Coping Skills That Actually Work (And Why Most People Are Only Halfway There)
By Kristin Riding, LPC, ATR-BC | Painted Willow Healing | Telehealth Therapy across Pennsylvania
"Just breathe."
If you've ever been told this during a hard moment and wanted to scream, I understand. Not because breathing doesn't work, it genuinely does, but because no one ever explains why it works, or how to do it in a way that actually reaches your nervous system when you're dysregulated.
Coping skills have gotten a bit of a bad reputation, and I think it's because too often they're handed out like a shopping list without any real context. Here's what I want you to know: the right coping skills, used in the right way, can genuinely change how your body responds to stress. And for people healing from trauma, they are not a nice-to-have; they are essential groundwork.
Why Coping Skills Matter in Trauma Therapy
Before we can do deep trauma work before EMDR, before processing, before any of the heavier excavation, your nervous system needs to know it has somewhere safe to land.
Coping skills are how we build that. They are not a permanent solution to trauma. But they are what make it possible to go into difficult territory and come back out again. Think of them as the scaffolding that makes the real work possible.
I also want to say something that I tell my clients directly: a good coping skill is one you will actually use. Not the 30-minute meditation your last therapist assigned. Not the elaborate routine that requires perfect conditions. Something achievable, something yours.
Breathing: The One That Actually Works When You Know How to Use It
Your breath is the only autonomic function you can consciously control, which means it is a direct line to your nervous system. When you slow and deepen your breath, you activate the parasympathetic nervous system (your body's "rest and digest" mode), which counters the stress response.
Here are a few breathing techniques I use with clients, drawn from my clinical practice:
Equal Breathing (Sama Vritti)
Inhale for a count of four, exhale for a count of four; all through the nose. This is one of the most accessible techniques and works particularly well when you're feeling anxious or can't stop ruminating. It's especially helpful before bed if racing thoughts are keeping you awake.
Belly Breathing (Abdominal Breathing)
Place one hand on your chest and one on your belly. Breathe in through the nose so that your belly (not your chest) rises. Aim for six to ten slow breaths per minute. This technique stimulates a relaxation response, can reduce heart rate and blood pressure, and with consistent practice, those benefits compound over time. With kids, I call it "balloon breathing." make your belly big like a balloon when you inhale, and slowly deflate as you exhale.
Alternate Nostril Breathing (Nadi Shodhana)
Hold your right thumb over your right nostril, inhale through the left. At the top of the breath, close the left nostril with your ring finger and exhale through the right. Then inhale through the right, close it, exhale through the left. Continue alternating. This technique is particularly helpful when you need to focus or feel mentally scattered. it literally works with both sides of the brain simultaneously. Think of it as a cup of coffee for your nervous system.
Body Awareness: Learning to Check In
One of the things I see most often in people who have experienced trauma is a disconnect from their own body. Not because they're doing anything wrong — the body often learns to mute its signals as a form of protection. But that disconnection makes it harder to notice when you're escalating, and harder to come back down.
Body awareness is a skill that can be rebuilt, gradually and gently.
A simple starting practice: twice a day - morning and before bed, pause and notice where you feel sensation in your body. You don't have to name it or analyze it. Just notice. A tightness in the chest. A heaviness in the legs. A warmth in the hands. Over time, this check-in becomes a bridge back to yourself.
Body mapping is a more intentional version of this practice, where you draw or mark on an outline of a human figure where you notice sensation. It sounds simple, and it is but what it reveals can be profound.
When Negative Thoughts Are Running the Show
Trauma and anxiety share something in common: they both generate a lot of negative, automatic thoughts that feel more true than they actually are. These thoughts move fast and often stay below the surface, quietly influencing how we see ourselves and the world.
One of the art therapy tools I use in my practice for working with these thoughts is what I call the Four Square: a structured directive that helps clients identify a negative belief, draw it, connect it to feelings and real-life situations, and then generate thoughts that challenge it. The act of drawing the thought giving it shape, color, form, can actually reduce its power. It becomes something outside of you, something you can look at and question, rather than something that simply is.
A Note on What Makes a Coping Skill Sustainable
The best coping skills are the ones that fit into your actual life. I work with clients on what they're already doing — and we add small, achievable things from there. That might mean putting on music you love and lighting a candle while you make your morning coffee. It might mean stepping outside for five minutes between tasks. It might mean doing belly breaths in your car before you walk into a difficult situation.
