What is Unresolved Trauma?
Unresolved trauma refers to psychological and emotional distress that remains unprocessed or unhealed after a traumatic experience. When trauma is unresolved, the individual may continue to experience intense emotions, intrusive memories, or physical symptoms long after the event has passed. This can interfere with daily functioning, relationships, and overall well-being. Unlike processed trauma, which has been integrated into one’s life narrative in a manageable way, unresolved trauma often lingers beneath the surface, resurfacing through triggers or stress, and may manifest as anxiety disorders, depression, emotional numbness, or difficulty trusting others. Addressing unresolved trauma typically requires therapeutic support to safely explore and process the painful memories and their lasting impact.
Maybe you’re not sure if therapy will help your symptoms of trauma, and that is why Balanced Mind of New York offers a free, 15-minute consultation. You can review your unique situation with a trauma-informed psychotherapist and determine the next steps on your healing journey.
What Are Symptoms of Unresolved Trauma?
Unresolved trauma often manifests as intrusive thoughts, hypervigilance, and emotional dysregulation that significantly impact daily functioning and relationships. Individuals may experience persistent feelings of being unsafe or on edge, even in objectively secure environments, along with difficulties forming and maintaining close relationships due to trust issues.
Physical Symptoms
Unresolved trauma frequently manifests in the body through chronic tension, persistent pain, and autonomic nervous system dysregulation. Many trauma survivors report unexplained gastrointestinal issues, headaches, and fatigue that medical tests cannot fully explain. Sleep disturbances are particularly common, ranging from insomnia and nightmares to excessive sleeping as a form of escape. The body often remains in a state of hyperarousal, with an elevated stress response that can lead to increased heart rate, shallow breathing, muscle tension, and an exaggerated startle response to minor stimuli.
Over time, this chronic state of physiological stress can contribute to more serious health conditions including autoimmune disorders, cardiovascular problems, and compromised immune function. Many trauma survivors also experience somatic sensations directly connected to their traumatic experiences, such as physical pain in areas of the body associated with past injuries or abuse, even years after the events occurred.
Emotional Symptoms
The emotional landscape of unresolved trauma is often characterized by intense, sometimes overwhelming feelings that seem disconnected from present circumstances. Survivors frequently experience sudden waves of anxiety, fear, shame, rage, and mood swings that appear without obvious triggers. This is sometimes referred to as “emotional flooding.” Emotional numbing and dissociation serve as protective mechanisms, creating a sense of detachment from one’s feelings or even from reality itself.
Many trauma survivors struggle with persistent negative beliefs about themselves, others, and the world, often feeling fundamentally unsafe, unworthy, or damaged beyond repair. Shame and guilt are particularly potent emotions for trauma survivors, especially for those who experienced interpersonal trauma, as they may internalize blame for events beyond their control.
Trust becomes a significant challenge, manifesting as difficulty forming close relationships or, conversely, forming attachments too quickly without appropriate boundaries. Mood instability is common, with survivors experiencing rapid shifts between emotional states or struggling with depression that can include feelings of hopelessness and suicidal ideation. Additionally, many report diminished interest in previously enjoyed activities, emotional constriction that limits access to positive feelings, and difficulties with emotion regulation that can lead to self-destructive behaviors as attempts to manage overwhelming internal experiences.
What Are Common Causes of Unresolved Trauma?
Common causes of unresolved trauma often stem from experiences that overwhelm a person’s ability to cope or process emotions at the time they occur. These traumatic events may leave ongoing emotional and physical symptoms and require the support of mental health services to resolve them. Common sources of trauma include:
Childhood Abuse or Neglect
Some examples include physical, emotional, or sexual abuse, as well as growing up in a household with emotional unavailability, instability, or unmet needs.
Loss and Grief
The death, incarceration, or deportation of a loved one can leave lasting emotional wounds. Abandonment by family members can also cause significant emotional trauma.
Domestic Violence or Toxic Relationships
Ongoing emotional, physical, or psychological harm in intimate relationships can cause lasting trauma.
Sexual Assault or Harassment
Sexual violence often leads to shame, fear, and long-term emotional distress.
Accidents or Medical Trauma
Serious accidents, injuries, serious illness, or invasive medical procedures can leave a psychological impact.
Witnessing or Experiencing Violence
This includes community violence, war, or natural disasters.
Emotional Invalidation or Betrayal
This includes being repeatedly dismissed, gaslit, or betrayed by someone trusted, especially in formative years.
Is Unresolved Trauma the Same as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder?
Having unresolved trauma does not necessarily mean you have PTSD. Trauma refers to any deeply distressing or disturbing experience, and while it can leave lasting emotional effects, not everyone develops Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). PTSD is a specific mental health diagnosis characterized by symptoms like flashbacks, avoidance, hypervigilance, and intrusive thoughts that persist for more than a month and significantly impair daily functioning. It’s possible to carry emotional wounds or trauma responses, such as anxiety, difficulty trusting, difficulty falling asleep, heightened arousal, or emotional numbing, without meeting the full criteria for PTSD. A mental health professional can help assess the impact of your experiences and guide you toward appropriate healing support.
Doesn’t Everyone Experience Trauma?
Everyone experiences difficult or painful events in life, but trauma specifically refers to events that overwhelm our ability to cope and leave lasting psychological impacts. While commonplace stressors like disappointments or conflicts can be processed through normal resilience mechanisms, traumatic experiences—whether “big T” traumas like abuse or accidents, or “little t” traumas like emotional neglect or persistent childhood stress—can exceed our capacity to integrate them emotionally and cognitively. When distressing emotions surpass an individual’s distress tolerance, seeking the supportive environment of trauma-informed care can foster positive progress on one’s healing journey.
