PTSD and C–PTSD – The Path to Nervous System Mastery, True Power and Freedom
- Brainz Magazine
- Aug 11
- 11 min read
Written by Kate Alderman, Somatic Sexologist
Kate Alderman is a Trauma-Informed Somatic Therapist, Somatic Sexologist, Nervous System Recovery Coach, and Executive Contributor for Brainz Magazine. She is also the founder of: You’re A Strong Woman Foundation - Domestic Violence Prevention and Recovery. With a decade of experience in plant medicines and extensive expertise in sexual empowerment, trauma-informed healing, and somatic coaching, Kate empowers individuals and couples to reclaim their power and thrive through embodied practices and transformative coaching.
In a world that idealises toughness, discipline, and self-control, trauma often hides in plain sight. We learn to armour up, to push through, to master our fear, but beneath the surface, our nervous system tells the truth. Not the story we tell others, but the one our body whispers at night when the world is quiet: the restlessness, anxiety, stress, hypervigilance, the avoidance of intimacy, the freeze, the collapse, and the anger and frustration that sit beneath the surface.
I work with people who carry trauma they didn’t know they had. Many are successful, intelligent, high-functioning adults, and some are survivors of abuse and violence. Others come from high-pressure families or have grown up navigating physical and emotional neglect, abandonment, chaos, abuse, invisible expectations, or unspoken rules. They come to me seeking clarity, support, peace, and language to express their needs and desires. They want to feel more, and they want their power and freedom back.
What they learn is this:
True power isn’t about controlling, forcing, or being super disciplined with our body. It’s also not about having control over other people. True power is about mastering ourselves—our emotions, choices, and reactions, combined with the courage to be authentic and speak our truth, even when it’s difficult.
Real freedom comes when we understand the deep terrain of the nervous system, how suppressed emotions and trauma live in our body, how to recognise the signals, and how to restore harmony from within.
This article is an invitation into that inner terrain.
Trauma is the truth hidden in the nervous system
Trauma isn’t defined by what happened; it’s defined by how our nervous system responded to what happened. It’s not the event or series of events, but the impact it had on our system’s capacity to cope, process, and respond.
Trauma is anything that overwhelms the brain’s capacity to cope or process, especially when we’re unable to respond, we face the upset alone, and we don’t have the tools to integrate or move the emotional experience through our nervous system.
We often think of trauma as something “big” like assault, violence, abuse, or crisis. But complex trauma (C-PTSD) comes from repeated micro-events that feel unsafe or disempowering over time: emotional abuse, neglect, control, betrayal, chronic shame, inconsistent care, coercion, bullying, medical trauma, or cultural oppression.
Put simply, trauma is anything too much, too soon, or too fast for our nervous system to handle, and any emotional experience that hasn’t been fully sequenced through our body.
When fight, flight, or safety aren’t accessible, our nervous system accumulates and stores that unresolved energy. It waits for a time when it’s finally safe enough to feel. This is why trauma can show up years later, long after we thought we had “moved on.”
PTSD vs. C-PTSD
PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) usually stems from a single overwhelming event, such as a physical assault, accident, natural disaster, or medical emergency.
C-PTSD (Complex PTSD) arises from prolonged exposure to overwhelming events, such as growing up with a controlling, unpredictable, or emotionally unavailable caregiver, being entrapped in a relationship with a person who is violent, abusive, or controlling, or being repeatedly invalidated, shamed, or isolated.
