Psychological Injury and Emotional Pain result from Trauma, Loss, or Betrayal. This leads to Depression and Anxiety fueled by Guilt, Anger, and Shame (GAS). Over time, unresolved emotional pain can develop into Secondary Symptoms that serve as protective mechanisms but also prevent growth.
2. “Anxiety (and its various forms of fear -dread, panic, worry, hesitation) and Depression (along with its
myriad shades of sadness -remorse, grief, despair, despondency), are fueled by Guilt, Anger and Shame
(GAS). Their root cause is unresolved emotional pain from Trauma, Loss and Betrayal. The ensuing
damage or psychological injury is, in fact, discouragement, feelings of helplessness and worthlessness,
and harm to one’s sense of self in relation to their trust and intimacy with others. Symptoms may then
develop as a means to gain or re-gain control; to stabilize and organize the individual and their
relationships. As such, they may accumulate meaning and power (the ability to influence outcome) over
time, concretizing into established transactional patterns or habits that become rigid and resistant to
change. As psychotherapists, we are concerned that they may be used as a means of controlling,
perhaps even punishing others, or as an effective, often socially acceptable, method of avoiding
responsibility for change” – Demetrios Peratsakis, LPC, ACS, 2017