Small practices done consistently build the kind of nervous system resilience that makes deeper healing possible.
Working Together at Painted Willow Healing
I am a Licensed Professional Counselor and Board-Certified Art Therapist offering telehealth therapy throughout Pennsylvania. I work with adults and young adults (17+) who are healing from trauma, PTSD, anxiety, burnout, and more. My approach is integrative which means we build the coping tools that are right for you, and we use them as the foundation for whatever deeper work you're ready for.
I accept most major insurance plans and offer self-pay options. I also offer a free consultation for new clients.
If you're ready to find coping strategies that actually fit your life and a therapist who will meet you where you are, I'd love to connect.
Reach out: kristin@paintedwillowhealing.com | (724) 315-7805
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Kristin Riding, LPC, ATR-BC is a trauma therapist and board-certified art therapist offering telehealth therapy throughout Pennsylvania at Painted Willow Healing. She specializes in trauma, PTSD, anxiety, burnout, and integrative healing.
Why Trauma Lives in Your Body (And What That Means for Healing)
By Kristin Riding, LPC, ATR-BC | Painted Willow Healing | Telehealth Therapy across Pennsylvania
You've talked about it in therapy. You've journaled about it. You've read the books, done the work, and intellectually, you understand what happened. And yet something still feels stuck. Your body tenses in certain rooms. A smell sends you somewhere you don't want to go. You startle easily, or go completely numb, or can't seem to stop bracing for something that isn't coming.
This is not a failure of willpower or insight. This is how trauma works.
Your Brain Was Trying to Protect You
To understand why trauma gets stuck in the body, it helps to understand what happens in the brain during a threatening experience.
Your brain has a threat detection system centered in the limbic system, particularly a small structure called the amygdala. The amygdala's job is to sound the alarm when danger is present. When it detects a threat, it activates your body's survival response: fight, flight, or freeze.
This happens fast, faster than conscious thought. The amygdala fires before your "thinking brain" (the prefrontal cortex) has a chance to weigh in. And in that moment, something remarkable happens: the part of your brain responsible for putting experiences into words actually goes offline.
This is why so many trauma survivors struggle to explain what happened. It isn't because the memory isn't there. It's because the experience was encoded differently through the body, through the senses, through sensation and image rather than narrative.
Trauma is remembered through what you felt, smelled, heard, and saw. It is stored in your nervous system, in your muscles, in the automatic responses that fire before your mind can catch up.
What Triggers Actually Are
Have you ever had a seemingly ordinary moment, a sound, a smell, a particular quality of light, send you spiraling into anxiety or shutdown without being able to explain why? That's a trigger.
Triggers are sensory cues that have become associated with the original trauma. They remind the nervous system of a past danger, and the nervous system responds as if that danger is happening right now. Your blood pressure rises. Your breathing shallows. You might feel flooded with emotion or you might feel nothing at all, a kind of protective numbness.
These responses are not overreactions. They are your nervous system doing exactly what it was designed to do: keep you safe. The problem is that it's working from old information.
Why Talking Isn't Always Enough
Traditional talk therapy is incredibly valuable but for trauma that lives in the body, it has limits.
When trauma bypasses the verbal brain during the original experience, revisiting it primarily through words can sometimes reinforce the pattern rather than release it. You can tell the story again and again without the body ever feeling safe enough to let it go.
This is why somatic approaches, therapies that work with the body, with sensation, with movement, are so important in trauma recovery. And it's why modalities like EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) and art therapy can reach places that conversation alone cannot.
EMDR uses bilateral stimulation, gentle alternating movements or sounds, to help the brain reprocess traumatic memories so they lose their emotional charge. Art therapy allows the body's stored experiences to find expression through image and movement rather than words. Both approaches work with the nervous system rather than around it.
What Healing Actually Looks Like
Healing from trauma is not about forgetting what happened or never being affected by it again. It is about your nervous system learning at a deep, felt level that the danger is over. That you are here now, and you are safe.
It is about the memory shifting from something that lives in the present tense to something that happened. Past tense. Integrated. No longer running the show.
This kind of healing often happens in layers. It is rarely linear. Some weeks will feel like enormous breakthroughs; others will feel like you've taken a step backward. Both are part of the process.
What it requires is a space where your whole self is welcome — your nervous system, your story, your body, your pace.
