How to Know If You’re Coping or Actually Healing from Trauma as a High Achieving Woman
Experiencing a traumatic event can shake your world, leaving you feeling overwhelmed, anxious, or disconnected. If you’re a high-achieving professional in McLean, Georgetown, or Chevy Chase, you may be used to pushing through challenges with resilience and determination. But when it comes to trauma, simply "coping" may not be enough. The real question is: Are you truly healing, or are you just managing the symptoms?
As an EMDR therapist specializing in helping career-driven women navigate recent traumatic experiences before they develop into PTSD, I often see clients who are unsure whether their strategies are helping them heal or just keeping them afloat. In this article, I’ll break down the difference between coping and healing, signs that you might be stuck in survival mode, and how you can take steps toward true recovery.
Coping vs. Healing: What’s the Difference?
Coping is what we do to manage distress in the short term. It helps us function, keeps us moving forward, and provides temporary relief. Coping strategies can be healthy or unhealthy, and they often involve distraction, avoidance, or emotional regulation techniques.
Healing, on the other hand, involves actively processing the trauma so that it no longer controls your emotions, thoughts, and behaviors. True healing allows you to integrate the experience into your past without reliving the pain in the present.
Signs You’re Coping (But Not Necessarily Healing)
You Stay Busy to Avoid Thinking About It
If you throw yourself into work, social events, or endless to-do lists to avoid sitting with your emotions, this may be a sign that you are coping rather than healing. High-achievers, especially in fast-paced areas like Georgetown, McLean, and Chevy Chase, often use busyness as a way to escape emotional discomfort.
You Numb or Distract Yourself
Coping often involves numbing behaviors like excessive drinking, binge-watching TV, scrolling on your phone, or emotional eating. These actions can provide temporary relief but don’t address the underlying trauma.
You Experience Recurring Anxiety or Triggers
If certain places, people, or situations still bring up overwhelming fear, panic, or distress, your trauma hasn’t been fully processed. Coping might help you avoid these triggers, but it won’t eliminate them.
You Feel Emotionally Detached or Numb
Avoiding painful emotions might make it easier to function, but it also blocks your ability to feel joy, love, and connection. Emotional numbness is a common sign that trauma is still unprocessed.
You Rely on Logic to Push Past Your Feelings
Many successful professionals intellectualize their trauma, analyzing it rather than feeling it. While understanding your experience is important, true healing requires emotional processing, not just cognitive reasoning.
Signs You’re Truly Healing from Trauma
You Can Talk About the Experience Without Feeling Overwhelmed
When you’ve healed, you can recall the traumatic event with perspective, rather than being consumed by the emotions associated with it.
You Respond to Triggers with Awareness, Not Panic
Instead of avoiding triggers or feeling paralyzed by them, you begin to recognize them for what they are—reminders, not present threats. This shift allows you to regain control over your emotions and reactions.
You Feel More Connected to Yourself and Others
Healing allows you to reconnect with your authentic self and build deeper, more meaningful relationships. Instead of shutting down or withdrawing, you feel safe in vulnerability and connection.
Your Physical Symptoms Improve
Trauma doesn’t just affect the mind; it impacts the body as well. Chronic headaches, tension, digestive issues, or insomnia often accompany unresolved trauma. As you heal, these symptoms start to ease.
You Have a Sense of Closure and Acceptance
Healing doesn’t mean forgetting what happened, but it does mean finding peace with it. Instead of feeling stuck in the past, you feel empowered to move forward with clarity and strength.
How EMDR Therapy Can Help You Move from Coping to Healing
If you recognize yourself in the “coping” category, know that healing is possible. Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy is a highly effective approach that helps your brain process traumatic memories so they no longer trigger distress. Unlike traditional talk therapy, EMDR is structured and results-driven, making it ideal for busy professionals who want an efficient way to heal from trauma before it develops into PTSD.
As a virtual EMDR therapist serving Georgetown, Chevy Chase, McLean, and the greater DMV area, I specialize in working with high-achieving women who need a fast, effective approach to processing trauma. My clients don’t want to spend years in therapy—they want targeted, strategic healing so they can move forward confidently in their careers and personal lives.
Services Offered with Kate Regnier, LCSW and EMDR Therapist
Are you a woman struggling with PTSD and anxiety after experiencing a recent trauma? Kate Regnier, LCSW and EMDR Therapist, can help you process through trauma that has upended your life, while helping you to feel lighter, less burdened with anxiety and dread, and to dull the sharpness of recent trauma in your body and mind. Kate also offer online EMDR Therapy for women experiencing unexpected grief who are struggling with intense images and flashbacks and feelings of hopelessness in Georgetown, Chevy Chase, and McLean. Kate see’s clients virtually in Virginia, Maryland, D.C., Indiana, and Michigan. To learn more about Kate, visit the page Meet Kate and check out more on the blog!
Disclaimer* The content provided in this blog is intended for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional therapy or medical advice. While I strive to ensure the accuracy of the information shared, I cannot guarantee that all information is current or correct. Readers are advised to consult with a qualified healthcare professional before making any decisions based on this post.
