How to Tell If It’s Intuition… Or a Trauma Response
“Trust your gut.”
It sounds great on a coffee mug, but what if your gut is wired by survival patterns?
What if your “gut feeling” is actually your nervous system saying danger! because something feels unfamiliar not unsafe?
This is the tricky terrain many of us are navigating, especially those healing from complex trauma, burnout, or high-functioning stress. Here’s how to start telling the difference between trauma response and intuition from both a scientific and somatic lens.
🚨 What Is a Trauma Response, Really?
According to Dr. Peter Levine (Somatic Experiencing® founder), trauma isn’t the event, it’s the residual survival energy that gets stuck in your body when you couldn’t fight, flee, or escape a situation.
“Trauma is not what happens to us, but what we hold inside in the absence of an empathetic witness.” — Peter Levine
Gabor Maté takes it further:
“Trauma is the disconnection from the self in order to survive.”
It’s not just what overwhelmed you…it’s how your body learned to adapt so you could stay safe.
Scientifically, trauma responses live in the limbic system — the part of the brain responsible for emotion, threat detection, and memory. These patterns are fast. So fast, that they override logic.
So what does this look like in real life?
Saying yes when you mean no
Avoiding opportunities that stretch you because they feel “too much”
Feeling drawn to people or dynamics that make you feel like you have to earn your worth
Mistaking familiarity for safety
It’s not that you’re broken. It’s that your nervous system still thinks you’re surviving.
🔍 What About Intuition?
Intuition isn’t just a gut feeling.
It’s your body's way of processing information beneath the level of conscious thought — pulling from past experiences, internal signals, subtle cues, and deep inner knowing.
But here's the key difference:
Intuition is calm. Trauma is reactive.
Intuition speaks quietly, like a nudge. It’s often subtle, sometimes inconvenient, and rarely dramatic.
Trauma, on the other hand, tends to yell. It says “absolutely not” or “we need to run,” even when there’s no actual threat present.
This is where it gets messy:
A trauma response can feel like intuition especially if it’s tied to something familiar.
Let’s say you grew up in a household where love was earned through performance.
Maybe you got praise when you achieved, or approval only when you were useful.
Now, as an adult, you feel “drawn” to environments where you're always proving yourself — a demanding boss, emotionally unavailable partners, over-functioning in friendships.
Your body might say, “This feels right.”
But what it really means is, “This feels familiar.”
This is what we call trauma-informed self-betrayal when your system mistakes survival patterns for aligned decisions.
So how do we tell the difference?
Somatic Cues to Distinguish Intuition vs. Trauma Response
Is it calm or urgent?
Intuition often feels like a quiet knowing.
Trauma feels like urgency or shutdown — “I have to decide now,” or “I need to get out of here.”
Is it expansive or constrictive?
Intuition may feel like soft clarity or space.
Trauma tends to constrict — shallow breath, tight chest, clenched jaw.
Is it aligned or self-protective?
Intuition supports your growth, even if it’s uncomfortable.
Trauma keeps you small so you can stay safe.
So What Can You Do About It?
You don’t need to “trust your gut” blindly especially if your gut has been through some sh*t.
You can build trust with your body by learning its cues, listening to its stories, and staying in relationship with it over time.
That’s what somatic healing is.
It’s not about getting it right every time — it’s about slowing down enough to ask:
“Is this intuition… or is this protection?”
And then letting your body answer… not just your brain.
This Work Helps You:
Reconnect with your inner sense of safety
Learn what your personal trauma responses feel like in real time
Build capacity to tolerate discomfort without collapsing or rushing
Make decisions that are aligned not just familiar
Ready to Rebuild Trust With Your Inner Knowing?
🔍 Take the nervous system quiz to start mapping your patterns
💬 Book a free intro call to explore 1:1 somatic coaching
📝 Or check out this post on functional freeze if you're always “on” but oddly numb.
Your intuition is in there.
We just have to make sure trauma isn’t answering the phone first.