Trauma or Anxiety? How to Tell What’s Really Driving Your Reactions
When you find yourself reacting strongly to a situation, it can be hard to pinpoint the cause. Is it anxiety? A trauma response? A blend of both? Understanding what drives these reactions is important for your mental health and healing. Here’s how to recognize the difference between a trauma response and anxiety.
What is a Trauma Response?
Trauma responses are often the result of past experiences that put you in perceived or real danger. These events leave an imprint on the brain, which affects how you react to current stressful situations. Trauma responses are typically triggered by something in the present that reminds you of the past traumatic event or events, even when you don’t realize it. These responses are automatic. They’re your brain’s way of protecting you from re-experiencing past pain.
Common trauma responses include:
Fight, flight, freeze, or fawn: These are instinctual reactions meant to protect you from harm. The fight or flight response involves a surge of adrenaline, meaning you’ll either confront the threat or escape. Freezing is when you feel unable to take action, and fawning involves trying to please others to avoid conflict.
Hypervigilance: This is a constant state of alertness, always on the lookout for potential danger.
Emotional flashbacks: These are intense feelings in the present that take you to your past trauma. They may not have a clear trigger.
Dissociation: This is a feeling of disconnection from yourself, your surroundings, or your current situation.
What is Anxiety?
Anxiety, on the other hand, is often preoccupied with the future. It’s the mind’s way of preparing for potential threats that might or might not happen. While anxiety can be a normal response to stress, it becomes problematic when it’s out of proportion to the situation or happens too often.
Signs of anxiety include:
Worry and rumination: This means constantly thinking about potential problems, usually focusing on worst-case scenarios.
Avoidance: This is when you steer clear of situations that might trigger anxiety, even if they’re not inherently dangerous.
Irritability: This means feeling on edge, easily frustrated, and having a short fuse.
Physical symptoms: A racing heart, sweating, shaking, gastrointestinal issues are all symptoms of an anxious response.
How to Tell the Difference
Consider the trigger: If your reaction is tied to a specific memory, person, or place, it may be a trauma response. Trauma triggers often have a direct link to past events, even if that connection isn’t immediately obvious. On the other hand, anxiety is usually about future fears or more general worries.
Examine your emotions: Trauma responses often involve intense emotions that seem to come out of nowhere, such as overwhelming fear, sadness, shame, or anger. These sudden emotions are usually disproportionate to the situation. Anxiety, while also emotional, is typically characterized by a more persistent, underlying feeling of dread.
Look at your behavior: Trauma responses might involve behaviors that aren’t consciously controlled. This might mean dissociation, numbness, or a sudden urge to flee. Anxiety-driven behaviors are often a more deliberate effort to control a situation, such as avoiding an activity.
Check for physical symptoms: Both anxiety and trauma can cause physical symptoms, but they may manifest differently. Trauma responses can include flashbacks, feeling disconnected from your body, or a sudden rush of adrenaline. Anxiety often has more chronic symptoms, like muscle tension, headaches, or gastrointestinal issues.
Are You Living with Trauma or Anxiety?
If you’ve had a past traumatic experience and are still living with the aftereffects, you’re not alone. Similarly, no one should go through anxiety without help. Schedule a free intro call today to determine the best course of your treatment plan. Together, you can determine what’s actually behind your stress response to difficult situations, process your trauma, and learn to cope with distress in a healthy way.
To learn how your anxiety or trauma is affecting you, please reach out.
About the Author
Nicole Mendizabal is a licensed marriage and family therapist providing virtual therapy services in Florida.
