Trauma Therapy Chicago | Healing Childhood Trauma & Anxiety

You’ve survived something difficult. Now it’s time to heal from it.

Trauma doesn’t always look the way people think it does. You might not have flashbacks or nightmares. But if your past keeps showing up in your present—through anxiety that won’t quit, relationships that feel unsafe, or a body that stays on high alert—trauma might be what’s underneath.

At Calm Anxiety CBT Therapy Clinic in Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood, we specialize in trauma therapy that helps you process what happened without reliving it. Using evidence-based approaches like EMDR and trauma-focused CBT, we help you move from surviving to truly living.

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You’re Not Broken

Here’s what we want you to know right away: Your responses to trauma are normal reactions to abnormal events.

When your body learned to stay on high alert, it was protecting you. When your mind learned to expect danger, it was keeping you safe. When your emotions got overwhelming, it was because what happened was overwhelming.

You’re not damaged. You’re not weak. You’re not “too sensitive.” Your nervous system did exactly what it was supposed to do when faced with a threat. The problem is that it kept doing it—even when the threat was gone.

That’s what makes trauma therapy different from regular talk therapy. We’re not just talking about what happened. We’re helping your nervous system update its threat response so you can finally feel safe in the present.

When the Past Won’t Let Go

Trauma has a way of showing up when you least expect it. You might not even connect your current struggles to things that happened years ago. But your body remembers, even when your mind tries to forget.

Signs that past trauma might be affecting you now:

• Your anxiety feels constant and unpredictable. You might feel on edge most of the time, waiting for the other shoe to drop, even when everything seems fine on the surface.
• Small things trigger big reactions. A certain tone of voice, a smell, a look from someone—and suddenly you’re flooded with feelings that don’t match the situation.
• You have trouble trusting people. Even when someone seems safe, part of you is always waiting for them to hurt you or leave.
• Your body feels tense or “buzzy” a lot. Tight shoulders, clenched jaw, upset stomach, or a feeling like you can’t quite relax even when you try.
• You have trouble sleeping. Either falling asleep (because your mind won’t turn off) or staying asleep (because you wake up anxious or from nightmares).
• You feel numb or disconnected. Like you’re going through the motions but not really present. Or you can’t access your feelings, even when you want to.
• Certain situations make you freeze or shut down. Conflict, vulnerability, or intimacy might make you go blank or want to escape.
• You criticize yourself constantly. A harsh inner voice that tells you you’re not good enough, you’re too much, or you’re somehow fundamentally flawed.
• You have a hard time setting boundaries. Saying no feels impossible, even when saying yes hurts you. Or you swing the other way—pushing everyone away to feel safe.
• You sabotage good things. When life gets good, you find yourself pulling back, picking fights, or creating chaos because calm feels unfamiliar or unsafe.

If you’re reading this list thinking “that’s me,” you’re not alone. These are some of the most common ways unprocessed trauma shows up—and they’re exactly what trauma therapy is designed to help with.

Understanding Trauma: It’s Not Just “Big T” Events

When most people think of trauma, they think of the obvious stuff: combat, natural disasters, serious accidents, physical or sexual assault. Therapists sometimes call these “Big T” traumas.

But trauma also comes from experiences that might not seem “bad enough” to count:

• Growing up with a parent who was emotionally unavailable, unpredictable, or critical
• Chronic emotional neglect—having your feelings dismissed or minimized
• Bullying or social rejection, especially during formative years
• Medical procedures or hospitalizations, especially as a child
• Divorce or family conflict that felt scary or unstable
• Being raised in a household with addiction, mental illness, or domestic violence (even if you weren’t directly harmed)
• Discrimination, microaggressions, or identity-based violence
• Losing someone important through death or abandonment

These are sometimes called “little t” traumas or complex trauma—and they can have just as much impact as the “Big T” events, especially when they happen repeatedly or during childhood.

Complex Trauma and Developmental Trauma

If your trauma wasn’t one big event but rather an accumulation of experiences over time—especially in childhood—you might be dealing with what therapists call complex trauma or developmental trauma.

This type of trauma can be harder to recognize because there’s no single “story” to point to. Instead, you might just remember a general feeling of not being safe, not being seen, or not being enough.

Complex trauma often shows up as:

• Difficulty regulating emotions (you swing between numb and overwhelmed)
• Deep shame or feeling “fundamentally broken”
• Trouble with relationships and trust
• Harsh self-criticism and perfectionism
• A sense that you don’t know who you are or what you want

The good news? Trauma therapy—especially EMDR and trauma-focused CBT—works for complex trauma too. You don’t need to remember every detail or have a clear “narrative” to heal.

How Childhood Trauma Affects Adults

What happens in childhood doesn’t stay in childhood. When you’re young, your brain is still developing—which means early experiences literally shape how your brain gets wired.

