Mind Your Body Podcast
Inspiration: Episode #17: Roots of Resilience of the Mind Your Body podcast with Dr. Nevo.
I’ve spent years watching people recover from trauma that doctors said was permanent. I’ve seen individuals transform chronic pain that specialists dismissed as untreatable. And I’ve learned something that contradicts what most of us believe about suffering: helplessness isn’t what we learn from trauma. Control is.
This isn’t philosophy. It’s neuroscience. And it flips our entire understanding of trauma recovery on its head.
The Backwards Discovery That Rewrote Trauma Science
For fifty years, we got learned helplessness wrong.
Martin Seligman’s original theory suggested that when we experience prolonged adversity we can’t control, we learn to become passive. We learn helplessness. The research seemed clear: expose someone to uncontrollable stress, and they’ll stop trying to escape even when escape becomes possible.
But recent neuroscience research revealed something startling [1].
Passivity isn’t learned. It’s the default.
When the dorsal raphe nucleus detects uncontrollable stress, serotonergic activity creates a passive response automatically. We don’t learn to give up. Giving up is what happens when our brain can’t detect control.
What we actually learn is agency. The medial prefrontal cortex must actively detect controllability for us to maintain active coping responses [1]. This means trauma doesn’t teach us helplessness—it strips away our learned sense of control.
The implications are massive.
Why Two People Experience the Same Event Differently
Approximately 70% of the world’s population experiences at least one potentially traumatic event in their lifetime. Yet only 6% develop PTSD. [2]
Notice that word: potentially.
Trauma isn’t the event itself. Trauma is what happens inside us when we can’t maintain a sense of control during overwhelming experiences. It’s a complex shakeup in both psyche and physiology that literally reshapes how our brain processes threat, emotion, and memory.
Van der Kolk’s research demonstrates that trauma produces actual physiological changes [3]. The brain’s alarm system recalibrates—increasing stress hormone activity and altering how we filter relevant information from irrelevant. The area that communicates the physical, embodied feeling of being alive becomes compromised.
This explains why traumatized individuals become hypervigilant to threat at the expense of spontaneously engaging in daily life.
This is why I emphasize mind-body rehabilitation—because the separation between psychological and physical healing is artificial. The brain and body are not separate systems responding independently to trauma. They are one integrated system, and healing requires addressing both simultaneously.
During traumatic recall, Broca’s area—responsible for speech—shows decreased oxygen use [3]. Victims suffer from what researchers call “speechless terror.” They literally cannot translate their experience into communicable language.
The body keeps the score when words fail.
The Acceptance Paradox: Why Giving Up Control Creates It
Here’s where most people get confused about trauma recovery.
They see acceptance and think: resignation. Giving up. Learned helplessness by another name.
I see it differently.
Acceptance is recognition of reality. It’s the acknowledgment that some things happened that we couldn’t control, that some damage occurred, that our nervous system adapted in ways that now cause problems.
But acceptance doesn’t mean we’re powerless to change our response now.
Think of it like this: imagine a tree with roots deep in contaminated soil. Those roots absorbed toxins years ago. You can’t change what the roots absorbed. But you can change the soil around them. You can provide new nutrients. You can create conditions for new growth.
Acceptance says: these are my roots. This is where I came from. This is what shaped me.
Learned helplessness says: because of my roots, I cannot grow.
The difference is everything.
The Neuroscience of Breaking Free
Recovery from trauma requires retraining the medial prefrontal cortex to detect controllability again. This happens through specific, evidence-based interventions that restore the sense of agency the trauma stripped away.
Research on mindfulness and acceptance shows that intentional shifting of attention to the present moment fosters attentional control [4]. This leads to reductions in attentional bias to trauma-related stimuli. A nonjudgmental outlook promotes willingness to approach fear-provoking stimuli, reducing avoidance.
Studies reveal that increased self-compassion is associated with reduced PTSD symptoms. Integrating self-compassion practices in trauma treatment targets symptoms of negative self-concept, shame, and isolation. [5].
Mindfulness fully mediates the link between trauma exposure and suicidal ideation [4].
This suggests it serves as a helpful strategy for mitigating thoughts about suicide—not by denying pain, but by changing our relationship to it.
Post-Traumatic Growth: The Path Most Don’t Expect
Here’s something that surprised me when I first encountered the research: resilient people are less likely to experience post-traumatic growth.
Post-traumatic growth differs fundamentally from resilience [6]. PTG occurs when someone who has difficulty bouncing back experiences a traumatic event that challenges their core beliefs, endures psychological struggle, and ultimately finds personal growth.
This process takes time, energy, and struggle.
Resilient individuals bounce back quickly. They aren’t rocked to the core by events. So paradoxically, they’re less likely to experience the deep transformation that PTG represents.
Studies of firefighters after September 11, 2001 revealed that 87% indicated at least one positive outcome from the traumatic event [7]. The Post-Traumatic Growth Inventory measures positive changes in five areas: appreciation of life, relationships with others, new possibilities, personal strength, and spiritual change.
Both resilience and PTG contribute independently to recovery. They’re not opposite sides of the same coin. They’re different coins entirely. [8]
Four Truths About Healing That Medicine Overlooks
Van der Kolk identifies four fundamental truths that the brain-disease model of trauma overlooks: [3]:
Our capacity to destroy one another is matched by our capacity to heal one another. Restoring relationships and community is central to restoring well-being. Trauma happens in isolation. Healing happens in connection.