How I Work with Trauma at Painted Willow Healing
I am a Licensed Professional Counselor and Registered Art Therapist offering telehealth trauma therapy throughout Pennsylvania. My approach is integrative, which means I draw from multiple evidence-based modalities depending on what each person needs, including EMDR, somatic work, art therapy, and trauma-informed talk therapy.
I work with adults and young adults (17+) navigating complex trauma, PTSD, anxiety, attachment wounds, burnout, and more. I accept most major insurance plans and offer self-pay options as well.
If something in this post resonated with you — if you've felt like something is stuck even after years of trying to heal — I'd love to connect. You don't have to keep carrying it the same way.
Reach out for a free consultation: kristin@paintedwillowhealing.com | (724) 315-7805
Kristin Riding, LPC, ATR, is a trauma therapist and board-certified art therapist offering telehealth therapy throughout Pennsylvania at Painted Willow Healing. She specializes in trauma, PTSD, EMDR, somatic healing, and integrative approaches to recovery.
You Don't Have to Be an Artist to Heal: What Art Therapy Actually Is (And Isn't)
By Kristin Riding, LPC, ATR | Painted Willow Healing | Telehealth Therapy across Pennsylvania
If you've ever Googled "art therapy" and walked away more confused than when you started, you're not alone. Most people picture a kindergarten classroom or a paint-by-numbers kit or perhaps those cute coloring books that are uber popular. In fact, the Today Show had an art therapy segment several years ago - but it was about coloring books. Most mainstream media (and even perhaps healthcare professionals) miss the point. Art therapy isn’t just coloring books and paint-by-number kits- this would be an art-making activity or art as therapy. Art therapy is much more than that. What’s missing in the picture is a master's-level mental health professional helping a trauma survivor finally access a memory that words could never touch.
So let's clear things up because art therapy is one of the most misunderstood and underestimated healing modalities available today.
What Art Therapy Is Not
Art therapy is not art class. It is not about creating something beautiful or finished. It is not reserved for people who can draw. And it is absolutely not something a regular therapist can offer simply because they keep markers in their office.
I say this gently but clearly: a licensed therapist cannot call themselves an art therapist without the specific graduate-level training of an art therapist. The distinction matters. Art therapy is its own mental health profession and deserves to take up space in the mental health world.
So What Is Art Therapy?
Art therapy is a master's-level mental health profession that uses the creative process, drawing, painting, collage, sculpture, and more, alongside psychological theory and the therapeutic relationship to support healing. It is evidence-based, clinically grounded, and increasingly in demand.
I like to think of it this way: art therapy is a process for when words are too heavy to speak.
There are experiences like trauma, grief, chronic shame, things that happened before you had language for them; that talking alone cannot always reach. When Bessel van der Kolk discovered that Broca's area of the brain (responsible for speech) actually shuts down during traumatic events, it changed how we think about healing. It means that for some experiences, words are not just hard to find, they are neurologically unavailable.
Art gives us another way in.
What Happens in an Art Therapy Session
I often tell new clients: trust your hands. Your brain already knows what it needs to do. It's your eyes that will tell you later when we pause to look.
In an art therapy session, I might invite you to draw something not because the finished image matters, but because the process of making it will tell us both something important. I watch your body language as you create. I notice when your breathing shifts. I observe what materials you gravitate toward and which ones you avoid. The art becomes a conversation between you and the parts of yourself that don't have words yet.
We don't rush to finish. We pause. We look. We wonder together about what you made and what it might mean.
Art therapy can:
Improve cognitive and sensory functioning
Build emotional resilience
Boost self-esteem
Help process traumatic experiences in a safer, more contained way
Offer a language when words aren't enough
Activate both hemispheres of the brain simultaneously — the analytical and the intuitive — in a way that talk therapy alone cannot
Do You Have to Be "Good at Art"?
No. Truly, no.
The question of artistic skill is one of the most common things people ask me, and my answer is always the same: you are already good at art. Art therapy is about the process, the language art provides, and the opportunity to express what's inside you. Whatever you create is meaningful not because it looks a certain way, but because it came from you.
Some of the most powerful art therapy moments I've witnessed have come from a scribble on a piece of paper, a collage made from magazine clippings, or a single color chosen because it "just felt right."
Who Benefits from Art Therapy?