PTSD symptoms may include
Flashbacks or nightmares
Intrusive memories or rumination
Hypervigilance or panic
Avoidance or withdrawal
Emotional outbursts, numbness, or detachment
Physical reactions to triggers
Low self-worth and feeling disconnected
Difficulty concentrating
Physical tension, chronic pain, or digestive issues
C-PTSD may include all of the above, but also
Chronic shame, self-blame, or anxiety
Difficulty trusting self and others
Persistent feelings of emptiness or hopelessness
Emotional flashbacks and dysregulation (feeling too much or not at all)
Dissociation (checking out, losing time, feeling disconnected from reality)
Deep fear of abandonment or rejection
Relational struggles and boundary confusion
Chronic anxiety, rumination, procrastination, or avoidance
Low libido and loss of desire
Erectile dysfunction or premature ejaculation
Pain or tension during sexual intimacy
Hypersexuality to escape
Freezing, fawning, collapsing, and shutting down
C-PTSD is a deep relational wound. It develops in environments where we had to give up our authenticity and abandon ourselves to maintain connection or safety. We learned to be the peacemaker, the achiever, the caretaker, or the strong one. We learned to suppress parts of ourselves because it wasn’t safe. We also learned that it wasn’t safe to say “no.” Our coping mechanisms become our identity without us even realising it.
People with C-PTSD are some of the most deeply caring, perceptive, and emotionally intelligent people I know. They’ve developed superpowers of attunement, protection, and adaptability, but these gifts were formed in a state of survival. What has been shaped in survival mode can be reshaped through transformative practices. You can rewire your nervous system for true peace, love, connection, pleasure, joy, and aliveness beyond imagination.
Nervous system recovery
I describe the nervous system as the first and last place we meet the potential of power.
From our earliest moments of life, our nervous system is wired by the invisible threads of safety, presence, responsiveness, and empowerment through connection, attunement, and protection, or the lack thereof.
The nervous system is also the place where we return to heal, restore, and reclaim what was lost, taken, interrupted, or never given the chance to develop.
Life brings accumulated, unresolved, and suppressed emotions (trauma) to the surface, and that’s not a problem; it’s an opportunity.
Signs you might be carrying unresolved trauma
You rely on coping mechanisms or addictions to manage your emotions, energy, or sense of safety
You struggle with sleep, digestion, or immune issues
You people-please or hyperfocus on perfectionism
You feel disconnected from joy, intimacy, or purpose
You push yourself past limits and ignore pain
You feel intense shame, or like something is inherently wrong with you
You collapse under pressure after success, connection, or visibility
You overreact or feel numb to a perceived threat
You freeze when things get intense
If this is you, you are not broken. Your intelligent brain and nervous system are very adaptive.
Coping mechanisms as symptoms
Coping mechanisms like people-pleasing, perfectionism, emotional numbing, overworking, emotional caretaking, or hyper-independence are all adaptive responses to trauma. They are efforts to regulate overwhelming emotions, attempts to avoid more harm, and ways to stay connected or maintain safety in unsafe environments.
While these survival patterns may have served us in the past, they become maladaptive over time, draining our emotional resources, straining our relationships, and leaving us feeling disconnected from our authentic selves or unsure of who we are beneath all the coping.
Addictions as survival strategies
Addictions, whether to substances, food, work, sex, shopping, screens, porn, gambling, or even drama and chaos, are self-regulation strategies. Yes, drama and chaos can feel “normal” to a nervous system that’s only familiar with drama and chaos.
Some addictions can even appear healthy: exercising, strict training regimes, rigid yoga or meditation practices, psychedelic experiences, or a constant drive to help others. When these tools are used to avoid rather than meet what’s beneath the surface, they stop being supportive. The tool becomes a weapon when it’s overused, misapplied, or not practised with intention. True healing asks not just what we’re doing, but why, and whether our body feels safer or more fragmented in the process.
All addictions temporarily soothe, numb, or distract us from the uncomfortable sensations of unprocessed emotions or trauma.
From a somatic lens, stress, anxiety, dysfunction, depression, and addiction are symptoms—expressions of a nervous system that’s seeking relief and safety in the only way it currently knows how. This is biology, not diagnosis or failure.
Practices for trauma recovery
Trauma recovery isn’t about becoming “softer,” it’s about becoming more authentic, clear, responsive, and embodied.
Integration doesn’t happen through willpower; it happens through your relationship with yourself and your body. Healing trauma isn’t about reliving or rehashing the past; it’s about creating new pathways within the nervous system that are aligned with your becoming. Resilience comes from staying gently connected to the trauma, not to relive it, but to stay present with it and access the wisdom it left behind in your body.
