Embodied Trauma: When Memory Lives in the Body

Abstract

Trauma is not solely a psychological imprint chronicled in narrative memory—it is also profoundly embodied, manifesting across physiology, sensorimotor systems, and implicit memory networks. Traditional cognitive paradigms that focus on verbal recall and narrative reconstruction overlook the ways traumatic experiences become ingrained in the body’s perceptual, autonomic, and affective processes. This review synthesizes multidisciplinary research from neuroscience, psychotraumatology, clinical psychology, and somatic therapy to elucidate how traumatic memory becomes embedded in bodily systems and how this embodied memory is expressed clinically. We explore neurobiological mechanisms underlying trauma encoding in the autonomic nervous system and sensorimotor networks, the role of implicit and procedural memory in trauma persistence, and phenomenological insights into how the body “keeps the score.” We also evaluate clinical implications for embodied therapeutic approaches—including somatic experiencing and sensorimotor psychotherapy—that target trauma at the body–mind interface. Understanding trauma as an embodied phenomenon offers a more integrative framework for assessment and healing, bridging neural, psychological, and somatic domains.