Understanding Trauma: Symptoms, Causes, and Treatment Options
Trauma is not just about what happened — it’s about how the experience lives on in your mind and body. Traumatic events overwhelm a person’s ability to cope, leaving lasting effects that may include anxiety, hypervigilance, flashbacks, nightmares, or emotional numbness. Trauma can disrupt relationships, self-esteem, and daily functioning.
Trauma may be the result of a single incident, such as an accident, assault, or natural disaster. Or it may be the result of repeated experiences over time, such as childhood neglect, abuse, or ongoing stress in unsafe environments.
At Groundbreaker Therapy, we specialize in helping clients heal from trauma using Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) and integrative, trauma-informed approaches. Our goal is not only to reduce symptoms but to help survivors build resilience, reclaim safety, and reconnect with meaning in life.
What Is Trauma?
Trauma is the psychological and emotional response to deeply distressing or disturbing events. It is not defined solely by the event itself but by the impact it has on a person’s sense of safety, stability, and identity.
Types of trauma include:
- Acute trauma: A single overwhelming event (e.g., car accident, assault).
- Chronic trauma: Repeated or ongoing distress (e.g., abuse, domestic violence, bullying).
- Complex trauma (C-PTSD): Long-term, often childhood trauma that affects identity, relationships, and self-worth.
- Secondary or vicarious trauma: Emotional impact from exposure to others’ trauma, common in caregivers and professionals.
Common Symptoms of Trauma
Trauma symptoms may appear immediately or surface months or years later. They often affect emotions, cognition, and physical health.
Emotional & Cognitive Symptoms:
- Flashbacks or intrusive memories
- Intense fear, guilt, or shame
- Feeling emotionally numb or disconnected
- Negative self-beliefs (“I’m broken” or “It’s my fault”)
- Difficulty concentrating or making decisions
Behavioral Symptoms:
- Avoidance of reminders of the trauma
- Irritability or anger outbursts
- Withdrawal from relationships
- Increased substance use or other coping behaviors
Physical Symptoms:
- Sleep disturbances or nightmares
- Chronic fatigue or pain
- Tension, headaches, or stomach issues
- Hypervigilance or exaggerated startle response
Trauma changes how the nervous system reacts, often leaving the body “stuck” in survival mode. Therapy helps calm and retrain these responses.
What Causes Trauma?
Trauma develops from experiences that overwhelm a person’s ability to cope.
Common causes include:
- Physical, sexual, or emotional abuse
- Childhood neglect or unstable caregiving
- Accidents or natural disasters
- Military combat or first responder experiences
- Domestic violence or intimate partner abuse
- Medical trauma or sudden illness
- Loss of a loved one or sudden life disruption
While trauma may be unavoidable, its long-term effects can be reduced and healed through evidence-based therapy.
Trauma Diagnosis
“Trauma” itself is not a formal diagnosis, but its impact may result in conditions such as:
- Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
- Complex PTSD (C-PTSD)
- Dissociative Disorders
- Depression
- Anxiety disorders
- Substance use disorders
During assessment, a therapist will explore:
- The nature and history of traumatic experiences
- How symptoms affect daily life and relationships
- Co-occurring conditions such as anxiety, depression, or dissociation
- Readiness for trauma-focused therapy
Diagnosis guides a personalized treatment plan focused on both stabilization and healing.
Trauma Treatment Options
What Is Best for Trauma?
The best treatment for trauma is trauma-focused psychotherapy that provides both emotional stabilization and opportunities for healing. At Groundbreaker Therapy, we emphasize Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), which equips clients with skills in mindfulness, emotion regulation, distress tolerance, and interpersonal effectiveness. DBT is highly effective in helping trauma survivors manage intense emotions and reduce harmful coping strategies.
Other trauma-specific approaches, such as Trauma-Focused CBT, the Trauma Resiliency Model, and schema therapy, can also support recovery. Medication may be used to address symptoms such as anxiety, depression, or sleep disturbance, but therapy remains the foundation.
Groundbreaker’s Approach to Trauma
Our specialties include:
- Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT): Core skills for emotional regulation, distress tolerance, and grounding.
- Trauma-Informed Counseling for Professionals: Helping healthcare providers, lawyers, educators, creatives, and business leaders manage trauma while maintaining demanding roles.
- Anxiety & Depression Treatment: Addressing conditions that frequently co-occur with trauma.
- Young Professionals’ Mental Health: Supporting adults in their 20s and 30s navigating trauma recovery alongside career and identity development.
- College Mental Health: Guiding students through trauma-related stress while balancing academics and relationships.
Other therapies we may integrate:
- Trauma-Focused CBT (TF-CBT): One of the strongest evidence-based therapies for trauma. Helps clients process traumatic memories, reduce avoidance, and develop healthier coping strategies.
- Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT): Effective when trauma is accompanied by intense emotions, self-harm, or dissociation. Builds emotional regulation and distress tolerance skills that support trauma recovery.
- Schema Therapy: Addresses deep-rooted maladaptive patterns and attachment wounds often caused by early or repeated trauma.
- Trauma Resiliency Model (TRM): A body-based, nervous-system regulation approach designed specifically for trauma recovery.
- Narrative Therapy: Helps clients externalize and reframe their trauma story, reducing shame and promoting healing.
- Mindfulness Practices: Support grounding, emotional regulation, and reduce trauma-related hyperarousal and dissociation.
- Integrative Therapy: Allows combining trauma-specific and supportive approaches (CBT, DBT, mindfulness, somatic methods) to match individual needs.
Our trauma treatment is always personalized and paced carefully to avoid re-traumatization, focusing on both stability in the present and healing from the past.
Living With Trauma
Living with trauma can feel overwhelming, but therapy helps survivors move from surviving to thriving. With treatment, clients often learn to:
- Reduce flashbacks and intrusive memories.
- Reclaim a sense of safety and control.
- Develop healthier coping strategies.
- Rebuild trust and strengthen relationships.
- Reframe shame and guilt into compassion and healing.
- Create meaning and resilience after hardship.
Healing from trauma does not mean forgetting — it means learning to live with peace, purpose, and empowerment.
How Groundbreaker Therapy Can Help
At Groundbreaker Therapy, we know that trauma recovery is possible. We provide:
- Expertise in DBT and trauma-informed care.
- Specialized counseling for professionals, students, and young adults.
- Integrative, evidence-based approaches tailored to each client’s needs.
- A safe, validating environment where survivors are heard without judgment.
- Flexible scheduling with in-person and virtual options.
If trauma has left you feeling stuck, disconnected, or overwhelmed, you don’t have to face it alone. Schedule a consultation with Groundbreaker Therapy today and take the first step toward healing, safety, and strength.