Here are a few foundational tools I offer my clients:
Grounding
Feel your feet on the floor, wiggle your toes, press your hands together, and breathe into the centre of your body. Repeat: “I move from my centre, I return to my centre.” Get curious about the sensations you’re noticing in your body, not to fix or change, but to be with your body and witness. This practice brings you into the present moment and is even more beneficial when you’re connecting with nature.
Sound, movement practice, touch, and meditation
Tapping parts of your body, shaking your limbs, self-holding, mindful movement, yoga, martial arts, humming to stimulate the vagus nerve, bodywork, and meditation all support nervous system regulation.
Resourcing
Ask yourself: When do I feel safe? Bring to mind a memory, person, place, pet, or image that feels safe or comforting. Let your body feel this reference point for safety as you anchor into what is working.
If you’re unable to locate a sense of safety, start by slowing down and observing throughout your day. Notice when you feel calm, relaxed, and at ease, and just as importantly, notice which environments or people leave you feeling tense or unsafe. This awareness helps you discern where, and with which people, your nervous system can truly thrive.
Completion techniques
If you never got to run, scream, yell, fight back, or speak up, your body is likely still holding that expression and unspoken energy. Somatic work helps release this through gentle emotional freedom techniques and practices.
Get curious about your emotions
Name the emotion you are experiencing. Validate the emotion: “This emotion makes sense.” Compassionate self-talk and being kind to yourself are self-regulating (beating yourself up doesn’t work). Allow the embodied wise you to reassure the part of you that’s hurting, needing support, or protection.
This practice strengthens emotional intelligence and inner attunement by engaging the cortex (the logical and reflective part of the brain) and cultivating compassionate self-awareness. It gently primes the nervous system for deeper somatic work, bridging the gap between insight and integration.
Body to mind – limbic to cortex
If you’re feeling extremely emotional, journal it out or speak it out with a supportive friend or therapist for reassurance and validation.
Mind to body – cortex to limbic
If your mind is excessively ruminating, drop into your body and feel the emotions that come up as you lean into the story looping in your mind.
A note on emotional suppression
Many clients I work with have never had permission to feel their emotions.
For men, this often stems from being conditioned to provide, protect, and perform, so when emotions rise to the surface, they’re met with shame, confusion, or the belief that feeling emotions makes them weak or feminine.
For women, suppressed emotions stem from being conditioned to have no needs, desires, or opinions, to stay composed, be agreeable, and prioritise the needs of others over their own. Feeling deeply is often dismissed as “too much,” “too emotional,” or “inappropriate,” leading many to silence their truth to stay connected.
Let me be clear:
You can be powerful and tender
You can be fierce and feel
You can be protective and still need protection
You can have needs, desires, and an opinion, and still be supportive of others
Power doesn’t disappear when you heal; it becomes more refined, more aware, and more attuned to self and others, and that’s the kind of power the world needs now.
We must talk about rest
We don’t need to earn rest, we need to reclaim it.
In a high-performance culture, rest is often treated as a reward, something we can have after we’ve proven our worth. But for a traumatised nervous system, rest isn’t a luxury, it’s essential. When you’ve been living in fight, flight, or freeze, your body can forget how to down-regulate. That’s why you might feel tired but wired, unable to sleep, or completely burnt out even when life seems to be “going well.”
Part of trauma recovery is giving your nervous system permission to slow down and feel what was never safe to feel. This isn’t weakness, it’s restoration, reverence, and being fully alive. Rest is part of rebuilding the pathways of safety and connection.
Rest doesn’t have to be about doing nothing. It can be about reweaving safety through slowness, stillness, presence, care, and creativity. It’s about rebuilding the inner foundations of resilience, capacity, and connection from the inside out.
The benefits of creativity and flow–state
Creativity also isn’t a luxury; it’s a lifeline.
For a nervous system shaped by trauma, stillness can feel unbearable, but creativity and flow-state offer safe, embodied ways to return home to ourselves and our expression. They become biological pathways back to regulation, rhythm, flow, and connection.
