Can Past Trauma Cause Anxiety?
Whether or not trauma can cause anxiety is a huge question in and of itself. It’s one I often hear within the context of counselling. Or, it is something I get curious with clients about at times. Anxiety is defined in a million ways and many of them are absolutely accurate. I believe this to simply be because as humans, we are designed and wired in a million different ways. The way you experience something incredibly difficult will be different than how I will experience it. The question of whether past trauma can cause anxiety, is such a valid curiosity.
Anxiety lives in the past and in the future.
So, when you consider trauma or traumatic experiences, changes in the brain can lead to the experience of anxiety. If you’ve lived in a really disruptive environment where you didn’t feel safe, you likely spent a lot of time in protective mode. This is where your brain puts you into fight, flight, freeze or fawn. It was a way you likely felt safer. And it was good and important.
However, being in a continual (or frequent) state of fight, flight, freeze or fawn can lead to anxiety. So, does trauma cause to anxiety…that’s not necessarily how I might describe it. Can trauma lead to anxiety, yes it can. Being in a safe, present-focused space (like with your counsellor) brings a sense of safety. When you feel you can trust your counsellor and that relationship, you’ll begin to heal.
Anxiety is a lacking sense of safety.
You might describe the opposite of anxiety as a sense of calm or peace. But the truth is that in the absence of anxiety, there is a sense of safety. This includes mental, emotional, physical, spiritual, really any time of safety. If you were raised in an unhealthy environment where you had adverse experiences, relational safety may be something unfamiliar to you. It might be hard to make friends or create intimate relationships because you struggle to trust others. This makes so much sense. You learned from an early age that you couldn’t trust others and this is what your nervous system has become acquainted with.
I notice that clients will often self-blame in counselling sessions. You might wonder why you are the problem or why you seem to be the one who sabotages a relationship. The pattern might be that you are the first to end it, when it is getting more serious. That makes sense. Avoidance, hypervigilence or even physical symptoms could be anxiety related to trauma.You likely don’t feel safe and part of you might feel you’re the only one who’s trustworthy. The root of this may be past traumatic experience(s) and you might be extremely anxious now. You may have spent years in fight, flight, freeze, fawn and this is how your body now responds.
Some of the healing process in counselling involves reconnecting with your authentic self. As you begin to process your experiences, you can notice what’s true and what’s not. Together, as you are ready we can safely create space for you to heal. This happens in small ways like beginning to explore what trust of others (and sometimes trust in self) looks like.
You can begin to sit in some discomfort and process it – because together, we can resource you to feel safe and secure.
Undoing the aloneness of many of your experiences is a key to healing. It’s at the heart of cultivating a curiosity about what feels true, right and safe for you. Finding the right fit with a counsellor is so important, because this relationship is a way you can heal. You can experience what it feels like to be authentically you, even a little messy or undone and still be cared for in a gentle, compassionate and nonjudgemental way. This is a healing experience in counselling.
Over time, you can begin to trust.
As you begin to trust, cultivate a sense of safety within your own self and within healthy relationships you will notice anxiety starts to decrease. This is part of your authentic, healed parts feeling less alone and more connected. This is part of the counselling process. It does take time, it takes tools and resources, and it does take some courage.
If you’re curious about what it might look like to connect for in-person counselling in the Langley area or anywhere in BC, reach out! I offer complimentary consultations, to make sure you can find the right fit and feel secure in your experience.
