We’re constantly being sold quick fixes and surface-level self-improvement, so it’s no surprise that therapy often gets reduced to symptom management. Struggling with anxiety? Try deep breathing. Feeling depressed? Get some sunlight.
And while these strategies have their place—they can offer real, in-the-moment relief—coping alone isn’t the same as healing.
But at Shadowbox Therapy, I don’t just focus on symptoms—I dig into the roots. Because while coping tools can help, true healing requires us to ask deeper questions:
- Where does this anxiety come from?
- What systems and narratives are reinforcing this depression?
- How has survival mode shaped the way you experience yourself and the world?
Your struggles aren’t random. They didn’t appear out of nowhere. And if we only focus on managing the symptoms without addressing their origins, we stay stuck in the same cycles.
The Problem with Treating Symptoms Alone
Traditional therapy often focuses on reducing distress:
- “Let’s lower your anxiety.”
- “Let’s manage your stress.”
- “Let’s regulate your emotions.”
But what happens when those emotions are actually valid responses to a broken system?
- If you’re feeling burnout, but we don’t address capitalism’s demand for overwork—are we really treating the problem?
- If you’re struggling with body image, but we ignore fatphobia and gender norms—are we actually helping?
- If you’re navigating relationship struggles, but we don’t unpack how societal scripts shape love and intimacy—are we just putting a bandaid on deeper wounds?
Coping tools can help in the moment, but without deeper work, they often keep us functioning within the very systems that harm us.
What Happens When We Go Deeper?
Instead of just treating symptoms, Shadowbox Therapy focuses on the root causes—the narratives, survival strategies, and systemic forces shaping your experience.
Symptom vs. Root Cause Examples
| Symtom | Root cause |
|---|---|
| Chronic anxiety | Unprocessed trauma, systemic oppression, hypervigilance from past experiences |
| People-pleasing | Childhood survival strategy, fear of abandonment, patriarchal conditioning |
| Emotional numbness | Nervous system shutdown, unresolved grief, internalized shame |
| Fear of setting boundaries | Social conditioning, past relational trauma, lack of modeled self-advocacy |
When we address the root cause, symptoms become understandable responses rather than isolated problems to “fix.”
The Role of Somatic Work: Healing from the Inside Out
Trauma and oppression don’t just live in the mind—they live in the body. That’s why somatic work is essential.
Instead of just talking about your experiences, somatic therapy helps you:
- Recognize where tension, fear, and trauma are stored in your body
- Unlearn survival patterns that no longer serve you
- Build nervous system capacity to process emotions instead of shutting down
Healing is about insight and experiencing yourself differently in real time. That’s what somatic work can do for you in therapy.
Breaking Free from Internalized Oppression
Many of the struggles we call “mental health issues” are actually internalized oppression—messages we’ve absorbed from the world about who we’re allowed to be.
- Who told you that your needs are “too much”?
- Who benefits from you staying small, silent, or self-sacrificing?
- What would happen if you stopped performing and started living for yourself?
Healing can be deeply political. So when we work to unlearn the conditioning that has kept you disconnected from yourself, we’re actively resisting the systems that benefit from our silence, exhaustion, and self-doubt.
Healing can mean reclaiming your right to rest, to take up space, to name your needs without apology. It can mean recognizing that your struggles aren’t personal failures, but often the result of internalized oppression, societal scripts, and survival strategies that once kept you safe.
True healing isn’t about “fixing” yourself—it’s about freeing yourself. And that’s exactly what we do in this work.
Therapy That Cuts Deeper
At Shadowbox Therapy, I don’t do surface-level work. I work with people who are ready to challenge old narratives, sit in discomfort, and make real change—not just symptom management, but transformation.
Curious about how resistance plays a role in healing? Read Why I Welcome Resistance.
Want to break free from harmful cycles? Join the waitlist for therapy below.
