What is Trauma?
In our everyday life, we are exposed to countless stimuli and new experiences. Some of these are routine events while others may be novel. Our brains process this information, go through an array of thoughts and emotions related to these experiences and then store these experiences as memories. We can experience a large range of emotions day to day and still maintain a strong quality of life. However, sometimes an experience can really shake us and make it harder to cope with life and keep up with our daily commitments and responsibilities. It can make us feel a loss of control, change the way we experience our environment, and cause us significant distress. If an experience elicits a reaction like this, it’s possible that it was traumatic. Understanding the difference between trauma and anxiety is important, as both can show similar signs but may come from different causes and require different approaches to healing.
We hear the term trauma on a regular basis across many domains of our daily life and it is a term that can cover a wide range of lived experiences. Trauma can be something we experience in our personal life, within relationships, within a community, or even on larger systemic levels. A traumatic event can happen to us directly or it can be something we are witness to around us. Sometimes the trauma can be a single defining event while at other times it is a chronic state and/or a series of events. From a clinical perspective, a trauma response is persistent distress that follows a traumatic event. This can cover a wide range of signs and symptoms:
Emotional Manifestations of Trauma
Emotional responses to trauma can often feel really intense or even unpredictable. Emotions such as fear, shame, guilt, sadness, anger can be experienced and it can often feel difficult to cope with these emotions or feel in control of them. Going through prolonged distress and intense emotions can be very exhausting on the mind and it is possible over time, your emotional responses can become numb, detached from others, and even losing interest in the things that once brought you joy and meaning.
Cognitive Manifestations of Trauma
Cognitive responses to trauma can range from distressing daily experiences to changes in the way we think about ourselves and others. Some cognitive manifestations of trauma can look like intrusive thoughts and flashbacks – which are unwanted thoughts or images we get related to the traumatic event. People can also experience difficulty with memories and concentration, where it may be particularly hard to learn new information, focus in our daily life, or remember things that typically would not be hard for us to keep track of. Another typical cognitive manifestation may be hypervigilance, where we are hyper aware of our surroundings at all times and may find it difficult to relax and feel safe.
As we have discussed, trauma responses are marked by their nature of being a persistent state of distress. When these emotions and cognitions continue to feel out of control and impair our functioning, it can lead to changes in the way we think about ourselves and others. We may lose our sense of hope, start to have negative thoughts and beliefs about ourselves, or be unable to see our environment and other people in a positive or safe light.
Physical and Behavioral Manifestations of Trauma
Physical responses to trauma vary and are indicators that the body is not feeling stable and safe. Some typical examples would be disturbances to our body clock, with things such as sleep and hunger cues being altered. People may not have restful sleep and can experience chronic fatigue during the day. This may also be due to nightmares or bad dreams happening after the traumatic event. With hunger cues and appetite being altered, it can change the way we relate to food and how well we are nourishing our bodies. Others may also experience symptoms such as digestive issues, headaches, or even physical pain in our bodies. Being under distress for extended periods of time can weaken our immune system and may also make us more susceptible to other illnesses, flare auto-immune conditions, or exacerbate underlying health conditions.
Behavioral manifestations of trauma can speak to behaviors we engage in to either cope with distressing emotional, cognitive, and physical symptoms or behaviors we engage in to avoid triggers/ reminders of the traumatic event. We may become more avoidant in our behavior, as a way to avoid situations, people, or triggers that remind us of the traumatic event. We may also adopt new behaviors as a coping mechanism, such as using substances, eating much more or much less than we typically would, or engaging in risky behaviors.
Although these behaviors may often not be the healthiest coping mechanisms, always remember that these are your mind’s way of protecting itself and fighting for its survival and safety.
What is anxiety?
