• INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOTHERAPY

What Your Anxiety & Depression Symptoms Might Really Mean

• Lakeshore Psychotherapy Group

• April 8, 2025

Beyond the Surface: When Symptoms Mask the Real Story

We’ve all been there – a persistent headache, a wave of unexplained sadness, or anxiety that shows up out of nowhere. It’s common to treat these experiences as isolated problems, reaching for a quick fix: a painkiller, a distraction, or a temporary escape.

But what if these symptoms are more than just surface-level discomfort? What if they’re messages from deeper emotional struggles, quietly urging us to pay attention to what’s happening beneath the surface?

In psychodynamic therapy, this concept is fundamental: symptoms are often signals of unresolved conflicts, buried emotions, or unmet psychological needs. Just like a “check engine” light in a car, these emotional symptoms aren’t the problem itself—they’re the body and mind’s way of alerting us to something deeper that needs care.

Common Symptoms That Point to Deeper Emotional Issues

Anxiety: The Body’s Alarm Bell

Anxiety often feels like an isolated, distressing experience. But from a psychodynamic perspective, it may be a signal of:

• Unresolved trauma from earlier life experiences
• Suppressed emotions like anger or grief that haven’t been expressed
• Relational stress or patterns of conflict and avoidance
• Internal conflicts, such as perfectionism vs. self-worth, or autonomy vs. guilt

Rather than something to “get rid of,” anxiety becomes something to understand the emotional dangers we feel inside.

Depression: The Weight of What’s Been Unspoken

Similarly, depression may reflect more than a chemical imbalance. It can also be the result of:

• Unmet emotional needs, such as love, safety, or connection
• Unprocessed grief or loss, even if the loss isn’t recent or obvious
• Harsh self-judgment or deep-seated beliefs of unworthiness
• Feelings of helplessness in response to long-term stress

In therapy, these underlying experiences are gently explored and named, creating space for healing.

Why Treating Only the Symptom Isn’t Enough

Focusing solely on the symptom—taking a medication, avoiding stressors, or pushing emotions aside—can sometimes bring short-term relief. But it doesn’t resolve the root cause.

Suppressing the symptom is like turning off the check engine light without fixing the engine. The underlying issues remain—and may resurface in new or more disruptive ways over time.

Psychodynamic therapy invites us to stop silencing those inner signals and start listening to what they’re trying to tell us.

How Psychodynamic Therapy Helps You Go Deeper

Psychodynamic therapy is a depth-oriented approach that offers space for thoughtful, reflective exploration. Rather than just managing symptoms, this approach aims to understand their origins.

Here’s how it works:

Uncovering Unconscious Patterns

Many of our emotional struggles stem from patterns developed early in life. These may include attachment styles, internalized messages, or family dynamics that continue to affect us in adulthood.

Exploring Your Past to Understand the Present

Understanding your personal history can illuminate how you respond to current challenges. Therapy provides insight into how past experiences influence today’s thoughts, behaviors, and relationships.

Building Emotional Awareness

The process increases your capacity to identify, feel, and express emotions—especially those you’ve been conditioned to suppress. As self-awareness grows, so does emotional resilience.

Strengthening the Self

Ultimately, therapy helps you develop a more integrated, grounded sense of self, capable of forming healthier relationships and facing life’s challenges with greater confidence.

Shifting the Perspective: From Fixing to Understanding

Rather than viewing symptoms as problems to eliminate, psychodynamic therapy encourages us to see them as valuable clues. This mindset shift—from “How do I stop feeling this way?” to “Why am I feeling this way?”—can lead to lasting transformation.

When we explore what lies beneath, we often uncover the parts of ourselves that need the most compassion.

Ready to Explore What’s Beneath the Surface?

If you’re tired of surface-level solutions and want to understand the root cause of your emotional struggles, we’re here to help. At Lakeshore Psychotherapy Group, our experienced therapists are trained in psychodynamic therapy and provide a safe, thoughtful space to explore your inner world.

Whether you’re dealing with anxiety, depression, or simply feeling stuck, we’re here to walk alongside you with care and curiosity. Fill out our short form below to connect with one of our therapists for teletherapy across Illinois or Florida today!