When someone comes to their therapy carrying depression, anxiety, emotional dysregulation, relationship struggles, or overwhelming fear, I don't just ask, "What symptoms are you having?" I also ask, "What happened to you?"

For many people, these symptoms didn't appear overnight. They were shaped over years of surviving childhood trauma, abuse, neglect, violence, betrayal, loss, or experiences that taught their nervous system the world wasn't always safe.

While diagnoses have their place and can help guide treatment, they should never become the whole story. Healing isn't about reducing a person to a checklist of symptoms. For me, it's about understanding the experiences that shaped them, recognizing the incredible ways they survived, and helping them build a life that is no longer defined by their pain.