Anxiety is a natural emotional response to stress, serving as the body’s way of signaling discomfort, worry, or unease. It’s a common and essential part of the human experience, alerting us to potential threats or challenges. However, when anxiety becomes persistent, excessive, or begins to interfere with daily life, it can evolve into a chronic condition that impacts overall well-being. Additionally, because anxiety is a natural response to stress, it can serve as a major protective mechanism when responding to trauma. This concept can feel overwhelming, so let’s break down what anxiety is, can be, and is not– as well as how anxiety often overlaps with trauma, and what separates it.
Emotional Manifestations
Anxiety can often be felt emotionally as a sense of being “keyed up” or “on edge.” Individuals may experience heightened irritability, restlessness, or a pervasive feeling that time is running out. It’s not uncommon to feel like you’re on the verge of missing out on something important or that something bad is about to happen. Common emotional descriptors include: anxious, overwhelmed, insecure, nervous, or a general sense of impending doom.
Cognitive Manifestations
Cognitively, anxiety can lead to racing thoughts or an inability to focus on one idea at a time. Thoughts may pile up, creating a “traffic jam” in the mind, often revolving around unlikely or hypothetical scenarios. These worries can become repetitive, creating a cycle that’s hard to break. Over time, these persistent thoughts can feel like facts, further intensifying the emotional experience of anxiety.
Physical & Behavioral Manifestations
The physical and behavioral symptoms of anxiety can vary widely in intensity and form, often depending on the individual and the situation. These physical responses serve as the body’s attempt to cope with heightened emotional and cognitive distress. For example, one might exhibit observable signs like shaking, heavy breathing, pacing, or fidgeting. More subtle behaviors may include avoidance, indecision, or overcommitting to plans in an attempt to regain control. In some cases, anxiety can trigger more severe physical symptoms such as panic attacks, headaches, nausea, gastrointestinal issues (like constipation or diarrhea), or changes in appetite. These physical reactions may not always occur in a linear way—just because one symptom is present doesn’t mean others will follow. Moreover, physical anxiety attempts to be protective by giving us more energy. From an evolutionary perspective, this energy was functional because it was an active response to stress by providing active energy to either engage or escape with what was activating the stress. The challenge we have now is that there are other parts of the brain that interplay and connect with these behavioral and physiological responses and can either improve or negatively impact the experience of stress.
Overlapping Symptoms Between Trauma and Anxiety
Trauma and anxiety can present overlapping features that may make it difficult to untangle what you are experiencing. Understanding the difference between trauma and anxiety can help clarify your experience. In essence, overlapping symptoms include the following:
Avoidance behaviors: Avoidance of certain people, places, or situations that trigger distress is a common response that can reduce anxiety related to a significantly or impacting experience.
Hypervigilance: Both trauma and anxiety can heighten a person’s sense of alertness and make them feel constantly “on edge” or “keyed up.” If this is an experience you notice, take inventory of the frequency, intensity, and how likely it is to diffuse throughout your week.
Physical symptoms: Common responses are aforementioned symptoms such as rapid heartbeat, shallow breathing, muscle tension, headaches, and gastrointestinal issues.
Emotional distress: Both can lead to feelings of fear, helplessness, irritability, or emotional overwhelm.
Difference Between Trauma and Anxiety Symptoms
While trauma and anxiety may look similar on the surface, the difference between trauma and anxiety is often rooted in past experiences that fundamentally disrupt or even violate a person’s sense of safety. Anxiety typically centers around future threats and uncertainty. Recognizing these distinctions can guide more tailored and effective approaches to healing.
Imagine your thoughts are like grocery items moving along a conveyor belt at a checkout line. Each item represents a thought or feeling—some related to the past, some tied to the future, and others just passing observations. In a healthy state of mind, these thoughts move steadily along the belt. You’re able to notice them, make sense of them, and process them one at a time. But challenges arise when the conveyor belt becomes overloaded.
Trauma is like a heavy, unexpected item from the past getting stuck on the belt. It blocks the flow, forcing your attention to keep returning to the same overwhelming experience. Even though it happened before, it feels as if it’s still right in front of you—impossible to move past.
