What do you do when your body goes into shutdown mode during relationship conflict—especially when you want to do better but feel frozen in the moment?

In this episode of Ask Angela: Relationship Advice for Love After Trauma, Angela Amias responds to a listener who struggles to stay engaged during difficult conversations with his girlfriend: shutting down, freezing, and going blank under stress.

Angela explores:
• Why your nervous system may interpret conflict as danger
• How the “freeze” response is a trauma-based form of protection
• What it means to expand your “window of tolerance” in relationships
• How to work with your body instead of against it
• The power of taking pauses, communicating your capacity, and returning to hard conversations
• Why avoiding conflict keeps you stuck—and how to build confidence over time

If you’ve ever shut down in the middle of an argument and felt ashamed or overwhelmed, this episode offers grounded, compassionate insight into how to stay present, communicate better, and grow emotional resilience in your relationship.

✑ Join the conversation or leave a comment at askangela.co

✫ Because love after trauma takes a different kind of wisdom—and you don’t have to figure it out alone.

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Is it possible to heal old wounds and build a stronger relationship—even if both you and your partner have past trauma? What happens when one person is ready to grow, and the other is unsure?

In this episode of Ask Angela: Relationship Advice for Love After Trauma, Angela Amias responds to a listener wondering whether it's possible for a struggling marriage to heal when both partners bring communication struggles and unhealed trauma into the relationship.

Angela explores:

• How relationship patterns rooted in trauma often run on autopilot
• Why the first step toward change is gaining awareness of your own patterns
• How changing your part of the "dance" can influence your partner's responses
• Why you don’t have to wait for your partner to be equally committed in order to begin
• How relational healing starts with building emotional awareness, emotional literacy, and empathy
• What it really looks like to create healthier communication—and deeper connection—over time

If you’ve ever wondered whether real change is possible—or how to move forward when you feel stuck in old patterns—this episode offers grounded, compassionate guidance for reclaiming hope and healing in love.

✑ Join the conversation or leave a comment at askangela.co

✫ Because love after trauma takes a different kind of wisdom—and you don’t have to figure it out alone.

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What do you do when you want to grow closer—and your partner keeps putting you off? Can you improve your relationship when your partner isn’t willing to work on communication?

In this episode of Ask Angela: Relationship Advice for Love After Trauma, Angela Amias responds to a listener who feels stuck: she keeps trying to have real conversations with her partner, but he avoids every attempt, leaving her feeling unheard, frustrated, and blamed for being “too emotional.”

Angela explores:

• Why you can’t fix communication problems by working harder alone
• How avoidance and deflection create emotional stalemates
• Why learning to regulate your own emotions is key when your partner won’t engage
• How to stop waiting for “tomorrow” and focus on what you can control today
• The difference between trying to fix a partner—and choosing to grow yourself
• How to use relational data to decide what kind of relationship you really want

If you’ve ever exhausted yourself trying to get your partner to talk—or wondered whether you’re asking for too much—this episode offers grounded, compassionate guidance for reclaiming your voice and your power.

✑ Join the conversation or leave a comment at askangela.co

✫ Because love after trauma takes a different kind of wisdom—and you don’t have to figure it out alone.

Read more Ask Angela: Relationship Advice for Love After Trauma

Why is it so hard to stay open when your partner brings up something that’s bothering them? Why do even small criticisms feel like attacks—and how do you change that pattern?

In this episode of Ask Angela: Relationship Advice for Love After Trauma, Angela Amias responds to a listener who wants to learn how to stay present and listen when her partner shares concerns, instead of falling into automatic defensiveness.

Angela explores:

• Why defensiveness often starts as a survival strategy in early relationships
• How our bodies react before our awareness can catch up
• Why honoring your defensive response is the first step toward change
• How past experiences of blame, criticism, and attack distort present-day conversations
• Practical ways to shift from reactivity to true responsiveness
• How learning to listen without defense can deepen intimacy and trust

If you’ve ever wished you could hear your partner’s concerns without shutting down, lashing out, or feeling attacked, this episode offers grounded, trauma-informed guidance for creating real change in how you communicate.

✑ Join the conversation or leave a comment at askangela.co

✫ Because love after trauma takes a different kind of wisdom—and you don’t have to figure it out alone.