Language gives us the power to change ourselves. Communicating our experiences—even when Broca’s area initially fails us—gradually restores our ability to make meaning from what happened.
We can regulate our own physiology. Through basic activities like breathing, moving, and touching, we can influence involuntary functions. The nervous system isn’t fixed. It’s trainable.
We can change social conditions. Creating environments that support recovery isn’t optional. It’s essential. The soil matters as much as the roots.
What This Means for Your Recovery
If you’re struggling with trauma, here’s what the science tells us:
You didn’t learn to be helpless. Your brain defaulted to passivity when it couldn’t detect control. That’s biology, not weakness.
Recovery means retraining your prefrontal cortex to recognize controllability again. This happens through deliberate practice, not positive thinking.
Acceptance isn’t giving up. It’s recognizing reality so you can change your response to it.
Your past shaped your roots, but it doesn’t determine your growth. New soil creates new possibilities.
The struggle you’re experiencing might be the precursor to growth you can’t yet imagine. PTG isn’t guaranteed, but it’s real. And it happens most often to those who struggle hardest.
Three Ways to Begin Retraining Your Nervous System Today
Recovery doesn’t require waiting for the perfect therapist or treatment program. You can start retraining your nervous system right now with these evidence-based practices:
1. Practice Diaphragmatic Breathing for 5 Minutes Daily
Deep belly breathing activates the vagus nerve, signaling safety to your nervous system. Breathe in for a count of four, hold for four, exhale for six. The longer exhale is key—it shifts you from sympathetic (fight-or-flight) to parasympathetic (rest-and-digest) activation. Do this when you first wake up, before challenging situations, or whenever you notice tension building.
2. Move Your Body With Intention
Trauma gets stored in the body. Gentle movement—walking, stretching, yoga, or even shaking out your limbs—helps discharge stored stress and reconnects you with physical sensations in a safe way. The goal isn’t intensity. It’s presence. Notice how your body feels as you move. This rebuilds the connection between physical sensation and safety that trauma disrupted.
3. Name What You Notice Without Judgment
Throughout your day, pause and observe: “I notice my shoulders are tense.” “I notice my breath is shallow.” “I notice I’m clenching my jaw.” Don’t try to fix it immediately. Just notice. This simple practice strengthens your medial prefrontal cortex’s ability to detect what’s happening in your body—the same neural pathway that detects controllability. Awareness precedes change.
The Path Forward
I work with people every day who are rewriting their trauma stories. Not by denying what happened. Not by pretending the roots don’t exist. But by accepting their history while refusing to let it dictate their future.
They’re learning that control isn’t about changing the past. It’s about recognizing what they can influence now.
They’re discovering that acceptance and agency aren’t opposites. They’re partners.
They’re proving that the nervous system can be retrained, that new neural pathways can form, that growth after trauma isn’t just possible—it’s measurable.
The research is clear. The neuroscience is solid. The path exists.
What we learned about learned helplessness was backwards. But what we’re learning about recovery is revolutionary.
Your roots are real. Your past is real. Your pain is real.
And so is your capacity to grow from soil you didn’t choose into a future you can shape.
About the Author
Dr. Zev Nevo is a double board-certified physiatrist, chronic pain survivor, and founder of the Body & Mind Pain Center. He helps people with persistent pain rebuild capacity and confidence using an evidence-based, trauma-informed mind-body rehabilitation approach.
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Medical Disclaimer
The information in this article is for educational and informational purposes only and is not intended as a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of a qualified healthcare provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read in this article. New or changing pain symptoms should always be properly evaluated by a medical professional.
References
[1] Maier, S. F., & Seligman, M. E. (2016). Learned helplessness at fifty: Insights from neuroscience. Psychological Review, 123(4), 349-367. https://doi.org/10.1037/rev0000033
[2] Hoppen, T. H., & Morina, N. (2025). The prevalence of PTSD and major depression in the global population of adult war survivors: A meta-analytically informed estimate in absolute numbers. European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 16(1). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40501-025-00364-x
[3] van der Kolk, B. A. (2015). The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma. Penguin Books.
[4] Boyd, J. E., Lanius, R. A., & McKinnon, M. C. (2018). Mindfulness-based treatments for posttraumatic stress disorder: A review of the treatment literature and neurobiological evidence. Journal of Psychiatry & Neuroscience, 43(1), 7-25. https://doi.org/10.1503/jpn.170021
[5] Hoffart, A., Øktedalen, T., & Langkaas, T. F. (2015). Self-compassion influences PTSD symptoms in the process of change in trauma-focused cognitive-behavioral therapies: A study of within-person processes. Frontiers in Psychology, 6, 1273. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01273
[6] Tedeschi, R. G., & Calhoun, L. G. (2004). Posttraumatic growth: Conceptual foundations and empirical evidence. Psychological Inquiry, 15(1), 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327965pli1501_01
[7] Paton, D. (2005). Posttraumatic growth in protective services professionals: Individual, cognitive and organizational influences. Traumatology, 11(4), 335-346. https://doi.org/10.1177/153476560501100411
[8] Shakespeare-Finch, J., Gow, K., & Smith, S. (2005). Personality, coping and posttraumatic growth in emergency ambulance personnel. Traumatology, 11(4), 325-334. https://doi.org/10.1177/153476560501100410