Compassionate, Trauma-Informed Therapy in Colorado & Wyoming

Trauma is Often at the Root

 

 

I hear this from so many clients, and it highlights something crucial: anxiety and depression are often symptoms of something deeper. My work focuses on getting to the root of the issue, not just managing the surface-level symptoms.

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As a trauma-informed therapist, I understand how unresolved trauma often lies beneath the symptoms of anxiety disorders, depression, body image issues, low self-worth, and strained relationships. For many people, identifying and healing this root is the difference between simply coping or truly changing.

 

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Demystifying Trauma

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Let’s clarify what I mean when I say "trauma." Trauma isn’t just the event itself—it’s how your nervous system responds to overwhelming or unsafe experiences.

 

Trauma can come from things most of us would associate with a traumatic experience—war, accidents, abuse, sexual abuse, domestic violence in the home or in your relationship, major medical procedures, physical neglect, and more. These are often termed “big T” traumas, and while I personally don't love that term, I do think it helps people understand and classify experiences (we love to classify things, don't we? You won't be hearing me refer to these terms much in our sessions unless they help you process your experiences better.)

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Trauma can also stem from more subtle, chronic experiences, like:

• Growing up in a chaotic, unsafe, or dysfunctional household

• Being bullied or rejected by peers

• Receiving constant messages that your body, or who you are, isn't “good enough”​

• Having your feelings consistently invalidated by adults as a child

• Getting the message that your are too much or not enough often in subtle ways

• Emotional neglect, which is often less in our awareness than abuse (because it's hard to know what we didn't get especially if we didn't know we should have been getting it.)

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These are sometimes termed “small t” traumas (again, I don't love the terminology but here we are).  These can build up over time, leading to complex trauma—and they’re just as impactful to our sense of Self as the "big T" traumas, sometimes even more so because they work on the subconscious level and are less validated in our community and culture. 

 

How Trauma Affects the Nervous System

 

Our emotions and nervous system are deeply intertwined. When trauma isn’t processed—especially in environments that were unsafe, invalidating, or unstable—it gets stuck in the body. It continues to affect how we think, feel, and relate to the world.

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This is why sometimes anxiety or depression doesn't fully respond to medication or surface-level talk therapy. That’s where trauma therapy, using EMDR and IFS, can make a profound difference.