Anxiety, on the other hand, is like constantly trying to predict what will come down the belt next. You’re scanning ahead, anticipating problems that haven’t arrived yet—worrying that something might go wrong or that you won’t be prepared.
In both cases, the conveyor belt is disrupted. With trauma, you’re stuck with an unresolved item from the past. With anxiety, your focus is pulled forward, trying to control what hasn’t yet happened. The key difference is where your mental energy is directed—backward or forward—and both can leave you feeling overwhelmed and mentally exhausted.
Therapy for Trauma and Anxiety
CBT or Trauma-Focused CBT → Cognitive Behavioral Therapy gives a more structured approach to understanding why our thoughts, emotions, and behaviors show up the way they do. It will help us challenge unhelpful thought patterns, break unhealthy behavioral patterns, and build healthy methods of coping. This may also involve some exposure therapy as a way to decrease our reactivity to certain triggers in our environment. It can also be especially useful when exploring the difference between trauma and anxiety, helping clients recognize how each affects their thoughts and behaviors differently.
Process-oriented → A process-oriented approach aims to delve deeper into how you view yourself, others, and the world around you and is a less structured approach. It may often go deeper into your early life experiences and how those are impacting the way you are responding to current stressors and traumas. A process oriented approach helps you understand your unique conscious and subconscious responses and helps to build new adaptive responses to your environment and yourself.
Mindfulness-based approach → Mindfulness is an intervention used in many therapeutic approaches. It can be an effective intervention as it allows us to work on acceptance, being present, and become observers of our own internal experiences. Being mindful does not mean sitting in meditative silence or having your mind be silent- it simply means being present with ourselves and taking a non-shaming lens to our experiences. In fact, silent meditation may feel even more anxiety provoking for many with anxiety and trauma experiences. There are many ways to be mindful and build safety in our bodies.
EMDR → Eye Movement Densensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) is an evidence-based approach to help with trauma and anxiety. It works by taking traumatic memories and engaging with them slowly and steadily to allow our brains to process through the emotions and events. This plays off our brain’s ability of neuroplasticity, which allows for new neural pathways to be built and new ways of relating to our memories and experiences to be formed.
Compassion-Focused Therapy → CFT addresses three primary systems the body uses to respond to stress: the drive system, soothing system, and threat system. The goal of this form of therapy is to use creative techniques to help an individual process the experience, deactivate or activate one of the systems, and engage in self-compassion to surpass the experience in an adaptable way. Simply put, CFT acknowledges that not everything is your fault; however, it is your responsibility and working with your symptoms, instead of against, gives you the courage to enter human suffering in such a dedicated way and in turn helps you overcome such challenges or trauma.
Somatic approaches → Our mind and body are closely linked and this is true even when we are experiencing mental health concerns. When we are in distress, our bodies can hold onto these memories and we can experience physical manifestations of distress. Somatic-based approaches focus on the body, physical sensations and use them to help process emotional content and find resolve.
How Therapy Clarifies Emotional Confusion
The therapeutic process can help get rid of emotional confusion by providing a space to explore, understand, challenge, and find resolve in situations that can often feel too daunting to tackle alone. Finding the right fit therapist for you is an essential first step.
What can I do if this fits what I am experiencing?
At Best Within You Therapy & Wellness, all of our therapists and psychologists are trained at the doctoral level, and bring a wide range of expertise and modalities to meet your needs. Our team understands how momentous it is to be able to reach out for help and that is why we guarantee a quick response from us within 1 business day. Our intake team takes special care to understand your needs and matches you with therapists who could cater treatment to you. All of our clinicians take a culturally sensitive lens to treatment and strive to understand you holistically. If any of the experiences of trauma or anxiety sound like you, please reach out, we would be honored to help.
Thank you to our therapists Dr. Singh and Dr. Larrea for this blog post about therapy for trauma and anxiety. If you would like to schedule an appointment with a therapist for trauma and anxiety please visit our appointment page.
