Anxiety is a common emotion that many seek therapy to help manage. When our worries are constant and out of control, anxiety can negatively impact everything we do and how we experience life, creating more distress in our lives.
While we don’t ever fully get rid of anxiety, there are ways we can manage it! In this article, we’ll explore what anxiety is and how trauma processing and somatic therapies can help manage anxiety in your day-to-day life.
What is Anxiety?
The Emotion:
Anxiety is an emotion that everyone experiences. According to the American Psychiatric Association, anxiety is defined as “an emotion characterized by apprehension and somatic symptoms of tension in which an individual anticipates impending danger, catastrophe, or misfortune.”
When we’re in danger or sense a threat, anxiety helps activate our system and bodies so we can take the necessary action to evade that threat. This is normal and necessary to keep us safe. You might feel worry or somatic symptoms, like trouble breathing and headaches, but they generally go away once the threat is removed.
Anxiety Disorders:
Anxiety disorders are different from the emotion itself. They’re characterized by significant worry, panic, and involuntary physiological reactions that are considered excessive, persistent, and often without a cause or out of proportion to the cause.
For many, the worry is hard to control and leads to prolonged somatic symptoms, which negatively impact their functioning and even day-to-day lives. If you suspect you have an anxiety disorder, don’t be afraid to bring it up with your doctor or your therapist.
If you’re looking for a therapist to help with anxiety, contact our Intake Coordinator at 801-508-4150, and they’ll help you schedule a consultation or intake with one of our therapists to see if we’d be a good fit for you.
Some Causes of Anxiety:
Anxiety may be a result of trauma, genetics, personality, temperament, or can even be a symptom of a health condition or medication. A common trigger is increased or prolonged stress, particularly around work, finances, or relationships.
Common Symptoms of Anxiety:
- Constant worry or a sense of panic.
- Difficulty concentrating or intrusive thoughts.
- Rapid heart rate or trouble breathing.
- Shakiness or muscle tension.
- Sleep disturbances, sweating, or changes in body temperature.
- Nausea, upset stomach, or diarrhea.
- Dizziness or headaches.
- Flight-or-fight response.
- Avoidance or reassurance seeking.
How Can Trauma Processing Help Anxiety?
What Trauma Does:
Trauma and anxiety often go hand in hand. Trauma is the result of an event or experience that overwhelms your nervous system and stress response to the point that it negatively impacts your ability to cope. Given the role of anxiety in our stress response system, when trauma overwhelms that system, it can change the chemical and structural makeup of our brain. These changes impact our stress response system, which, for many, results in constant feelings of anxiety and being in a perpetual fight-or-flight state.
Trauma can also change how your brain perceives threats. Things that normally wouldn’t be considered a threat trigger the amygdala (your brain’s smoke alarm) and tell you to be on guard. Trauma can also alter the hippocampus, which is where your brain processes memories and helps you link experiences with past threats. These changes can make it hard for us to determine whether threats are current or past, triggering our stress response.
There is also often increased anxiety sensitivity, meaning someone may be more anxious about experiencing symptoms of anxiety or trauma. As a result, those who have experienced trauma are much more likely to struggle with chronic symptoms of anxiety as well.
How Trauma Processing Works:
Trauma processing can have a significant impact on anxiety related to trauma. The goals of trauma processing are:
- Stabilization. This includes building safety and stability within your internal system and your external environment. This helps regulate and calm your nervous system, reducing the stress response and anxiety.
- Processing. This includes desensitizing yourself to the memory, lessening its activation, and helping you revisit the past, while staying safe and regulated in the present. This can significantly reduce the traumatic response and, in turn, lessen the amount of anxiety you feel day to day.
- Integration. This includes integrating memories appropriately and re-establishing the narrative in your life story, which also helps reduce anxiety and trauma-related symptoms.
How Somatic Therapy Helps:
While there’s an emotional component to anxiety, there are often strong somatic reactions that can impact your body. These involuntary physiological reactions can add strain to your body, leading to significant distress.
While these symptoms may be slightly different for everyone, somatic therapies can help reduce the intensity of our anxiety and help process the feelings or experiences associated with anxiety that we notice in the body.
Somatic therapy focuses on the connection of body and mind and centers on how our bodies hold onto emotions and negative experiences. Somatic therapies use mind-body exercises to help release tension and improve mental health. Often considered a holistic approach due to the belief that the body and mind are connected, somatic therapies may include mindfulness practices as well as traditional talk therapy.
Types of Somatic Therapies:
- Somatic Experiencing
- Mind Body Bridging
- Lifespan Integration
- Accelerated Resolution Therapy
- EMDR
- Brainspotting
- Sensorimotor Psychotherapy
These therapies may include meditation, body scans, breathwork, yoga, tai chi, vocal work, EFT tapping, dance, or other forms of movement.
By addressing our trauma and the connection between our body and mind, we’re able to navigate the many facets of anxiety. At Rooted, we specialize in a trauma-informed, holistic approach to mental health. Many of our clinicians are trained in trauma processing and somatic therapies. If you need help or are interested in learning more about how we can help support you with anxiety, reach out to our intake team here and inquire about our therapist and group offerings.
References:
American Psychiatric Association. (2022). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed., text rev.). https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.books.9780890425787
Anxiety and Depression Association of America. (n.d.). Ways trauma changes your brain and body. https://adaa.org/learn-from-us/from-the-experts/blog-posts/consumer/ways-trauma-changes-your-brain-and-body
APA Dictionary of Psychology. (n.d.). https://dictionary.apa.org/anxiety?_gl=1*1049xlq*_gcl_au*MTYxMDc4MDQwNC4xNzYyOTcyOTk0*_ga*MTAzMDQzMTQ0NS4xNzYyOTcyOTk1*_ga_SZXLGDJGNB*czE3Njc5OTM4MzkkbzQkZzEkdDE3Njc5OTM4NTUkajYwJGwwJGgw
Gelenberg, A. J. (2000). Psychiatric and somatic markers of anxiety. The Primary Care Companion for CNS Disorders, 2(2), 49–54. https://doi.org/10.4088/pcc.v02n0204
Gillette, H. (2024, January 22). What’s the relationship between trauma and anxiety? Healthline. https://www.healthline.com/health/anxiety/whats-the-relationship-between-trauma-and-anxiety
Gillette, H. (2024b, May 29). What is somatic anxiety? Healthline. https://www.healthline.com/health/anxiety/somatic-anxiety
Glasofer, D. R., PhD. (2025, October 17). Generalized Anxiety Disorder: symptoms and DSM-5 diagnosis. Verywell Mind. https://www.verywellmind.com/dsm-5-criteria-for-generalized-anxiety-disorder-1393147#:~:text=The%20presence%20of%20excessive%20anxiety,4%EF%BB%BF%EF%BB%BF