Everyone. But in particular, art therapy tends to be deeply effective for people who:
Have experienced trauma, complex PTSD, or childhood wounds
Find that traditional talk therapy leaves something feeling unfinished
Carry things in their body — tension, anxiety, shutdown — that words haven't been able to touch
Feel like they don't have the right words for what they've been through
Are drawn to healing that honors intuition, creativity, and the non-verbal parts of themselves
Art Therapy at Painted Willow Healing
I am a Licensed Professional Counselor and Registered Art Therapist serving clients throughout Pennsylvania via telehealth. I completed my Master's in Art Therapy with a Specialization in Counseling from Seton Hill University, and I have spent years working with trauma survivors, using art as one of many tools to help people access healing that goes deeper than symptom management.
At Painted Willow Healing, art therapy is woven into a larger integrative approach that also includes EMDR, somatic work, and trauma-informed care. You don't have to do art in every session but when words aren't enough, the option is there.
If you're curious about what art therapy might look like for you, I'd love to connect. I offer a free consultation for new clients, and I accept most major insurance plans.
Ready to start? Reach out at kristin@paintedwillowhealing.com or call (724) 315-7805.
Kristin Riding, LPC, ATR, is a trauma therapist and registered art therapist offering telehealth therapy throughout Pennsylvania. She specializes in trauma, PTSD, anxiety, burnout, and integrative healing at Painted Willow Healing.
Wait… I Do What With My Eyes?”: Demystifying EMDR (and Why It’s Actually Awesome)
Okay, let’s just get this out of the way: yes, EMDR sometimes involves moving your eyes back and forth—but it can also use gentle tapping or alternating sounds. No, it’s not hypnosis, mind control, or Jedi therapy (though wouldn’t that be kind of cool?). It might sound a little weird at first, but EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is actually one of the most powerful tools I use with clients to help them heal from trauma.
Let me break it down for you—therapist-style, but make it conversational.
So… What Exactly Is EMDR?
EMDR is a therapy that helps your brain do something it already knows how to do: process stuff.
Think about what happens when you sleep—especially during REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. Your eyes move back and forth, and your brain is busy filing away experiences, sorting emotions, and kind of like Marie Kondo-ing your mental clutter.
EMDR works in a similar way. Using bilateral stimulation (eye movements, tapping, or sounds), we help your brain “digest” experiences that may have gotten stuck—like a mental file that crashed the system. Trauma tends to freeze those files in place. EMDR helps unfreeze them so they can be reprocessed and properly stored. The goal? You remember the experience, but it no longer overwhelms you.
But… Does It Really Work?
Yes! And no, you don’t have to believe in crystals or magic (although I’m totally on board if you do love those things). EMDR is backed by loads of research and is used worldwide for treating PTSD, complex trauma (CPTSD), anxiety, and even things like phobias and performance anxiety.
Many of my clients are surprised by how quickly they start feeling shifts. EMDR isn’t about talking something to death—it’s about helping your brain do what it naturally wants to do: heal.
Why I Love Pairing EMDR with Art Therapy & Somatic Work
Here's where the magic really happens: EMDR is amazing on its own, but when you mix it with art therapy and somatic therapy? Chef’s kiss.
Art therapy taps into the creative part of your brain that often knows things before words do. When you’re working through tough stuff, sometimes a color or an image says more than a thousand therapy sessions ever could.
Somatic therapy keeps us grounded in the body. Trauma often lives in our nervous system—it’s not just in our heads, it’s in our cells. Somatic work helps you reconnect to your body in safe, gentle ways.
When we combine these approaches, healing becomes more holistic, integrative, and—dare I say—empowering. It’s like giving your mind, body, and soul a team of allies to work with, rather than going it alone.
TL;DR?
EMDR helps your brain reprocess old pain in a safe, effective way.
It’s weird for like 5 minutes and then it starts to feel kind of magical.
Art and somatic therapies add beautiful layers of healing that speak to different parts of you.
You are so not alone in your healing process—and there’s more than one path to peace.
If you’re curious about EMDR (or you're still wondering if I'm going to wave a magic wand at your forehead), reach out. We’ll take it one step at a time, and maybe even have a few laughs along the way.
