Do you find yourself sometimes feeling anxious and worried for no apparent reason? Do you have a history of childhood trauma, abuse, and/or neglect? Maybe you just didn’t feel like you could go to your parents for emotional support much or all of your childhood. If you identified positively with any of the above then there is definitely a connection between worry and trauma for you.
Anxiety is a Hallmark of Our Times
In an age where there is so much uncertainty and stress on individuals and society as a whole, we are experiencing record levels of mental illness… especially fear and worry! With so many people experiencing a trauma from all different angles, the natural upshot of this is to have higher levels of anxiety and other forms of metal illness. What starts as trauma in childhood or even later, can manifest in the future or adulthood as GAD.
How the Connection Between Trauma and Anxiety Gets Started
As children we are at some point invariably confronted with some type of trauma. It can be the more obvious, big T trauma, such as physical or sexual abuse, emotional or verbal abuse, or a literal threatened death. There are also the small T traumas of not having your emotional needs met, which the psychiatrist Bessel van der Kolk has characterized as anytime you are “not seen or known.“ This is part of not feeling free to talk to your caregivers about emotional struggles. At some point this can translate into acute or global anxiety that a child feels and grows up experiencing. Some fear/worry can be passed on in a practically genetic manner from a parent to a child also. Whether this is a biological connection or just an inherited trait from some other means, this is has been a recently discovered research finding. So, if you have fear and worry as an adult, you probably had some form of trauma as a child.
The Role of Denial with Trauma and Anxiety
We all want to believe that we grew up in an environment that was basically good and safe. We grew up in a situation that we accepted as normal, even if at times we suspected something was wrong. The tendency to want to believe that you had a happy childhood is normal, but is often a manifestation of denial. Sometimes the denial is perfectly reasonable, such as when you can’t remember large blocks of your childhood. That doesn’t mean that everything was OK, however. Often these gaps in memory can be because of some amnesia related to trauma, and the tendency to minimize the impact of negative events in a family can often be another form of denial. They may serve to protect you in the short term, but in order to treat trauma effectively, some childhood experiences need to be looked at as possible sources of possible trauma even if you weren’t physically threatened by them. All of this can cause anxiety.
So How Do You Deal With Anxiety and Trauma?
Anxiety and trauma can both be treated in very similar ways. They both have a significantly negative impact on your nervous system, and some of the most simple means like deep relaxing breathing can be helpful to calm your nervous system when it gets agitated. When fear/worry rises to a clinical level, then more significant interventions need to come in to play. One of the most effective therapies for GAD and trauma is EMDR, and another offshoot of it is a Image Transformation Therapy, or ImTT. Both of these work to help to heal the nervous system and brain from the effects of trauma throughout the life course. There are also certain forms of exercise and activity that are also helpful for dealing with anxiety and trauma, such as practicing yoga, some forms of equine therapy, and fly fishing has been documented as helpful in certain situations with trauma. Even walking is good way to help to calm the nervous system that’s been over activated.
What to Do If You Think You’re Affected by Anxiety and Trauma
Trauma and the anxiety related to it often require professional help to address them. I’ve been helping my clients to overcome trauma and GAD for my entire social work career, and I have several techniques that help people recover from them. These include the two I mentioned above, as well as some others that can be very helpful in your recovery. I encourage you to call the number at the top of the page, or fill out a form below to get a free 20 minute phone consult with me if you live in Maryland or Texas. I can get back to you as soon as possible to schedule this, so you can find out if I can help you with your particular set of issues. Regardless of whether you choose to get professional, help or not, finding ways to address, and recover from trauma is essential to personal fulfillment and happiness.
Visit our page on trauma therapy to find out how Scott can help you with trauma related anxiety.
About the author: Scott Kampschaefer, LCSW is a private practice therapist in Frederick, Maryland. He has an extensive background in working with depression, anxiety, and bipolar disorder at a clinic for older adults with these disorders in Austin, Texas. He now works with adults and adolescents 14 and up in private practice. His most recent book is titled The 5 Pillars of Addiction Recovery and is available for purchase on Amazon and in paperback on this website.