Neurofeedback
for PTSD and Trauma
Train your brain to change your perceptions and automatic reactions
In the context of brain function, trauma can be defined as any event or experience that changes your perception of yourself and your place in the world. It may occur as the result of one single event, or it could build up gradually due to a threatening or neglectful environment.
The imprint of trauma exists in our society in epidemic proportions; from war and its victims, to victims of sexual, physical, and emotional abuse. As everyone with trauma knows, when brain activity is altered by traumatic events it can be a heavy burden to carry. What may have served us as a necessary self-preservation response in the past seldom serves us in the present.
Trauma is broadly classed in two categories. Trauma can often manifest as a combination of the two, as the nervous system shifts between one and the other:
- Hyper-vigilance; readiness for fight or flight
- Freeze and dissociation
Hyper-Vigilance and Trauma
A heightened state of awareness is part of the fight/flight response, resulting in a state of chronic hyper vigilance. This state is akin to being locked into permanent ‘battle stations’; brain resources are on constant alert, causing inappropriate or even aggressive reactions in everyday situations.
Freeze & Dissociation
When a threat is utterly overwhelming and too much for the fight/flight system to cope with, the brain goes into a ‘Freeze’ state; a numbing or collapse response. This sort of trauma is experienced as a general shutdown, lack of vitality, emotional separation, and detachment.
Neurofeedback and Trauma
Trauma alters the nervous system’s baseline. The brain can become stuck in patterns of hyperarousal, shutdown, or rapid shifts between the two. Over time, this dysregulation shows up as irritability, emotional overwhelm, numbness, sleep disturbance, and difficulty feeling safe.
Neurofeedback works by helping the brain stabilize these patterns directly. Rather than revisiting traumatic events, we train the brain toward flexibility, regulation, and resilience. As the nervous system becomes more balanced, symptoms often reduce naturally.
Neurofeedback for PTSD
PTSD involves persistent symptoms such as intrusive memories, nightmares, exaggerated startle response, emotional reactivity, and avoidance. Brain imaging research has shown altered activity in networks involved in fear processing and threat detection.
Neurofeedback targets these networks directly. By training the brain toward calmer, more adaptive patterns, many individuals experience reductions in hypervigilance, reactivity, and emotional volatility. For some, this also means improved sleep, fewer intrusive symptoms, and greater day-to-day stability.
(Our thanks to Brainworks Neurotherapy in London for some of the copy presented on this page.)
"I didn’t realize how on edge I was until it started to change. I used to scan every room and overreact to small things. Now my nervous system feels steady. I don’t live in fight-or-flight all day anymore."