If you grew up in an environment where you didn’t feel consistently safe, loved, or valued, your developing brain learned to prioritize survival over connection. That made perfect sense at the time. But those survival patterns often stick around into adulthood, even when you’re no longer in danger.

Common patterns from childhood trauma that show up in adults:

In Relationships

• People-pleasing and over-functioning. You learned early that your worth depended on being “good” or taking care of others’ needs.
• Difficulty being vulnerable. Showing your real feelings felt unsafe, so you learned to keep people at a distance or only show the “easy” parts of yourself.
• Anxious attachment. You crave closeness but constantly worry about being abandoned or rejected.
• Avoidant attachment. Intimacy feels suffocating or scary, so you pull away when people get too close.
• Repeating unhealthy patterns. You might find yourself attracted to people who recreate familiar (but painful) dynamics from your past.

In Your Relationship with Yourself

• Harsh inner critic. If the adults around you were critical or dismissive, you likely internalized that voice.
• Perfectionism. You learned that mistakes weren’t safe, so you try to do everything perfectly to avoid criticism or rejection.
• Difficulty knowing what you feel or want. If your feelings were dismissed or punished, you might have learned to disconnect from them.
• Shame. A deep sense that you’re somehow “too much” or “not enough”—or both at the same time.

In Your Body

• Chronic tension and pain. Your body holds the stress your mind couldn’t process.
• Digestive issues, headaches, or other stress-related symptoms. Your nervous system has been in fight-or-flight mode for so long it affects your physical health.
• Difficulty feeling sensations in your body. You might have learned to disconnect from your body to cope with overwhelming feelings.

When Trauma Shows Up as Anxiety

Here’s something many people don’t realize: A lot of anxiety is actually unprocessed trauma.

This is one of our areas of specialty at Calm Anxiety. We see this pattern constantly: someone comes in for “anxiety,” and as we dig deeper, we discover that the anxiety is their nervous system’s response to old, unprocessed trauma.

How trauma becomes anxiety:

When you experience trauma—especially repeated trauma or childhood trauma—your nervous system learns that the world is dangerous. It stays on high alert, constantly scanning for threats. This is called hypervigilance, and it’s exhausting.

Over time, this constant state of alert becomes what we call anxiety. Your nervous system is doing exactly what it was trained to do: keep you safe. The problem is, it’s responding to old threats as if they’re happening right now.

Common Anxiety Symptoms That Are Actually Trauma Responses

• Constant worry and “what if” thinking. Your brain is trying to predict and prevent bad things from happening again.
• Panic attacks that come “out of nowhere.” They’re often triggered by something that reminds your body of the past trauma, even if your conscious mind doesn’t make the connection.
• Difficulty making decisions. When your past experiences taught you that mistakes have big consequences, even small decisions can feel overwhelming.
• Social anxiety. If past relationships felt unsafe or you experienced rejection or bullying, your nervous system might see all social situations as potentially dangerous.
• Health anxiety. When your body learned early that you can’t trust it to be okay, you might constantly worry about physical symptoms.

This is why we combine EMDR with CBT in our trauma work. EMDR helps process the old trauma that’s driving the anxiety, while CBT gives you tools to work with anxious thoughts and behaviors in the present.

Types of Trauma We Help With

At Calm Anxiety, we work with all types of trauma. You don’t need to have a specific diagnosis or fit into a particular category to benefit from trauma therapy.

We help people heal from:

Childhood Trauma

• Emotional, physical, or sexual abuse
• Emotional neglect or unavailable caregivers
• Growing up with addiction, mental illness, or domestic violence in the home
• Divorce or family instability
• Bullying or social trauma
• Medical trauma or hospitalization

Relational Trauma

• Emotional or psychological abuse in relationships
• Betrayal or infidelity
• Toxic or abusive friendships
• Attachment injuries
• Abandonment or rejection

Identity-Based Trauma

• Discrimination or oppression based on race, ethnicity, gender, or sexual orientation
• Experiences of homophobia, transphobia, or being rejected for your identity
• Religious trauma or spiritual abuse
• Microaggressions and systemic oppression

Single-Event Trauma

• Accidents or injuries
• Assault (physical or sexual)
• Natural disasters
• Witnessing violence or death
• Sudden loss of a loved one

Medical Trauma

• Difficult medical procedures or surgeries
• Life-threatening illness or diagnosis
• Birth trauma
• Chronic illness or pain

Complex Trauma / PTSD

• Repeated trauma over time
• Multiple types of trauma
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) or Complex PTSD (C-PTSD)
• Developmental trauma

EMDR: Healing Without Reliving

One of the most powerful tools we use for trauma is EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing). It sounds complicated, but the concept is actually pretty straightforward.

