Unlocking Your Hidden Scripts: Understanding Trauma Coding

When we talk about change, growth, and transformation, many coaches point to mindset, belief shifts, and habits.

But what if the real barrier isn’t just what you think - but the invisible programming lodged beneath your surface?

That’s where I introduce the concept of Trauma Coding.

What Is “Trauma Coding”?

I came up with the term Trauma Coding because the work I do sits inside our limiting belief systems.

We look at the sentences and stories that make up those belief systems - the ones that quietly shape our thoughts and behaviour.

People often call them “stories” or “beliefs,” but I wanted something more precise. When you use the word trauma, you acknowledge that it connects to something in the past - something that happened and left an imprint.

So when we bring forward the statements and stories within our limiting belief systems, they’re often linked to metaphors and past experiences. Trauma Coding became the more concise term for that:

“The thing created from a traumatic experience - big or small - that gets lodged inside our belief system.”

How Trauma Coding Shows Up

These trauma codes keep the cycles and patterns of behaviour repeating - especially the ones you don’t want and can’t seem to change. It’s similar to how society teaches us rules we unconsciously follow - except trauma codes are more covert. You don’t even realise they exist.

I began to notice them when I was transitioning from doing readings to deeper coaching.

When I’d explore someone’s past and present, their system would start to reveal what was underneath.

At a certain point, I could say something like:

“Your trauma coding says that love can’t be reached.”

And suddenly, everything clicked for that person - because their body already knew it.

An Example: Money & Metaphors

Think about common phrases we hear growing up:

“Money doesn’t grow on trees.”

Your specific trauma coding might say:

“Money is hard to get because my parents were always stretching too far to reach it.”

Here’s one of my own experiences.

When I was a kid on the North Shore, I went to the shop alone and bought some lollies. When I came back, my mum asked, “Did you get your sister anything?” I said no.

She replied with a comment - “Well, you are Jewish.”

That single moment created a trauma code:

“You’re not allowed to have money because your mother has deemed it inappropriate.”

From then on, I noticed struggles with money. A weird relationship formed because that code was still running in my system.

People often talk about money wounds or mother wounds, but for me, those labels were too broad.

I wanted to identify the exact trauma code someone was carrying - the literal sentence their system was living by.

What Happens When You Name the Code

When I piece together a trauma code intuitively and speak it out loud, clients often have an immediate aha moment. In that moment, they release something - a judgement, an emotion, an energetic charge - and healing begins in real time.

The power is in the naming. Once the code is spoken, your system recognises it and starts to let it go.

Why ChatGPT (or AI) Can’t Do This Work

I’ve used ChatGPT in the background to brainstorm ideas or clarify language - and it’s brilliant for that.

But it can’t replicate what happens in a trauma coding session.

Here’s why:

• Sequencing and safety: ChatGPT doesn’t know how to pace questions the way your nervous system requires.

• Human regulation: It doesn’t sense when to stop, or when a system is overwhelmed.

• Depth: It can’t access your cellular memory, your body’s wisdom, or the energy behind your words.

Humans are made of roughly 70% water - and water has memory. These trauma codes aren’t stored in your brain; they’re held in your body, your system, your cellular memory.

That’s why you can’t simply “punch something into ChatGPT” and heal. It can help intellectually - but it can’t connect your past to your present on the deeper, energetic level your system needs.

Mindset vs. Body Memory

You can work on your mindset all you like - and many people do - but your money wounds or trauma patterns don’t live in the mind.

They live in the body’s memory.

If you’re carrying trauma coding, your system will keep steering you back to that familiar default until the underlying code is released.

That’s why so many people self-sabotage: their conscious mind wants growth, but their subconscious code is set to protect, repeat, or restrict.

The Risk of Outsourcing Your Inner Work

Relying too heavily on AI tools for therapy-style reflection can create what I call “AI psychosis.”

You’re not developing an internal dialogue - you’re still outsourcing your self-connection.

Real transformation happens when you reconnect with your intuition.

When your own inner voice starts asking you the right questions - you become autonomous. That’s where true confidence and healing begin.

The Invitation

If you’ve done all the work - the therapy, the journaling, the mindset reframes - yet still feel something looping beneath the surface, consider that it might be Trauma Coding at play.

The good news?

What’s coded can be seen, named, and released.

You don’t have to keep running the old program.

Ready to discover your own trauma codes?

Book a private session and start decoding the patterns that have kept you stuck.

Healing doesn’t have to be a mystery it’s just waiting for you to read your own system.

Book a Session with Tabetha Dowson

About Tabetha Dowson

Tabetha Dowson is an intuitive coach and trauma-coding practitioner based in New Zealand.

She helps clients uncover and release the hidden programs lodged inside their belief systems, restoring connection, clarity, and self-trust.