Trauma doesn’t always announce itself through memories or emotions. Often, it shows up quietly through pain that won’t resolve, exhaustion that doesn’t lift, or a body that feels constantly on edge. Many people live for years trying to “fix” physical symptoms without realising that their nervous system is still responding to past threats.
Emotional and psychological trauma can leave a lasting imprint on the body, shaping how we breathe, move, digest, and rest. Headaches, muscle pain, fatigue, or breathlessness may not feel connected to past experiences, yet they can be deeply linked. In this blog, we explore how trauma can manifest physically, with a focus on somatic symptom disorder, why these symptoms can develop, and how trauma-informed, body-based treatment can support healing.
What Is Somatic Symptom Disorder?
Somatic Symptom Disorder (SSD) is a real and recognised condition where someone experiences physical symptoms that are genuinely distressing and can greatly affect everyday life. These symptoms are very real, they are not imagined, exaggerated, or “all in the mind” as is too often stated by laypeople and certain medical professionals alike. At Khiron Clinics we often encounter people who have experienced denial and dismissal of their symptoms for years or even decades.
In SSD, the physical sensations themselves, along with the distress and worry surrounding them, become central to a person’s experience. Sometimes there is a clear medical explanation for the symptoms; sometimes there isn’t. What matters is not whether a cause can be found, but how disruptive and overwhelming the symptoms are.
People with SSD often feel dismissed or misunderstood, particularly if medical tests come back normal. Trauma-informed care recognises that the absence of a clear medical cause does not make the suffering any less real. This is central to our care at Khiron Clinics.
How Common Is Somatic Symptom Disorder?
Somatic Symptom Disorder is more common than many people realise. Research suggests that approximately 5%–7% of the general population may experience SSD, with significantly higher rates in medical and psychiatric settings.
It is especially prevalent among individuals with histories of trauma, chronic stress, or adverse childhood experiences. Factors such as gender, age, and exposure to ongoing stressors can also influence risk.
If you’re wondering how widespread this is, think of it as something many people live with quietly—particularly those who have had to stay strong through difficult or overwhelming experiences.
Common Somatic Symptoms of Trauma
Pain
Trauma can contribute to chronic pain even in the absence of injury. Headaches, back pain, joint pain, and abdominal discomfort are common. When the nervous system remains in a state of heightened alert, muscles stay tense even during stillness. Over time, this ongoing activation can lead to pain that feels persistent and unexplained.
Fatigue or Weakness
Many trauma survivors describe feeling exhausted despite adequate rest. This can stem from disrupted sleep, chronic hypervigilance, and the emotional load of staying alert for danger. When the nervous system rarely fully settles, the body doesn’t have the opportunity to restore itself and feeling fully rested can feel elusive and impossible.
Shortness of Breath (Dyspnea)
Trauma can affect breathing patterns, leading to breathlessness, tightness in the chest, or hyperventilation. While often associated with panic or anxiety, these sensations can occur on their own and feel frightening, sometimes mimicking heart or lung conditions. The more the sensation of breathlessness is noticed and feared, the more it can intensify, creating a self-reinforcing cycle where somatic symptoms and thoughts interact to create and maintain ongoing distress, reinforcing the body’s sense of threat and keeping the nervous system stuck in a state of fear and protection.
Other Symptoms
Dizziness, digestive problems such as IBS, numbness, tingling, tremors, or a sense of disconnection from the body are also common. These symptoms often overlap with other medical conditions, which is why careful, trauma-informed assessment is essential.
What Causes Somatic Symptom Disorder?
Somatic Symptom Disorder doesn’t have a single cause. Instead, it emerges from the interaction between life experiences, the nervous system, and the body’s natural survival responses. At Khiron Clinics, we understand SSD through a trauma-informed and polyvagal-informed lens, recognising that the body adapts intelligently to stress, threat, and overwhelm.
When someone has experienced trauma, chronic stress, or prolonged periods of feeling unsafe, the brain and autonomic nervous system can become oriented toward protection in a way that can cause benign stimuli (such as smells, sounds, feelings) to be detected as threatening. The nervous system learns to stay alert, scanning for danger as it’s supposed to, but in an ever-increasingly hypersensitive and overprotective way, a little like a dog jumping up and parking to alert of intruders at the sound of every passing car. Over time, this persistent state of alert and survival can shape how pain is felt, how the immune system functions, how digestion operates, and how much energy the body has available.
From this perspective, physical symptoms are not signs of failure or fragility. They are signals from a nervous system that learned to prioritise survival. SSD reflects a body that has been doing its best to protect itself for a very long time—and one that now needs support in learning that safety is possible again.
The Link Between Trauma and Somatic Symptoms
There is strong evidence linking trauma—particularly adverse childhood experiences—to the development of somatic symptoms later in life. Studies consistently show that the more traumatic events a person has experienced, the higher their risk of chronic physical symptoms.
