Rethinking Trauma: Understanding Intrusion Symptoms

This is Part 2 in a series on rethinking the trauma response. We have inherited a lie that the trauma response is a sign of strength and dysfunction. Newer science reveals that the trauma response is a protective and adaptive response. It is at its root a sign of strength and the human will to survive. While the symptoms of trauma indeed cause distress, if we can understand the response correctly, we can heal without shame.

In her pioneering work Trauma and Recovery, Judith Herman explains that there is a dialectic—a fundamental tension—at the center of trauma. This tension can be seen most vividly in the way that we simultaneously want to keep silent and want to tell. Traumas at the same time want to be spoken and silenced, hidden away and brought into the light. This irresolvable tension results in symptoms—central to trauma and PTSD is the experience of intrusion. Unintegrated memories do not lie still, they intrude into the present and eclipse it.

Photo by Nsey Benajah on Unsplash

Intrusion: What Is It?

The first noted use of the word intrusion was in reference to an unjust usurpation of power, an invasion of property. The word literally means ‘to thrust (or force) in.’

Intrusion symptoms are unwelcome, they are a way of the past forcing itself into the present. They invade your mind and body unbidden, and steal power away from you, making it essentially impossible to enjoy the moment.

There are three general ways that the traumatic past intrudes into the present. Intrusive thoughts, memories, nightmares, and triggers.

Intrusive thoughts force themselves into consciousness when you are trying to do or think about something else. They often run through your mind on a loop, and they can seem sort of loud or dominating (not the same as actually hearing voices). Sometimes it’s helpful to define things by thinking about what they are not; think about it this way; this is the opposite of when you sit down and try and think of something. Intrusive thoughts pop in unbidden and take over. They interrupt. And they can be thoughts about the trauma that you experienced, or pieces of the trauma itself.

We all know what nightmares are, but there’s one important thing to understand here. Traumatic nightmares are not limited to dreams where you relive the exact trauma over again. In fact, it is quite common to have upsetting dreams where the feeling is relived rather than the specific situation. You might not dream of the car accident that you survived—but you might have dreams where you feel the same way that you did in that moment (trapped, frantic, in pain, and so on.).

Triggers are when the past forces itself into the present somatically instead of consciously. You may find yourself physically panicked, flooded, or shut down because you run into a reminder of the trauma. There’s a lot to say about triggers, but what is critically important to understand is that we are not always consciously aware of our triggers. Because of the way that traumatic memories get encoded and stored in the brain (more on that another time), we don’t always have the kind of access to them that would make it possible for us to connect the somatic symptom with a conscious memory.

Traumatic memories are fragmented memories, what intrudes on the present is often just a fragment. Sometimes an unintelligible one.

Intrusion: Why Does It Happen?

A traumatic experience is so overwhelming that it shuts down our regular record-keeping processes. We don’t get structured memories that we can neatly file away and assign meaning to. We get fragments—flashes, feelings, and terrible sensations in our bodies. But we need to process what we live through. Especially the overwhelming stuff. The trauma waits for us.

Remember what Judith Herman said above about the dialectic of trauma? There’s a push-pull, an irresolvable tension. The traumatic experience wants to be processed and filed away, it wants to have a meaning assigned to it so that it can recede into the past. At the same time, it resists being spoken. It gets stuck. And then forces itself unstuck. And then it rushes forth and demands attention.

The problem though, is that it brings with it all of the initial overwhelm. Instead of calmly walking into the room and asking a question, it bursts in screaming. Not a lot gets done when there is screaming and overwhelm, so you slam the door shut again.

None of this is voluntary, by the way. We can intervene in these processes and change them, but we can’t stop them from happening. We experience memory intrusively because that is how we are built. Our poor little brains and bodies are just doing the very best that they can with the overwhelming amount of information that comes flooding in at any given moment.

Trauma Essential Reads

How Supporting Others Helps the Displaced Gain Resiliency

Born in the Basement: How to Overcome a Difficult Childhood

The most important thing to understand is that intrusion symptoms occur because there is something that has not yet been processed or integrated. That’s all. The intrusive memories set in because your brain and body are detecting threats, and they are simply trying to protect you. Again, the trauma response is borne of strength and adaptation, not weakness.

Intrusion: What Can I Do About It?

Okay, that’s all very well and good, you might be thinking, but how do I get this to stop? Healing from trauma is a life-long path, but here are three steps you can take to begin to intervene on these upsetting symptoms:

1. The very first step is to recognize and acknowledge that it is happening and accept it. What does acceptance look like? These thoughts are coming up for a good reason. It may feel like they are trying to destroy your life, but they are not. They are simply trying to find their home among your thoughts and memories.
2. Start building a somatic toolbox. What things can you do for yourself when you are feeling the intrusion symptoms in your body? Make a list of five to 10 things that reliably calm you down when you’re upset.
3. The only way to solve the irresolvable tension is to figure out a way to speak the unspeakable. This is a great moment to find a therapist, especially if you've never told this story before. In addition to this, consider different ways you can tell and retell your story. Each time you do this, you signal your brain that the event happened in the past, rather than it happening in the present.