Anxiety & Trauma
Anxiety is more than worrying.
Your trauma story is valid whether you remember it, share the details, or only feel the impact.
You deserve to feel a sense of control over your experience.
You deserve support.
If you’re struggling with feeling anxious, having trouble sleeping, going through the motions but not experiencing joy, or don’t have someone to talk to who knows about ‘the thing’, therapy can help you feel less alone.
You’ll also gain new coping skills so you can live the live you want again, or for very the first time. You deserve support.
What is Anxiety?
Common anxiety signs and symptoms include:
Feeling nervous, restless or tense
Having a sense of impending danger, panic or doom
Having an increased heart rate
Breathing rapidly (hyperventilation)
Sweating
Trembling
Feeling weak or tired
Trouble concentrating or thinking about anything other than the present worry
Having trouble sleeping
Experiencing gastrointestinal (GI) problems
Having difficulty controlling worry
Having the urge to avoid things that trigger anxiety
Anxiety looks different for each person and the impact of trauma manifests differently in each person’s body, story, and emotions.
You may be experiencing feeling unable to focus because of repeating stories in your mind, feeling stuck, or unable to make progress, afraid to take the next step in life.
You may have lost a loved one, a pet, or an opportunity, plan, ability, relationship, job, or dream and be experiencing grief, depression, anxiety, or something else that you want help sorting through.
It’s okay not to be okay when not okay things happen.
Have you experienced something BIG and looking to talk to someone who doesn’t know you personally about it?
That’s therapy.
We cannot control other people’s actions and choices.
Too often, others’ choices or actions impact us in ways we didn’t expect, wish we hadn’t experienced, or don’t know how to make sense of.
Some things never make sense, but healing is possible.
Your wounds are not your fault.
Your healing is your responsibility.
You do not have to heal in isolation.
If you’ve experienced anything you define as trauma and want another human to sit with you and listen to your story, the new thoughts or behaviors you now have, or the things you miss about yourself or your life from before, I’m here.
There is no magic algorithm, timeline, or treatment plan that works for all.
Trauma is the response to a deeply distressing or disturbing event that overwhelms an individual’s ability to cope, causes feelings of helplessness, diminishes their sense of self and their ability to feel a full range of emotions and experiences.
Emotional signs include:
sadness
anger
denial
fear
shame
These may lead to:
nightmares
insomnia
difficulty with relationships
emotional outbursts
Common physical symptoms:
nausea
dizziness
altered sleep patterns
changes in appetite
headaches
gastrointestinal problems
Everything can be taken from a man, but the last of the human freedoms: to choose one’s attitudes in any given set of circumstances.
— Viktor Frankl, Holocaust Survivor and Author of “Man’s Search for Meaning”
Which chronicles his experiences as a prisoner in Nazi concentration camps during World War II, and describes his psychotherapeutic method, which involves identifying a purpose in life to feel positive about, and then immersively imagining that outcome.
Book a free 15-20 minute consultation with me to see if I can help you navigate the waves of life.