Your healing doesn’t have to be clinical and cold—it can be creative, connected, and even kind of fun. 💛
Why AI Can’t Replace Your Therapist (Especially for Trauma Work)
—From someone who loves both healing and helpful tech
Let’s face it: AI is everywhere. It writes grocery lists, answers trivia questions, and may or it may be creating a meal plan for a busy mom of two who also eats gluten free and dairy free - seriously… life changing for this. And sure, it’s impressive — like, "Wow, how did it know I meant lasagna when I typed laagna?" impressive.
But when it comes to trauma therapy, here’s the deal: AI just doesn’t cut it. And it’s not because it doesn’t try—it’s just because it’s, well… not human.
1. AI Doesn’t Have a Nervous System
Trauma lives in the body. It’s not just about memories—it’s about how your nervous system learned to protect you. Healing from trauma requires attuned presence, co-regulation, and the kind of emotional safety that’s built moment by moment in relationship.
AI can process data—but it can’t read the subtle tremble in your voice, notice when you start holding your breath, or offer a steady, calm presence when you feel like you're coming undone. (It can offer a "😊" though. Sweet, but not quite the same.)
2. No Algorithm Understands the Nuance of Your Story
Your trauma is not a one-size-fits-all experience. It’s complex, layered, and uniquely yours. While AI can generate a nice quote about inner strength, it can’t hold your history with reverence. It doesn’t know what it meant to be you, in that room, in that moment.
A real therapist can help you make sense of the unspeakable, and more importantly, help you feel safe enough to say it out loud.
3. AI Doesn’t Build Trust—People Do
Healing trauma is sacred work. It happens in relationship, with real trust, real time, and real repair. A trauma-informed therapist isn’t just a sounding board—they’re someone who gently walks with you through the hard stuff, holds space for your grief, and celebrates your quietest victories.
AI? It’s smart, sure—but it doesn’t remember the first time you cried in session, or how brave you were to come back the next week. It also can’t tell you the subtle changes in your body language when talking about a moment in your childhood.
4. Empathy Isn’t Programmable (Yet)
You can’t code compassion. You can simulate it, yes. But real empathy comes with lived experience, heart, and a nervous system that knows how to sit beside suffering without needing to fix it. That kind of presence can’t be downloaded—it has to be felt.
So… Is AI Useless in Mental Health?
Not at all! AI can support the therapy process—by helping schedule appointments, offer reminders, even generate helpful journal prompts or psychoeducation. But it should never replace the healing power of human connection.
In trauma therapy, you need someone who can sit with the storm and not look away. Someone who can say, “You’re not too much,” and mean it—not because it’s been programmed to, but because it knows the weight of pain and the shape of healing.
So yes, AI is cool. But when it comes to trauma work? I’ll take a warm, regulated, human therapist every time.
And if you're looking for one of those—I happen to know someone.
😉
What Is Attachment-Based Healing (And Why It Matters If You Had a Tough Childhood)
If you’ve ever found yourself thinking, “Why do I shut down when things get close?” or “Why does a part of me still feel like a scared kid?”—you’re not alone. These patterns often have deep roots in our earliest relationships, and attachment-based healing offers a powerful, compassionate path to repair.
What Is Attachment?
Attachment is the emotional bond we form with our caregivers in early life. Ideally, this bond teaches us that the world is safe, people are trustworthy, and our needs will be met. But if you grew up with emotional neglect, inconsistent care, or trauma, your attachment system may have learned something very different—like "love isn't safe,” or “my needs don’t matter.”
These early experiences shape the way we relate to ourselves, others, and the world—often well into adulthood.
What Is Attachment-Based Healing?
Attachment-based healing is a therapeutic approach that helps you repair those early relational wounds. It’s not about blaming parents or getting stuck in the past—it’s about rewiring how you feel in relationships today, especially the one you have with yourself.
In therapy, this work happens through:
A safe, attuned relationship with your therapist, where you can experience what it feels like to be seen, heard, and supported without judgment.
Somatic (body-based) work, helping you notice and soothe the nervous system patterns wired in early relationships.
Inner child work, to reconnect with younger parts of yourself that were ignored or shamed.
Exploring boundaries, trust, and emotional regulation—and how those were modeled (or not) for you.
Why It Matters If You Had a Difficult Childhood
When we grow up with emotional chaos, inconsistency, or neglect, we often internalize beliefs like:
“I’m too much.”
“I can’t depend on anyone.”
“Love always comes with pain.”
These beliefs don’t just stay in our minds—they live in our bodies and relationships. They show up in romantic partnerships, friendships, work dynamics, and even the way we talk to ourselves.