When we enter flow-state, whether through writing, music, martial arts, gardening, dancing, surfing, playing an instrument, cooking, or doing meaningful work, the brain releases dopamine, endorphins, and norepinephrine. These neurochemicals help regulate the nervous system, lower stress hormones, sharpen focus, and cultivate a felt sense of safety. Flow-state is a biological reset.
In survival mode, life becomes a cycle of tasks, vigilance, and self-protection. Healing unfolds through a new rhythm of creativity, playfulness, and authentic expression.
True creativity is a form of rest; it’s not about escaping, it’s about deeply tuning in. This is how we re-create identity, agency, and aliveness. You don’t need to be an artist to be creative; you only need to gift yourself permission to come alive again, in whatever form that takes for you.
Healing is about reminding your body that it’s safe to be you.
Healing is possible
No matter how long you’ve carried trauma, you can heal it. Your nervous system is designed for truth, repair, rhythm, flow, and relationship. Recovery is not linear. True progress is felt when the body softens, the breath deepens, emotions flow, and the mind rests in peace and presence.
Freedom is reclaimed and embodied one deep breath, one bold choice, and one courageous step at a time. You are not alone; support and healing are within reach every step of the way. Whether it’s through trauma-informed somatic therapy, somatic sexology, nervous system recovery, or safe community, you are not healing alone. We heal in connection and community, not in isolation.
The path of the integrated warrior
There’s a warrior who fights from armour, and there’s a warrior who moves from presence.
One protects through control, and the other protects through clarity, connection, and community. Your nervous system is your compass.
And when you learn to work with it, rather than against it, everything changes:
Boundaries are clear
Discernment sharpens
Reaction becomes response
Power is real and internal, not performative
The full spectrum of emotions is embodied, creating full-spectrum living and thriving
Relationships deepen
Community uplifts you
This is the path of trauma integration, not just to master self, but to reclaim who you are, no longer numbing the past, but restoring aliveness in the present.
May we all come home to the quiet intelligence of the body, the place where truth lives.
And may you remember:
You are not defined by what happened to you.
You are the one who endured, adapted, and you’ll thrive beyond it.
The collective impact
When we heal our nervous system, we don’t just change our life, we change the culture we live in. A regulated, self-aware, discerning, and empathic human is harder to manipulate, control, or confuse. True warriors lead from presence, not performance; they protect without armour, and they connect without abandoning themselves.
Healing trauma on the individual level creates a ripple effect that shapes families, workplaces, and communities. It interrupts cycles of abuse, emotional suppression, burnout, and codependency. It invites a new culture grounded in autonomy, embodiment, clarity, courage, empathy, true power, and love.
This is how collective healing begins. Not through mass awakening all at once, but through one nervous system at a time, human by human, breath by breath, returning home.
If this article resonates with you, you recognise patterns in your own body, relationships, or life, and support is available; you don’t have to navigate it alone. I offer trauma-informed, somatic-based support to help you safely process, integrate, and reclaim what’s been stored in your nervous system. Whether you’re just beginning or deep into your healing, you’re welcome to reach out to explore what true safety, power, and wholeness feel like from the inside out.
Kate Alderman, Somatic Sexologist
Kate Alderman is a Trauma-Informed Somatic Therapist, Somatic Sexologist, Nervous System Recovery Coach, and Executive Contributor for Brainz Magazine. She is also the founder of: You’re A Strong Woman Foundation - Domestic Violence Prevention and Recovery. With over a decade of experience in plant medicine and extensive expertise in somatic sexology, Kate supports individuals and couples in reclaiming their power, healing, and thriving through embodied practices and transformative coaching. She offers a safe, judgment-free, compassionate space for deep healing and integration, using somatic therapy and a trauma-informed, body-based approach. As a survivor of intimate partner violence, Kate is committed to supporting others on their recovery journey and raising awareness about domestic violence. She excels at bridging the gap between science and spirituality, delivering her wisdom in a practical context that inspires, motivates, and offers new perspectives.