Read more Ask Angela: Relationship Advice for Love After Trauma

How do you grieve a relationship that wasn’t all bad—but wasn’t good for you either? How do you heal when your heart is broken not just by loss, but by the way you were treated?

In this episode of Ask Angela: Relationship Advice for Love After Trauma, Angela Amias responds to a listener who asks how to release the grief and hurt of being treated badly by someone she deeply cared for.

Angela explores:

• Why breakups after hurtful relationships trigger a unique and complicated grief
• How to hold space for both the good memories and the painful reality
• Why friends’ well-meaning support can sometimes deepen feelings of isolation
• How loss isn't just about the person—it’s also about grieving the dream of what could have been
• The importance of honoring your pain without minimizing your experience
• Why healing after betrayal requires deep tenderness toward your own heart

If you've ever struggled to let go of a relationship that hurt you—or felt guilty for grieving someone who didn't treat you well—this episode offers gentle, grounded guidance for navigating the breakup grief process with compassion and clarity.

✑ Join the conversation or leave a comment at askangela.co

✫ Because love after trauma takes a different kind of wisdom—and you don’t have to figure it out alone.

Read more Ask Angela: Relationship Advice for Love After Trauma

How do you stop sabotaging relationships when your trust issues keep getting in the way? Can you really learn to trust again after betrayal—or are you doomed to repeat the same painful patterns?

In this episode of Ask Angela: Relationship Advice for Love After Trauma, Angela Amias responds to a listener who is struggling with deep trust issues that continue to harm his relationships, even when he knows his fears aren’t based in reality.

Angela explores:

• Why betrayal trauma rewires our ability to trust
• How fear and anxiety can masquerade as intuition
• Why seeking constant reassurance from a partner often backfires
• How old wounds shape the stories we tell ourselves in relationships
• Why anger and accusations often hide a deeper longing for closeness
• How to begin repairing your trust in yourself—and in healthy relationships

If you've ever pushed someone away because of fear, or struggled to tell the difference between intuition and anxiety, this episode offers honest, trauma-informed guidance for breaking the cycle and building something new.

✑ Join the conversation or leave a comment at askangela.co

✫ Because love after trauma takes a different kind of wisdom—and you don’t have to figure it out alone.

Read more Ask Angela: Relationship Advice for Love After Trauma

How do you begin to love yourself when you were never properly nurtured? What does healing look like when you feel like you don’t even know who you are?

In this episode of Ask Angela: Relationship Advice for Love After Trauma, Angela Amias responds to a listener struggling with complex trauma from childhood—and the painful realization that self-love feels almost impossible.

Angela explores:

• Why missing early nurturing makes it harder to know—and care for—yourself
• How childhood survival strategies often lead to codependent patterns in adulthood
• Why getting to know yourself is the first step in learning how to nurture yourself
• How to start small by noticing your preferences, needs, and emotional landscape
• Why rushing or pressuring yourself to “catch up” only deepens old wounds
• How self-discovery, patience, and kindness lay the foundation for true healing

If you’ve ever felt lost inside your own life—or unsure how to begin building a relationship with yourself—this episode offers grounded, compassionate guidance for starting where you are.

✑ Join the conversation or leave a comment at askangela.co

✫ Because love after trauma takes a different kind of wisdom—and you don’t have to figure it out alone.

Read more Ask Angela: Relationship Advice for Love After Trauma

Why do people suddenly disappear after a deep connection—or after a conflict? Is it about you, or about their own fears?

In this episode of Ask Angela: Relationship Advice for Love After Trauma, Angela Amias responds to a listener who asks why men often ghost after intimacy or when tensions arise.

Angela explores:

• Why ghosting is often a fear-based response to vulnerability, not a personal rejection
• How trauma histories can make intimacy feel dangerous instead of safe
• Why conflict, even minor conflict, can trigger fight, flight, or freeze responses in relationships
• How ghosting can function as a desperate attempt to regain emotional control
• Why the search for closure often leaves us stuck—and how to create it within ourselves
• How to move forward when someone leaves without explanation

If you've ever been ghosted and found yourself endlessly questioning what went wrong—or blaming yourself—this episode offers grounded, compassionate insights to help you heal and move on.

✑ Join the conversation or leave a comment at askangela.co

✫ Because love after trauma takes a different kind of wisdom—and you don’t have to figure it out alone.

Read more Ask Angela: Relationship Advice for Love After Trauma