Dr. Laura E Anderson

Dr. Laura E Anderson Coaching, Consulting & Educating around complex and religious trauma

I think many women carry a tremendous amount of shame around food. And shame tends to shut down the very curiosity that’...
09/14/2026

I think many women carry a tremendous amount of shame around food. And shame tends to shut down the very curiosity that’s needed for change.

One of the things we know about human behavior is that most behaviors serve a purpose…even the ones we don’t like or the ones we wish we could stop. Food is no exception. Food can regulate emotions, reduce stress, create comfort, provide pleasure, offer distraction, create a sense of control, and can literally keep us alive.

And while those strategies don’t always solve the underlying problem, they often make perfect sense in context. That’s why I think one of the most powerful questions women can ask is:

What is this behavior doing for me?

Not because food is bad. Not because food is good. But because understanding is often more effective than judgment. And for many women, midlife becomes an opportunity to develop a more compassionate and honest relationship with both food and themselves.


midlife women, emotional eating, relationship with food, food and emotions, diet culture, food freedom, body image, intuitive eating, women’s wellness, self compassion, nervous system regulation, coping strategies, eating patterns, midlife wellness, healing from diet culture, midlife reset

Authoritarian systems are often easier to recognize in hindsight than in real time.They rarely begin with obvious contro...
09/14/2026

Authoritarian systems are often easier to recognize in hindsight than in real time.

They rarely begin with obvious control. Many begin with clarity, structure, belonging, and a strong sense of certainty about what is right, good, or safe. Over time, however, patterns of power can begin to shape not only behavior, but a person’s relationship with themselves.

In authoritarian environments, authority becomes centralized, questioning becomes risky, and obedience can become tied to belonging or moral worth. Gradually, people may learn not only how to act, but how to monitor their own thoughts, silence their curiosity, and second-guess their instincts in order to stay connected and safe.

From a trauma-informed perspective, these responses are not signs of weakness. They are adaptive strategies formed in environments where safety depended on compliance.

Healing is not about rejecting all structure or authority. It is about restoring internal access to yourself. The ability to notice your thoughts without immediate dismissal. The ability to make decisions without fear. The ability to trust your inner signals again.

If this feels familiar, it may be something worth exploring more deeply in a supported space. When you choose to work with me, I can help you begin to untangle these patterns and reconnect with your own sense of clarity and agency.

Schedule a free inquiry with me via the link in my bio!


authoritarianism, authoritarian systems, religious trauma, high control groups, coercive control, spiritual abuse, psychological safety, people pleasing, self trust, autonomy, critical thinking, trauma healing, deconstruction, emotional safety, personal agency

09/14/2026

The control doesn’t always end when you leave.
Sometimes, it becomes the voice in your own head telling you not to trust your instincts, your emotions, your body, or your questions.
Part of healing is figuring out which voice is yours again.


Stitch with


religious trauma, high control religion, high control environments, spiritual abuse, coercive control, religious deconstruction, religious manipulation, authoritarian religion, religious trauma recovery, spiritual manipulation, self trust, rebuilding self trust, trusting your intuition, religious guilt, religious shame, questioning faith, spiritual autonomy, discernment, trauma informed therapy, healing from high control environments

09/11/2026

A church does not have to explicitly endorse abuse in order to enable it. Sometimes, it simply has to normalize the beliefs that make abusive behavior easier to explain away.�

Spiritual abuse, religious trauma, mica miller, jp miller, deconstruction, domestic violence, sexual violence, theology, Christian, evangelical, Exvangelical, death of a pastors wife

09/11/2026

Sometimes you need to explain your childhood beliefs to someone who has never been religious just to realize how absolutely unhinged some of it sounds when you say it out loud 😂
Like… wait. We really believed all of this??


religious trauma, religious deconstruction, christian deconstruction, deconstructing christianity, christianity, christian lore, ex christian, exvangelical, evangelical christianity, religious upbringing, purity culture, spiritual trauma, faith deconstruction, questioning faith, leaving religion, recovering from religion, fundamentalism, religious indoctrination, deconstruction humor, religious trauma humor

A common fear people have after leaving a high-control environment is that they feel like they don’t know who they are a...
09/11/2026

A common fear people have after leaving a high-control environment is that they feel like they don’t know who they are anymore. And I get that. Most of us spent years (or decades!) becoming who we thought we were supposed to be. We became agreeable and obedient, pure and selfless; the spiritually mature one. We prided ourselves on not asking too many questions or not making others uncomfortable. We wanted to be the person who kept the peace.

Over time, it’s easy to mistake adaptation for identity. But surviving a system isn’t the same thing as becoming yourself.

That’s why healing can feel so strange. It’s not that you’re inventing a brand new identity. It’s more that you’re slowly uncovering parts of yourself that had to stay hidden in order to belong (and survive!) Things like:
▪️Your curiosity
▪️Your voice
▪️Your humor
▪️Your creativity
▪️Your anger
▪️Your preferences
▪️Your boundaries
▪️Your joy
▪️Your intuition

These parts of you were never the problem. Most of the time it simply wasn’t safe to express them. Healing isn’t about becoming someone completely different. It’s about creating enough safety that the parts of you which were silenced, minimized, or sacrificed no longer have to stay hidden.
We’re not looking to replace yourself. The goal is to stop abandoning yourself.