This happens because trauma is not only remembered cognitively; it is stored physiologically. As many clinicians and researchers now recognise: it’s not just in your head—your body remembers trauma, too.
Polyvagal Theory helps explain this connection. The nervous system is constantly scanning for cues of safety or danger. When safety feels uncertain, the body may express distress through physical symptoms as a way of signalling unmet needs or unresolved threat.
Somatic Symptoms, Trauma, and Body Hyperawareness
For many people with Somatic Symptom Disorder, the difficulty lies not only in the symptoms themselves, but in the constant monitoring of the body. Sensations such as pain, breathlessness, or digestive changes are noticed quickly and can feel alarming, even when medical tests offer reassurance.
Trauma is a key risk factor in this heightened body awareness. When the nervous system has learned to stay alert for danger, that vigilance often turns inward. The body becomes closely scanned for signs of threat, creating a loop where fear and sensation reinforce one another.
From a trauma-informed perspective, this body hyper-vigilance is not excessive, it is adaptive. Treatment focuses on helping the nervous system feel safe enough to reduce constant surveillance and respond to the body with curiosity rather than fear.
Trauma That Disrupts Trust in the Body
Some forms of trauma specifically undermine a person’s ability to trust their own bodily signals and intuition. This is especially common in experiences where reality was denied, safety was inconsistent, or personal boundaries were repeatedly crossed.
Emotional neglect, sexual trauma, abuse, gaslighting, chronic invalidation, medical trauma, and childhood environments where feelings were dismissed can teach the nervous system that internal cues are unreliable or dangerous to follow. In these situations, the body may learn to stay alert while simultaneously disconnecting from sensation as a form of protection.
Over time, this can lead to confusion about bodily signals—difficulty knowing what feels safe, when to rest, or whether discomfort should be trusted. Rebuilding this relationship involves gently restoring attunement to the body, helping the nervous system learn that its signals can be noticed without being overridden or ignored.
At Khiron Clinics, this work is approached slowly and collaboratively, allowing trust in the body to be rebuilt through safety, consistency, and regulation rather than force or interpretation.
Treatment Options for Somatic Symptoms of Trauma
At Khiron Clinics, treatment for somatic symptoms of trauma begins with understanding the nervous system, not just the symptoms. As the world’s first Polyvagal-informed certified residential clinic, Khiron offers an integrative, trauma-informed approach that recognises physical symptoms as meaningful signals of a system shaped by past threat.
Care focuses on restoring safety and regulation in the body through a combination of evidence-based therapies, including trauma-focused psychotherapy, somatic and body-based approaches, and nervous-system-informed interventions. Treatment supports the nervous system in moving out of survival states through co-regulation, consistency, and connection.
This approach allows symptoms to soften as the body learns it no longer needs to stay on high alert. Healing becomes a gradual process of rebuilding trust in the body, increasing resilience, and supporting long-term recovery—addressing trauma at its root rather than managing symptoms alone.
If you have a client or know of someone struggling with anything you have read in this blog, reach out to us at Khiron Clinics. We believe that we can improve therapeutic outcomes and avoid misdiagnosis by providing an effective residential program and outpatient therapies addressing underlying psychological trauma. Allow us to help you find the path to realistic, long-lasting recovery. For more information, call us today. UK: 020 3811 2575 (24 hours). USA: (877) 561 4453 (24 hours).
FAQs: Somatic Symptom Disorder (SSD)
What is an example of a somatic symptom disorder?
A common example is persistent, distressing pain—like headaches, stomachaches, or muscle tension—that significantly impacts daily life. The pain is real and disruptive, even if medical tests don’t show a clear cause. What defines SSD is the emotional distress and preoccupation with these symptoms.
How do you deal with someone with somatic symptom disorder?
Support means validating their experience without dismissing symptoms. Encourage gentle awareness of the body, connection with safe support, and trauma-informed treatment. Avoid telling them “it’s all in your head”—their symptoms are real signals of a nervous system shaped by stress or trauma.
How does SSD differ from anxiety?
Anxiety involves worry and hypervigilance, often about potential future events. SSD specifically focuses on physical symptoms that cause distress and disruption, though anxiety often co-occurs. In SSD, the body’s sensations themselves become the focus of distress.
What is the best therapy for somatic symptoms?
Trauma-informed, body-based therapies are most effective. Approaches like somatic experiencing, Polyvagal-informed therapy, trauma-focused psychotherapy, and integrated residential programs help the nervous system learn safety, reducing hypervigilance and physical distress over time.
What’s the difference between somatic symptom disorder and illness anxiety disorder?
In SSD, the distress centres on physical symptoms themselves. In illness anxiety disorder (formerly hypochondria), there may be little or no actual symptoms, but the person experiences excessive fear or preoccupation with having a serious illness. Both involve heightened bodily awareness, but the focus differs.
