern You Should Know

🚨In trauma care, the body tries to compensate for decreased perfusion before collapse. Early warning signs can include: Restlessness Tachycardia Cool or pale skin When blood pressure drops, compensation may be failing and shock may be developing. Recognizing this pattern is essential

4 likes

When the brain learns survival mode too well.

Your brain is incredibly good at learning from experience. Unfortunately, that means if life teaches your brain that the world can be unpredictable and unsafe, it may upgrade its alarm system…. Permanently. So now the brain occasionally treats minor stress like it’s a full emergency. Las

100 likes

Sleep & Trauma:

Why Your Body Can’t Rest (And How to Help It Heal) #trauma #sleep #healing #nightmares #selfcare

24 likes

Rewire Your Brain After Trauma 🧠✨

Healing starts with your mindset. Learn how to rewire your brain after trauma and take back control of your thoughts, emotions, and life. This is your sign to start the inner work today. 🌱💛 #AskLemon8 #lemon8challenge #fyp #trauma #growth

48 likes

3 ways to start rewiring your brain after trauma

Trauma literally reshapes our brains and put us in survival. But healing can rewire it back to safety. I have a more detailed version on TikTok at drmarlenebphillip #trauma #traumahealing #neuralpathways #traumarecovery #healing

19 likes

Trauma changes you. Healing does too.

Trauma can make you guarded. Quiet. Hyper-aware. Tired in ways you can’t explain. It can shrink your voice. Dim your light. Make you question your worth. But healing? Healing rebuilds you. It teaches you boundaries. It strengthens your intuition. It helps you speak up without gui

7 likes

trauma by narcissistic

#narcknowledge #narcabuse #learnonlemon8 #besafe #trauma @andrea35reiss

8 likes

✨ TRAUMA MEMORIES RESURFACING ✨

Sometimes memories don’t disappear… they get buried and when they resurface, it can feel confusing, overwhelming, or even unreal. 🌱 Why Memories Get Buried • Survival mode → your brain protects you • Fragmented storage → trauma comes back in pieces (images, smells, sensations

445 likes

A book page featuring a brain diagram with the amygdala labeled, discussing how self-awareness accesses the emotional brain. Highlighted text emphasizes becoming aware of inner experience to change feelings, under the heading 'Befriending the Emotional Brain'.

A book page discussing yoga and neurofeedback for trauma, emphasizing calm breathing for recovery. Highlighted text advises focusing on breathing, especially the out-breath. It contrasts Western psychiatry with global traditions like mindfulness and movement for emotional regulation.

A book page explaining how mindfulness calms the nervous system and helps tolerate physical reactions. It describes observing physical sensations and their link to thoughts. Highlighted text notes mindfulness's positive effects on psychiatric and stress-related symptoms, including depression and pain.

mindfulness and healing trauma

the body keeps the score is hands down one of my favorite books. it outlines our physiological stress response to trauma, how it manifests physically and in our relationships with ourselves and others. the body keeps the score but you decide who wins. the more aware we are of ourselves the better o

6 likes

How does microd0sing change your brain? 🍄🌿✨

1 like

Generational Trauma Ends Where Healing Begins 🤍

A lot of us are trying to raise children while also re-parenting ourselves at the same time. Maybe you grew up around yelling, emotional neglect, criticism, chaos, silence, fear, addiction, emotional immaturity, or parents who never learned how to regulate themselves. Maybe love was there, but e

15 likes

Did you know trauma literally changes the brain?

Memory gaps, brain fog, over-alertness, freezing in stress — these aren’t flaws. They’re survival wiring. The science is clear: trauma reshapes the brain, but healing can rewire it too. 👉 Have you ever noticed “trauma brain” in your own life? Sometimes it helps to have something in your pock

29 likes

A warm, dimly lit room with an orange glowing spherical lamp and a candlestick on a white surface, next to a window with blinds. Text overlay reads: "8 signs you're breaking generational trauma."

A notebook with handwritten text and a Bible open in the background. Text overlay highlights: "noticing your parents' less desirable traits" and explains recognizing negative habits and character.

A person with long dark hair sits cross-legged on a rug in a bright room. Text overlay states: "choosing different patterns," describing intentional changes in habitual responses to life.

8 signs you’re breaking generational trauma 🥰

being the cycle breaker in your family is HARD!! not everyone will appreciate or even understand what you’re trying to do and some people will even actively stand in your way (which will ultimately just give you more lessons) but the impact of your effort will quite literally last for generat

2513 likes

How does Past Life Trauma Influence?