How EMDR Works

When you experience trauma, the memory gets “stuck” in your brain in a raw, unprocessed state. This is why traumatic memories can feel so vivid and present—like they’re happening right now instead of in the past.

EMDR helps your brain reprocess these stuck memories so they become normal memories—something that happened to you, but that no longer triggers your nervous system.

Here’s what happens in EMDR:

1. You identify a target memory. This could be a specific traumatic event or a general theme (like feeling unsafe or not good enough).
2. You notice what you believe about yourself because of that memory. For example, “I’m not safe,” “I’m not good enough,” or “I can’t trust anyone.”
3. You follow bilateral stimulation. This is usually eye movements (following your therapist’s fingers back and forth) or alternating taps on your hands. This mimics what happens naturally during REM sleep, when your brain processes and files away memories.
4. Your brain does the rest. You don’t have to talk through every detail or relive the experience. Your brain naturally processes the memory in the background.

What EMDR Feels Like

People often describe EMDR as feeling like watching a movie of the memory from a distance. You’re aware of what happened, but you’re not in it the same way. The emotional charge gradually decreases.

You might notice images, thoughts, body sensations, or emotions shifting as your brain processes. Your therapist is with you the whole time, helping you stay grounded and safe.

Is EMDR Right for You?

EMDR works well for most types of trauma, but it’s especially helpful for:

• Single-event trauma (like an accident or assault)
• Trauma you have trouble talking about
• Trauma that feels “stuck” even after talk therapy
• Panic attacks or flashbacks
• Childhood trauma

Some people do better with a slower approach or a combination of EMDR and talk therapy. We’ll figure out what works best for you.

Learn More About Our EMDR Therapy

CBT for Trauma-Based Anxiety

While EMDR helps reprocess traumatic memories, trauma-focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) helps you work with the thoughts, beliefs, and behaviors that developed as a result of trauma.

How Trauma Changes Your Thinking

Trauma doesn’t just create emotional wounds—it shapes how you think about yourself, other people, and the world. These beliefs made sense when you were in danger, but they might not fit your current reality.

Common trauma-based beliefs we work with in CBT:

• “I’m not safe” or “The world is dangerous”
• “I can’t trust anyone”
• “I’m damaged” or “There’s something wrong with me”
• “It’s my fault” or “I should have done something different”
• “I’m weak” or “I’m too sensitive”
• “I have to be perfect or something bad will happen”
• “If I let my guard down, I’ll get hurt”

These beliefs create anxiety, depression, and relationship problems—even when the original trauma is long past.

What We Do in Trauma-Focused CBT

1. Identify trauma-based thought patterns. We help you recognize when your current thoughts are being driven by past experiences rather than present reality.

2. Challenge and update these beliefs. Not by forcing “positive thinking,” but by gathering evidence from your current life and helping your brain update its threat assessment.

3. Work with safety behaviors. These are things you do to try to stay safe—like avoiding certain situations, over-preparing, people-pleasing, or staying hypervigilant. They feel protective, but they often keep the anxiety going. We help you gradually build evidence that you can be safe without them.

4. Build distress tolerance skills. Trauma can make emotions feel overwhelming. We teach you concrete tools to manage intense feelings without shutting down or avoiding.

5. Practice opposite action. When trauma makes you want to avoid or withdraw, we help you take small, safe steps toward the things that matter to you.

CBT for Specific Trauma-Related Issues

We also use specialized CBT approaches for specific trauma-related struggles:

• Exposure therapy for trauma-based avoidance and phobias
• Cognitive processing therapy for challenging stuck beliefs about the trauma
• Panic-focused CBT for trauma-related panic attacks
• Social anxiety CBT when trauma has made relationships feel unsafe

Learn More About Our CBT Approach

What to Expect in Trauma Therapy

Starting trauma therapy can feel scary. You might worry about being overwhelmed, retraumatized, or not being “ready.” Let’s walk through what actually happens so you know what to expect.

Phase 1: Building Safety and Stability (Weeks 1-4ish)

We don’t jump straight into processing trauma. First, we focus on helping you feel safe—both in therapy and in your life.

In these early sessions, we:

• Get to know you and what you’re struggling with
• Teach you grounding and regulation skills
• Help you identify what triggers you and how to manage triggers
• Make sure you have enough stability in your life to do deeper work
• Build trust in the therapy relationship

This foundation is crucial. Trauma therapy only works when you feel safe enough to do it.

Phase 2: Processing the Trauma (Ongoing)

Once you feel ready, we begin the actual trauma processing work. This might involve:

• EMDR sessions where we target specific memories or themes
• CBT work on trauma-based beliefs and behaviors
• Somatic work to help release trauma stored in your body
• Parts work to help different parts of you feel safe and integrated

You’re always in control. We go at your pace, and you can always ask to slow down, pause, or switch approaches.

