The Right Brain Lives the Story, the Left Brain Tells the Story

What neuroscience says about trauma

Photo by Shawn Day on Unsplash

When a person experiences trauma, the brain does not process information in its usual balanced way. Instead, one side of the brain becomes highly active while the other becomes less accessible.

The right hemisphere of the brain is often called the emotional and sensory brain. It processes feelings, facial expressions, body sensations, intuition, images, sounds, and non-verbal experiences. During a traumatic event, this part of the brain becomes intensely activated and stores the experience as emotional and sensory memory.

This is why, years later, a particular smell, sound, tone of voice, or situation can suddenly trigger fear, anxiety, or distress. The right brain does not store trauma as a story with a beginning, middle, and end. Instead, it stores fragments of experience — sensations, emotions, images, and bodily reactions.

At the same time, the left hemisphere, which is responsible for language, logic, analysis, and organizing experiences into a coherent narrative, often becomes less active during overwhelming stress.

As a result, many trauma survivors say:

“I know something happened, but I can’t explain it.”

“I feel overwhelmed, but I don’t know why.”

“I react strongly even when I know I’m safe.”

“I can’t find the words to describe what I’m feeling.”

In essence, the emotional brain remembers while the logical brain struggles to make sense of the experience.

From a Traditional Chinese Medicine perspective, this process resembles an imbalance between the Liver and Spleen systems.

The Liver is associated with the smooth flow of emotions, intuition, vision, imagination, and instinctive responses. These functions closely resemble the qualities of the right hemisphere. When trauma occurs, Liver Qi may become constrained or hyperactive, leading to emotional overwhelm, hypervigilance, irritability, flashbacks, and tension throughout the body.

The Spleen, on the other hand, is responsible for processing, organizing, and integrating experience. It governs thought, reflection, concentration, and the ability to make meaning from life’s events. These qualities parallel many functions of the left hemisphere.

When the emotional force of the Liver overwhelms the organizing capacity of the Spleen, people may feel trapped in intense emotions without understanding why. The body remembers, but the mind cannot fully process the experience.

This is why trauma healing cannot rely on talking alone. While conversation and insight are important, the body must also be included in the healing process.

Approaches such as acupuncture, somatic experiencing, breathwork, movement practices, yoga, and EMDR help reconnect the emotional and logical parts of the brain. They also restore communication between the body and mind.

As this integration occurs, traumatic memories gradually become experiences that can be remembered rather than relived. Emotions become easier to understand, bodily tension begins to soften, and the nervous system learns that the danger belongs to the past rather than the present.

Healing trauma is therefore not about forgetting what happened. It is about restoring communication between sensation and understanding, emotion and meaning, Liver and Spleen, body and mind.

When these parts begin working together again, a person moves from survival toward wholeness.

Stay updated for my upcoming book, “Healing Trauma through Acupuncture and Somatic Wisdom,” to know more about healing trauma.

abid mizaan

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Abid Mizaan