Past life regression session reveals how past life trauma can influence you today. Listen on youtube. Link in bio #pastlives #pastlifetrauma #soulhealing #traumahealing #awaken

2 likes

🍋✨Brain Functions✨🍋

⸻ ✨ Protect your peace like it’s gold—because it is. 🧠 Here’s what they don’t tell you: Your brain remembers everything—pain, energy, silence, chaos. That’s why I set boundaries, take breaks, and talk to myself softly. Call it self-care. Call it rewiring. Either way, I’m choosing peace on p

466 likes

Complex trauma signs 🍋🫶✨🌸

Complex trauma doesn’t always look the way people expect.. and that can stem from the fact that people think of only a few extreme stereotypical examples when they think of what is considered ‘trauma.’ Many survivors appear high-functioning.. responsible, successful, and capable. Their nervous

80 likes

book rec to help you heal your trauma

"The Body Keeps the Score" by Van der Kolk is a book about how trauma affects both our bodies and minds It explains how experiences like abuse or violence can change the brain and cause physical problems The book also talks about different ways people can heal from trauma, like therap

24 likes

7 Subtle Signs of Childhood Trauma

Sometimes the hardest battles are the ones we fight quietly — the ones rooted in experiences we barely remember but still feel every day. 💔 Childhood trauma doesn’t always look like what we think it does. It can show up in subtle ways: people-pleasing, fear of abandonment, emotional numbness, pe

1067 likes

The Psychology of Trauma Bonds

The body keeps score even when the mind tries to move on. Here's what trauma bonding actually does to you. For educational & awareness purposes only. #TraumaBonding #MentalHealth #EmotionalHealing #SelfAwareness #TraumaHealing

1 like

How Breathing Heals the Trauma-Stuck Body”

“These techniques help your nervous system reset. Trauma tells your brain the world isn’t safe. Breathing, relaxing, and imagining safety helps retrain your body and brain to believe: ‘I am safe now.’” #BreathingTechnique #TraumaHealing #ParasympatheticSystem #AnxietyRelief #Progre

22 likes

Is This ADHD… or a Trauma Response?

People-pleasing. Hyper‑independence. Over‑apologizing. Shutting down when overwhelmed. It doesn't always look like ADHD. Sometimes it looks like being “nice,” But underneath? It's your nervous system trying to survive. Be honest — Which one do you relate to the most right now

264 likes

The Truth about Trauma Bonding

Trauma bonding isn’t bonding over shared trauma. It’s when someone hurts you, but also shows moments of care or comfort, creating a confusing cycle that makes it harder to walk away. This isn’t weakness. It’s how the nervous system responds to inconsistent harm and relief.Healthy relationships fee

74 likes

📌 The Shocking Link Between ADHD & Trauma

📌 The Shocking Link Between ADHD & Trauma That No One Talks About (Neuroscience-Backed) 🧠✨ You’re not lazy. You’re not unmotivated. And you’re definitely not broken. ADHD and trauma have more in common than you think—here’s why: 🔹 Your Brain on Survival Mode: When you’ve experien

526 likes

Healing of Trauma

#trauma #heal #read #books

34 likes

REWIRE YOUR BRAIN!!🧠🌱

What does it mean to rewire your brain? .. It’s changing your thought patterns and habits by making a conscious effort to think differently. 95% of our decisions are decided by our subconscious though. Our brains are extremely powerful when it comes to how we live our lives. take control of it.

10 likes

Childhood Trauma

Some battles leave no bruises, no broken bones— just quiet chaos inside a nervous system that never learned to rest. This is what trauma does: it hides, it lingers, it rewires. You’re not weak for feeling it. You’re not broken for carrying it. You’re healing. And that healing is holy. — Alu

77 likes

An infographic titled 'TRAUMA BOND' explains what it is, its signs, why it happens, and how to break the cycle. It features illustrations of animals, a caged heart, and lists characteristics of healthy love like respect and trust.

#traumabond #fyp #fyplemon8 #fypage #fypviral

167 likes

Trauma Bonding 🖤

Trauma bonding is real… and many people are trapped in cycles they don’t even recognize. Sometimes trauma bonding looks like constantly forgiving hurt because of “the good moments.” Sometimes it looks like staying loyal to people who manipulate, drain, control, or emotionally wound you. Someti

17 likes

8 Signs You Might Be Carrying Acute Trauma

Acute trauma isn’t just a memory. It’s when one moment shocks your body so deeply it doesn’t reset. Did any of these resonate ? If so you are not alone and you are not broken. The Listening Room is open for you to unfold when you’re ready. @SarahAtGentleGrove #traumahealing #ne

71 likes

How Unhealed Trauma Turns Into Disease

Unhealed trauma doesn’t just stay buried in the past. It lives in your nervous system, your muscles, your gut, your immune system. Over time, it can look like brain fog, autoimmune flares, chronic fatigue, migraines, or even dementia-like symptoms. This is not “all in your head.” It’s your bod

300 likes

5 likes

A scenic landscape with mountains, water, and a field of flowers, featuring the title 'The Window of Tolerance' and text explaining how trauma affects survivors, with two yellow butterflies.

A scenic landscape with mountains, water, and a field of flowers, displaying text about Dr. Dan Siegel's Window of Tolerance model for trauma survivors.

A scenic landscape with mountains, water, and a field of flowers, explaining the 'window of tolerance' as a safe emotional zone and how trauma shrinks it.

The Window of Tolerance After Trauma

Guys the 10 picture limit really killed me here!😭 In my next post I will talk more about how dysregulation showed up for me, how I learned to recognize early signs, and tools I used to keep my emotions under control and eventually expand my window of tolerance. 🤍 I wanted to summarize a really

6 likes

See more