Updated on July 30, 2025
Trauma doesn’t just live in your memories. It can settle in your body, shape your nervous system, affect your relationships, and change how you see yourself in the world.
Whether it stems from childhood abuse, a car accident, emotional neglect, a violent event, or the loss of someone you love, trauma can leave deep wounds. You might not see them, but you can feel them. They may show up as anxiety, numbness, irritability, flashbacks, or a constant sense that you are not safe. For some people, this becomes PTSD. For others, it shapes life quietly for years.
Sometimes trauma hides for a long time. You might not connect the dots until years later, when you notice you cannot sleep, have trouble trusting people, or feel like something is wrong even when everything looks fine on the surface.
If this feels familiar, please know you are not broken. You are having a human response to pain that was too much to handle at the time. Healing is possible, and you deserve it.
How Trauma Affects Your Brain and Body
Trauma can rewire your brain’s alarm system. Even when the danger is over, your body may stay in survival mode.
Here’s what often happens:
- Amygdala (your alarm system): Becomes overactive, making you feel anxious or on edge even when nothing is wrong.
- Hippocampus (your memory center): Struggles to tell the past from the present. This is why certain smells, sounds, or places can trigger intense emotions.
- Prefrontal cortex (your logical brain): Can go “offline” during stress, making it harder to think clearly or feel grounded.
Your nervous system can also get stuck in fight, flight, freeze, or fawn. You might notice:
- Chronic muscle tension or pain
- Digestive issues like IBS
- Trouble sleeping or frequent nightmares
- Fatigue that does not improve with rest
- Feeling numb or disconnected from your body
These symptoms are not a weakness. They are signs your body is still trying to protect you.
What Healing Can Look Like
Healing from trauma is not about erasing the past. It is about finding ways to live with what happened without it controlling you. It means reconnecting with your body, your story, and your sense of self.
There is no one path to healing. Your process is unique to you. At Firefly Therapy Austin, we offer evidence-based therapies designed to meet you where you are.
Types of Trauma Therapy
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
CBT helps you recognize and change unhelpful thought patterns. If you often think “It was my fault” or “I’m not safe,” CBT gives you tools to challenge those beliefs and replace them with more compassionate and grounded thoughts.
Example: After a car accident, someone might avoid driving. CBT would help them slowly face that fear while learning skills to manage anxiety.
Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT)
Often used for PTSD, CPT helps you look closely at the beliefs formed after trauma, especially around guilt, shame, and safety.
You might ask yourself:
- What do I believe about myself because of this trauma?
- Is that belief actually true, or is it shaped by pain?
Many people notice significant changes within just 12 sessions.
EMDR Therapy
EMDR helps the brain reprocess traumatic memories so they are less emotionally charged. While recalling a distressing memory, you follow gentle side-to-side movements, like eye movements or tapping.
Clients often say:
- That memory feels less painful now.
- It finally feels like it is in the past.
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)
DBT is especially helpful if trauma has led to intense emotions, self-harm, or unstable relationships. It teaches skills for:
- Mindfulness: Staying present and aware
- Emotion regulation: Managing overwhelming feelings
- Distress tolerance: Getting through crises without making them worse
- Interpersonal effectiveness: Setting boundaries and asking for what you need
Somatic Experiencing
Because trauma lives in the body as well as the mind, talk therapy is sometimes not enough. Somatic experiencing uses gentle movement, breathing, and awareness to help release stored survival energy.
Example: If your shoulders are always tense or your breathing feels shallow, somatic work can help you slowly release that tension and reconnect with your body.
Mindfulness and Grounding
Mindfulness can help bring you back into the present moment. Simple grounding practices like naming five things you can see, feel, or hear can calm your nervous system during a flashback or panic attack.
Try this:
- Sit with both feet on the floor.
- Notice where your body touches the chair.
- Take a slow breath in and a slow breath out.
- Say to yourself, “I am here. I am safe. This moment is now.”
Narrative Therapy
Trauma can silence you or tell you false stories about being powerless or broken. Narrative therapy helps you reclaim your voice and see yourself as more than what happened to you.
You are not what happened to you. You are how you survived it.
Group Therapy
Healing with others can bring a sense of relief. In group therapy, you meet people who have lived through similar pain and are working toward healing.
You gain perspective, practice new skills, and remember you are not alone.
Trauma-Focused CBT for Children and Teens
Kids process trauma differently. TF-CBT blends talk therapy, education, and caregiver support to help children feel safe again and develop healthy coping tools.
Example: A child who has witnessed domestic violence might learn to name feelings, understand they are not at fault, and create a safety plan for home and school.
Healing Is Not Linear
Some days will feel like progress. Others may feel like setbacks. That is part of the process.
Healing is not about perfection. It is about slowly coming back to yourself. You may cry more. You may laugh again. You may rest deeply for the first time in years. Every bit matters.
Your Next Step
At Firefly Therapy Austin, we specialize in trauma recovery. We offer a safe, compassionate space to process your story and rediscover your strength.
We help you:
- Feel more connected to your body and emotions
- Let go of shame and self-blame
- Build coping tools for anxiety, flashbacks, and numbness
- Create a life that feels safe, meaningful, and fully your own
You do not have to do this alone. If you are ready to take the next step toward healing, contact Firefly Therapy Austin today. A trauma-informed therapist will walk beside you at your pace, in your way.