Relationship Trauma Therapy
Signs you may benefit from support
Walking on Eggshells: Feeling a constant, exhausting undercurrent of anxiety whenever you are around certain family members or partners, constantly monitoring their moods and trying to do anything to keep the peace
Constant Self-Doubt: Finding it incredibly difficult to trust your own reality, memory, or intuition because you have experienced gaslighting, emotional manipulation, or boundary violations in past or current relationships
Pattern of People-Pleasing: Putting everyone else’s needs ahead of your own, and then feeling deeply resentful or exhausted but afraid saying "no" will cause people to reject you
Sudden Fearfulness or Shutting Down: Experiencing sudden physical reactions, like a tight chest, a racing heart, or completely "freezing" and going numb, during difficult conversations or moments
How can therapy help?
Learn to Trust Your Intuition Again
Quiet the critical voices, acknowledge your emotional experiences, and help you rebuild trust in your own intuition, memory, and voice again
Create Healthy Boundaries
Practice building and holding boundaries slowly and safely to help you tolerate the discomfort of other people's reactions without falling back into people-pleasing tendencies
Feel Safe in Your Body
Get support identifying the moment your body switches into a protective state and learn the body-centered tools to ground yourself and stay present
Process Intergenerational Patterns
Reflect on your family history and past relationships that shaped how you love, communicate, and protect yourself, so you can intentionally choose which cycles break that do not serve you
Frequently Asked Questions
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Relational trauma occurs when the people we depend on for emotional safety, love, and protection violate our boundaries, manipulate our reality, or neglect us. This includes growing up in a highly volatile or hyper-critical household, enduring narcissistic abuse, experiencing gaslighting or other abuse in an adult relationship, or navigating toxic, enmeshed family relationships. It has a chronic wear-and-tear effect on your nervous system that can also change how you view your worth.
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This is one of the most common fears when healing from relational stress. When you have been conditioned to believe that your only value lies in your complying, setting a boundary feels like an act of aggression. In therapy, we reframe boundaries not as a way to push people out, but as a way to clearly define where you end and where they begin. Effective boundaries actually allow you to show up more authentically with others.
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It can change things for the better. When you don't heal your own relational wounds, you can inadvertently carry those same survival mechanisms, such as high anxiety, irritation, or shutting down, into our closest connections. By processing your own past relationship trauma, you can release that tension from your nervous system and show up for your partner and your children from a more grounded place.
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Your immediate physical and emotional safety is the highest priority. If you are walking on eggshells because a partner or family member monitors your phone, controls your access to money, threatens you, or physically harms you, please know you do not have to figure out an exit plan alone.
Therapy can be a supportive space to help you process what is happening, but if you are in immediate danger or need confidential safety planning right now, please utilize the anonymous resources below.
Note: If you suspect your phone or computer is being monitored, please delete your browser history after reading this, or use a safe computer at a public library or a trusted friend's house.
The National Domestic Violence Hotline: Call 1-800-799-SAFE (7233) or text "START" to 88788. Available 24/7, completely free, confidential, and available in multiple languages. They can help you create a secure safety plan and connect you with local shelters.
The Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: If you are experiencing an overwhelming mental health crisis or emotional emergency, call or text 988 for immediate, 24/7, confidential support.