Attachment-based healing helps you unlearn what hurt you and relearn what supports you—bit by bit, with compassion and care.
Steps to Start Healing
If this resonates, here are some gentle steps to begin:
Notice your patterns
Become curious about how you respond to closeness, conflict, or vulnerability. This awareness is the first step toward change.Find a safe therapeutic relationship
Attachment wounds heal best in relationship. A trauma-informed, attachment-based therapist can help provide the kind of safety and consistency you may have missed.Practice self-compassion
Your coping mechanisms were brilliant adaptations to survive. Honor them—and know you can now choose new ones.Reconnect with your body
Breathwork, mindfulness, somatic therapy, and movement can help regulate your nervous system and build a sense of safety within.Build safe, reciprocal connections
Seek out relationships where you feel respected, valued, and emotionally safe. You deserve them.
Healing attachment wounds doesn’t mean becoming perfect—it means becoming whole. You get to rewrite your story, one safe connection at a time.
If this feels like the kind of work you're ready for, I'd be honored to support you. Healing is possible—and you don’t have to do it alone.
Summer Healing: Why This Season Is the Perfect Time for EMDR & Art Therapy
There’s something about summer… there are the longer days, warm breezes, and the scent of sunscreen and possibility in the air. While many people think of summer as a time for vacations and fun, it can also be a surprisingly powerful season for deep healing, especially if you’re navigating trauma. I don’t know about you but summer brings so much joy for me - just sitting in the sun early in the morning and listening to the birds brings so much healing to me.
Whether you're considering EMDR therapy, art therapy, or both, summer might be the gentle nudge you need to finally give yourself space to process, release, and grow.
Why Summer?
Trauma healing takes time, and just like plants need sunlight to grow, we need safety, space, and energy to heal. Summer naturally offers more of all three:
Longer days mean more light—literally and emotionally. That extra daylight can lift your mood and give you more capacity to face difficult memories.
Schedules slow down. With school breaks, vacations, and a more relaxed pace, summer can offer the breathing room you need to start the work.
Nature helps regulate. Grounding in the outdoors—whether you're sketching under a tree or taking a mindful walk after EMDR—supports nervous system regulation and emotional clarity.
How Art Therapy Helps
Sometimes words aren’t enough—or just feel too hard. Art therapy gives your inner world a voice, even when you’re not sure what you’re feeling. Through color, texture, and image, your mind can begin to process trauma gently, symbolically, and safely. You don’t have to be “an artist.” You just need a willingness to explore.
How EMDR Helps
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) is a powerful, evidence-based approach that helps your brain reprocess traumatic memories so they no longer feel like live wires. Paired with the calm of summer, EMDR can help you access stuck memories with more safety and move through them toward relief.
A Season for You
This summer, instead of pushing everything down or putting everyone else first, what if you gave yourself the gift of healing? There’s no “perfect” time to start therapy—but summer might just be the kindest.
You’re allowed to heal in sunlight. You’re allowed to grow on your own timeline. And you don’t have to do it alone.
If this feels like the season to begin your healing journey—or deepen the one you’re already on—I’d be honored to walk alongside you. When you're ready, I’m here.
Easter Eggs, Family Feels & PTSD: When Holidays Aren’t So “Happy”
Holidays like Easter come with pastel colors, brunch plans, and Instagram-perfect family photos. But if you’re someone living with complex PTSD, this time of year might feel more like emotional whiplash than a warm, fuzzy celebration.
Wait, Why Is This So Hard?
Complex PTSD usually comes from ongoing or early-life trauma—often in family settings. So when Easter rolls around, complete with family expectations, religious themes, or pressure to “be cheerful,” it can stir up old stuff you thought you'd filed away years ago. Suddenly, you're not just choosing between deviled eggs or carrot cake—you're managing flashbacks, anxiety, or a deep ache you can’t quite name.
Common Easter Triggers Can Include:
Family gatherings that bring up unresolved pain
Religious traditions that don’t feel safe or authentic anymore
Feeling left out if your life looks different than others’ highlight reels
The pressure to “show up” when you barely feel like yourself
So… What Can You Do?