Underneath all of the survival strategies, people-pleasing, the perfectionism, fear, and the constant self monitoring…there has always been a person worth getting to know. One of the incredible gifts of healing is when you realize that you don’t have to create that person. You simply get to make room for them.


religious trauma, high control religion, high control environments, religious deconstruction, spiritual abuse, identity after religious trauma, rebuilding self trust, people pleasing recovery, perfectionism recovery, healing from religious trauma, trauma informed therapy, trauma coach

09/10/2026

And as a trauma therapist, what concerns me is when we start assuming that any decision with strong feelings behind it must be trauma.

Because activation is not the same thing as trauma.

I’m curious what your thoughts are here!


trauma response, trauma informed therapy, nervous system regulation, flight response, trauma healing, emotional regulation, life transitions, personal growth, trusting yourself, self awareness, making intentional choices, agency and autonomy, emotional activation, trauma vs growth, mental health education

One of the reasons high-control systems are so difficult to recognize is because they initially aren’t controlling. They...
09/10/2026

One of the reasons high-control systems are so difficult to recognize is because they initially aren’t controlling. They are presented as helpful, loving, wise, and certain. They are ready to provide solutions to real and tangible problems and needs that people have. They offer protection from the outside world.

But slowly, subtly–usually without others even noticing, they start engaging in behaviors, actions, and words that slowly erode individuality. They say things like:

▪️“I’m just looking out for you.”
▪️“I’m trying to protect you.”
▪️“You don’t have enough life experience to understand yet.”
▪️“You can trust me.”
▪️“I’m only saying this because I care about you.”

Healthy people can absolutely care, guide, mentor, and offer wisdom. The difference between health and control isn’t whether someone expresses concern. The difference is what happens when you disagree. Or ask questions. Or say no. Can you think differently without being shamed? Can you make your own decisions without being punished, guilted, or treated as spiritually immature or dangerous.

Healthy care expands your capacity. It helps you become more confident, more discerning, and more connected to yourself.

Control narrows your capacity. It teaches you to second-guess yourself and to depend on someone else’s certainty. Control teaches you to distrust your own instincts and encourages you to believe that you need someone(s) else instructions in order to make it.

One of the most important questions you can ask in any relationship or system is this:
**Does this person’s care make me more connected to myself…or more dependent on them?**

Real care doesn’t require the surrender of your autonomy. In fact, one of the clearest signs that someone genuinely cares about you is that they want you to become more capable of thinking, discerning, and making decisions for yourself. Healthy love and relationships don’t need your dependence.

It’s that time of week again. Please enjoy The Good News (No Repentance Required!) In order of appearance:Taylor RansomR...
09/10/2026

It’s that time of week again. Please enjoy The Good News (No Repentance Required!)

In order of appearance:
Taylor Ransom
Rachelle Cochran | Le***an Comedian
Promise Backlund
Nick Vallentino
Meaghan Hampton
• S H E L L Y D A S •
Adam Newman
Jubilee Dawn
joe hegyes
Mike Akel | Filmmaker & Educator
STEPHANIE SANTOS PRATA | Rhode Island Writer-Director-actor
Lilly
Andrew Thurbush
April Ajoy

I think one of the reasons body positivity doesn’t always resonate with women in midlife is because it can feel too far ...
09/09/2026

I think one of the reasons body positivity doesn’t always resonate with women in midlife is because it can feel too far away. Especially when you’re experiencing things like pain, fatigue, weight and health changes, or any number of other symptoms that seem to just inexplicably appear during midlife.

When I work with clients who are navigating this, I ask them to consider (at least at first) to shift the goal from (body) love and peace. Instead I suggest working toward something more neutral. A ceasefire, of sorts. It’s a willingness to stop treating your body like an enemy. And that’s the important part…becasue many women have spent decades fighting their bodies. We criticize, distrust, punish, and try to control them.

And while those strategies may create temporary compliance, they rarely create connection. So midlife offers us an invitation to something different. It’s not actually about “how do I love every part of myself” into how we can stop attacking ourselves, how to become more curious and compassionate; how to be more respectful of our bodies. And how can we be more willing to work with our bodies instead of against them.

Those shifts aren’t quite as dramatic as some of the other things we put our bodies through to force change earlier in life. But a different approach can also be so freeing.

What would a ceasefire with your body look like right now?


body image, body neutrality, body acceptance, body image healing, midlife body image, body image in midlife, women and body image, perimenopause and body image, body trust, body respect, body compassion, body image therapy, self compassion, healing your relationship with your body, negative body image, body shame, body dissatisfaction, aging and body image, eating disorder recovery, trauma informed therapy

Address

Nashville, TN
37212

Telephone

+16156690508

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Dr. Laura E Anderson posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Practice

Send a message to Dr. Laura E Anderson:

Shortcuts

Share

Category