Phase 3: Integration and Moving Forward (Ongoing)

As the trauma becomes less activating, we focus on:

• Rebuilding your sense of self
• Improving relationships
• Pursuing goals that trauma was blocking
• Preventing relapse or regression

This isn’t always linear—healing rarely is. You might move back and forth between phases, and that’s completely normal.

What Trauma Therapy Doesn’t Mean

Let’s clear up some misconceptions:

• You won’t be retraumatized. Good trauma therapy is designed specifically to avoid making things worse. You process the memory while staying grounded in the present.
• You don’t have to remember everything. Some people have clear memories; others don’t. You can heal from trauma even without detailed memories.
• You don’t have to confront your abuser. Healing is about you, not them. Confrontation is optional and often not helpful.
• You won’t fall apart. You might have hard moments, but your therapist is there to help you stay regulated and safe.

Common Questions About Trauma Therapy

How do I know if I need trauma therapy vs. regular therapy?

If you have a history of trauma and you’re struggling with anxiety, depression, relationship issues, or feeling stuck, trauma therapy is probably a good fit. Even if you’ve done regular talk therapy before, trauma-specific approaches like EMDR might offer something different.

In your first session, we’ll assess whether trauma seems to be a core issue and recommend an approach that makes sense for you.

What if I don’t remember my childhood very well?

Memory gaps—especially from childhood—are actually a common sign of trauma. You don’t need detailed memories to heal. We can work with what you do remember, the patterns you notice in your current life, or the feelings and beliefs you carry.

Will trauma therapy make me fall apart?

No. Effective trauma therapy is designed to help you process trauma without retraumatizing you. With EMDR especially, you’re processing the memory while simultaneously staying grounded in the present. Your therapist will teach you skills to manage distress and will pace the work so you’re not overwhelmed.

Can I do trauma therapy while taking medication?

Absolutely. Many people benefit from combining trauma therapy with medication. If you’re working with a psychiatrist, we’re happy to coordinate care. Some people find that as trauma heals, they need less medication, but this should always be discussed with your prescriber.

What if I start trauma therapy and it’s too much?

You can always pause, slow down, or adjust the approach. Good trauma therapy should never feel like you’re being pushed beyond what you can handle. If it feels like too much, tell your therapist. A skilled trauma therapist will help you find a pace that works for you.

What if my trauma happened a long time ago—is it too late to get help?

It’s never too late. We’ve helped people in their 70s and 80s heal from childhood trauma. Your brain maintains the capacity to heal throughout your life. In fact, sometimes people are more ready to process trauma later in life when they have more resources and stability.

Do you offer virtual trauma therapy?

Yes, we offer both in-person therapy at our Lakeview office and secure virtual therapy throughout Illinois. EMDR and CBT both work effectively via telehealth for many people.

How do I know if my therapist is qualified to do trauma therapy?

Look for therapists who have specific training in trauma-focused approaches like EMDR, trauma-focused CBT, or somatic therapies. At Calm Anxiety, all our therapists are trained in evidence-based trauma treatments and receive ongoing supervision and consultation.

Getting Started with Trauma Therapy in Chicago

You’ve made it this far. That’s not nothing. Reading about trauma, recognizing yourself in these descriptions, considering that healing might be possible—that takes courage.

Here’s what happens next:

Step 1: Reach Out

Contact us by phone at (312) 724-5168 or through our contact form. You can also request a free 15-minute consultation call if you want to ask questions before committing to an appointment.

Step 2: Free Consultation (Optional)

If you’d like, we offer a brief phone consultation where you can:

• Tell us a bit about what you’re struggling with
• Ask questions about our approach
• Make sure it feels like a good fit
• Get answers about insurance, scheduling, or our process

No pressure, no obligation. Just a conversation.

Step 3: First Appointment

In your first session, we’ll:

• Get to know you and what brings you in
• Talk about your history and current struggles
• Explain how trauma therapy works
• Create an initial treatment plan together
• Make sure you feel safe and heard

You won’t have to dive into trauma processing right away. The first session is about building safety and making a plan.

Step 4: Begin Healing

From there, we work together at a pace that feels right for you. Some weeks might be hard. Some weeks you’ll feel lighter. Healing isn’t linear, and that’s okay. What matters is that you’re moving forward.

Schedule Your First Appointment

Serving Chicago & Surrounding Areas

Calm Anxiety CBT Therapy Clinic is located in Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood, easily accessible from:

• Lakeview
• Boystown / Lakeview East
• Lincoln Park
• Wrigleyville
• Uptown
• Andersonville
• Ravenswood
• Lincoln Square
• Roscoe Village
• North Center

We also offer secure virtual therapy throughout Illinois.