Emotional Healing from Medical Trauma

By Marissa Gilbert, LCSW

Many assume that once treatment for cancer ends and you have completed physical healing, you are completely recovered. But maybe you are experiencing flashbacks from treatment that is interrupting your sleep. Or you feel dread for the next doctor’s appointment that you will receive bad news again because it has already happened once. This is called medical trauma and is more common and normal than most people realize. Cancer doesn’t just affect your body, it impacts your mind, emotions, relationships and sense of identity.

What is Medical Trauma?

Medical trauma is the psychological and emotional distress from medical care that feels overwhelming or out of your control. It might stem from receiving a cancer diagnosis, enduring unexpected side effects, managing a chronic illness or navigating long hospital stays. For many, the sense of vulnerability and uncertainty can feel just as unsettling as the illness itself. Recognizing that your experience was traumatic can be deeply empowering.

How It Shows Up

Anxiety before scans, labs or follow-ups (our friend scanxiety)
Panic or dread in medical settings even when there for someone else
Feeling numb, exhausted or emotionally flat
Trouble trusting doctors or your own body again
Grief around fertility, body changes, or identity shifts
Hypervigilance about every new symptom

Why Emotional Healing Matters

If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone — and it’s not just anxiety or an “overreaction” – it is your nervous system’s natural way of remembering past threats and trying to keep you safe. Ignoring the emotional side of recovery can make long-term healing harder. Stress and avoidance may interfere with follow-up care, while unprocessed memories can drain energy and worsen physical symptoms.

Emotional Healing Tools

Therapeutic Support: Bottom-up approaches such as EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) focus on regulating the nervous system and promoting safety and stability to help the mind and body process what happened.
Mind-Body Practices: Exploring practices like meditation, deep breathing or reiki provide focus on the present moment to reduce anxiety and negative thought cycles.
Connection: Sharing your story or listening to others that share your story reduces isolation, restores trust and normalizes your grief. Whether you are looking for a group related to fertility or for caregivers there are many options.

Emotional healing is a vital part of recovery and isn’t about “fixing” yourself — it’s about learning how to live meaningfully and gently with what you’ve been through.