First of all: you're not broken, you're not overreacting, and you're definitely not alone. Some ways to take care of yourself this Easter:
Give yourself permission to say no (even to grandma’s famous ham)
Make your own rituals—yes, chocolate counts
Stay grounded with things that soothe you (music, movement, art). Music has always been an intentional ritual for me. Here is one of my favorite for grounding.
Reach out to safe people, or even just your pet
Most importantly: be kind to yourself
Your healing doesn’t take a holiday—but that doesn’t mean you can’t find moments of peace, laughter, or even joy on your own terms.
What is CPTSD VS PTSD?
It all begins with an idea.
Complex PTSD vs. PTSD: Understanding the Differences & Navigating Today’s Triggers
We’ve all heard of PTSD, but what about Complex PTSD? With today’s world feeling like a never-ending cycle of stress—news headlines, personal struggles, and societal pressures—it’s no surprise that many people are feeling emotionally overwhelmed. If you’ve ever found yourself reacting more strongly to current events than those around you, it might not just be everyday stress—it could be a trauma response.
So, what’s the difference between PTSD and Complex PTSD (C-PTSD), and why do today’s events feel so triggering for those with a trauma history? Let’s break it down in a way that’s both informative and (yes!) lighthearted. Because healing doesn’t have to feel like another burden—it’s about understanding yourself, showing yourself compassion, and building stronger relationships along the way.
PTSD vs. Complex PTSD: What’s the Difference?
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) typically develops after a single traumatic event—like an accident, natural disaster, or assault. Symptoms can include flashbacks, hypervigilance, avoidance of triggers, and emotional distress. PTSD is often associated with soldiers returning from war, but it can happen to anyone who has experienced a life-threatening or deeply distressing event.
Complex PTSD (C-PTSD), on the other hand, develops due to prolonged exposure to trauma, often occurring in childhood or over an extended period of time. This could be due to childhood neglect, emotional abuse, toxic relationships, or ongoing high-stress environments. In addition to the typical PTSD symptoms, C-PTSD often includes difficulty with emotional regulation, deep-seated self-doubt, struggles with trust and relationships, and a persistent sense of guilt or shame.
Think of it this way: PTSD is like a bad storm that hits suddenly and leaves damage behind. C-PTSD is like living in an environment where storms are constant, making it difficult to ever feel truly safe.
Why Are Today’s Events So Triggering for Trauma Survivors?
We’re living in a time of uncertainty, fear, and constant change—all things that can be deeply unsettling for those with PTSD or C-PTSD. If you’ve noticed yourself feeling more on edge lately, you’re not alone. Here’s why recent world events might be activating old trauma wounds:
Unpredictability & Lack of Control – Trauma survivors thrive on predictability because uncertainty often meant danger in the past. Today’s ever-changing world can feel like an emotional minefield.
Social & Political Tension – Conflict, division, and instability can remind trauma survivors of past situations where they felt powerless or unheard.
Isolation & Disconnection – Many trauma survivors struggle with attachment wounds, and the isolation caused by world events can reinforce old fears of abandonment or rejection.
Financial & Job Stress – A history of trauma can make financial insecurity feel even more overwhelming, as it can trigger deep-seated fears of survival and stability.
So, What Can You Do?
Healing from PTSD or C-PTSD is not about “just getting over it.” It’s about recognizing your responses, learning new coping strategies, and building relationships that make you feel safe and supported. Here are a few ways to navigate today’s stressors with more ease:
✅ Name It to Tame It – If you’re feeling overwhelmed, remind yourself: “This is a trauma response. I am safe.” Identifying what’s happening can reduce its power over you.
✅ Create Predictability Where You Can – Build small daily routines that give you a sense of stability, even if the world feels chaotic.
✅ Limit Doomscrolling – Constant exposure to bad news can keep your nervous system in a state of hyperarousal. Give yourself permission to take a break.
✅ Lean Into Healthy Relationships – Trauma healing happens in safe relationships. Surround yourself with people who make you feel seen, heard, and valued.
✅ Seek Professional Support – Therapy, coaching, and support groups can offer tools and strategies to help you manage triggers and build resilience.
Final Thoughts: You’re Not Alone
If today’s world feels overwhelming, know that your responses make sense—and you’re not broken. Whether you have PTSD or C-PTSD, understanding your trauma responses is the first step to healing. The good news? You don’t have to navigate this journey alone.
If you’re looking for support, guidance, or just a space to feel understood, I’m here to help. Healing is possible, and you deserve peace. ❤️
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