When trauma remains unresolved, it often manifests in maladaptive patterns that disrupt various aspects of daily life. In relationships, unresolved trauma might appear as difficulty with trust, emotional regulation, or healthy attachment, leading to conflicts, isolation, or codependency. At school or work, trauma symptoms like hypervigilance, concentration difficulties, or emotional flooding can interfere with performance, learning, and professional relationships. These disruptions often persist because the trauma remains essentially “frozen in time,” with the nervous system and psyche continuing to respond as if the threat were still present, even years after the traumatic event occurred.
Why is there so much recent focus on trauma? Can’t people heal on their own?
The increased focus on trauma reflects our growing understanding of how profoundly unresolved psychological wounds can affect mental and physical health throughout life. While previous generations often embraced a “tough it out” or “get over it” mentality, research has now established that trauma physically alters brain function and stress response systems in ways that individuals can’t simply willpower away.
Many people do develop natural resilience and coping strategies, but others find themselves trapped in cycles of distress, relationship problems, substance abuse, or other self-destructive or aggressive behaviors without understanding why. The trauma-informed therapy approach isn’t about dwelling on traumatic memories or making excuses. It’s about recognizing that some wounds require specific treatment to properly heal. Just as we wouldn’t expect someone to “walk off” a broken leg without medical intervention, certain psychological injuries benefit from skilled support from a licensed mental health professional.
This isn’t replacing personal responsibility but enhancing it. Understanding trauma and other mental health conditions gives people practical tools to recognize patterns, regulate emotions, and make meaningful changes rather than continuing to struggle silently. For many, addressing trauma has been the missing piece that finally allows them to move forward after years of trying to heal on their own without lasting success.
Mental Health Treatment for Unresolved Trauma
Mental health treatment provides structured approaches to process traumatic experiences that the mind has been unable to integrate naturally over time. Professional intervention creates a safe environment where individuals can address painful memories and emotions with guidance, while learning practical skills to regulate their nervous system and develop healthier patterns of thinking and behaving.
Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)
EMDR therapy targets unresolved trauma through a structured eight-phase approach that includes bilateral stimulation while the client focuses on the memories of traumatic events. This process appears to access the brain’s natural healing mechanisms, similar to what occurs during REM sleep, allowing traumatic memories to be processed and integrated rather than remaining frozen as fragmented sensory experiences.
During EMDR, the emotional charge of traumatic memories gradually diminishes, and new adaptive perspectives emerge naturally as the brain reprocesses the information. Unlike some traditional talking therapies, EMDR doesn’t require detailed discussion of the traumatic event or homework between sessions, making it particularly valuable for those who find it overwhelming to verbalize their experiences or who haven’t responded to conventional approaches.
Schema Therapy
Schema therapy addresses unresolved trauma by identifying and healing early maladaptive schemas, which are deep, pervasive patterns of thinking and feeling that develop during childhood in response to unmet emotional needs or traumatic experiences. These schemas often operate outside conscious awareness but powerfully influence how individuals interpret and respond to situations throughout life. The therapy combines cognitive, experiential, and behavioral techniques to help clients recognize their schemas, understand their developmental origins in past trauma, and challenge both the cognitive distortions and emotional patterns that maintain them. This approach is particularly effective for chronic trauma-related issues that have shaped personality structure and relationship patterns.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
CBT helps trauma survivors by identifying and modifying the distorted thoughts and beliefs that developed as a result of traumatic experiences, along with the avoidance behaviors that maintain distress over time. Through a structured, present-focused approach, clients learn to recognize how trauma has influenced their thinking patterns with beliefs like “The world is dangerous” or “I am permanently damaged,” which perpetuate symptoms long after the original threat has passed. The therapist guides clients to examine evidence for and against these beliefs, develop more balanced perspectives, and gradually confront trauma-related triggers through carefully planned exposure exercises.
CBT also emphasizes practical coping skills for managing trauma symptoms, including deep breathing exercises, grounding techniques, and stress management strategies. This combination of cognitive restructuring, behavioral activation, and skill-building helps clients regain a sense of safety, control, and engagement with life that trauma had previously compromised.
Find a Qualified Mental Health Professional for Unresolved Trauma
To find a qualified therapist to treat unresolved trauma, like those at Balanced Mind of New York, start by looking for licensed mental health professionals who specialize in trauma-informed care and evidence-based approaches such as EMDR, somatic therapy, or trauma-focused CBT. You can search directories like Psychology Today where you can filter by specialty, credentials, and location. Look for keywords like “trauma,” “attachment wounds,” or “EMDR-certified” in their profiles. Reading client reviews, checking their biographies for advanced training in trauma, and scheduling a consultation call can help you determine if they’re a good fit. It’s important to feel safe, heard, and respected in the therapeutic relationship, so don’t hesitate to be thorough when evaluating prospective therapists.
How Do I Pay for Therapy?
At Balanced Mind of New York, we offer multiple payment options to fit your needs and budget.
In-Network Insurance Provider: Balanced Mind of New York is proud to be an in-network provider for clients covered by Aetna insurance plans.
Out-of-Network Insurance Provider: For all other insurances, we provide superbills for reimbursement. We will contact your insurance company to confirm your eligibility and benefits, including the reimbursement rate for each session. We will also guide you through the process of sending superbills to your insurance.
If you have an out-of-network plan, any reimbursements will be sent directly to you from your insurance provider. Insurance typically reimburses 50-80% of the fee, but note that each policy is different.
Self-Payment Options: If no insurance coverage is available, clients may choose to pay for services out of their own pocket. If you need to pay out of pocket, we offer a sliding scale as part of our commitment to providing affordable care.
We accept Visa, MasterCard, Discover, American Express, and HSA/FSA cards.
Contact Balanced Mind of New York to learn more about your payment options and take the next step on your healing journey.
