Complex Trauma in Ginny and Georgia Part I
If you've watched Ginny & Georgia on Netflix, you know it's a lot. Teen angst, dark humor, twisty secrets, trauma, family dynamics—it’s not just a binge-watch, it’s a whole emotional journey.
As a therapist who works with complex trauma (CPTSD) in Oakland, CA, I was struck by how often the show explores the long shadows trauma can cast over someone's life. The characters don’t sit down and say “hey, I have CPTSD,” but their behaviors, beliefs, and survival strategies speak volumes.
Here are a few themes from the show that feel especially true to the lived experience of complex trauma:
On Emotional Intensity:
“Love. It’s up. It’s down. It’s easy. It’s hard.” — Ginny
"It's standing still that'll kill you." — Georgia
I'm not okay, dad, I'm really not okay, don't you see that?" — Ginny
“Trauma survivors often feel emotions with the volume turned up—what others experience as discomfort, they feel as danger.”
— Janina Fisher
“Intense emotions in trauma survivors are not overreactions—they are survival responses that never got shut off.”
— Bessel van der Kolk
“One of the challenges of trauma recovery is learning that big emotions don’t always mean big danger.”
— Janina Fisher
People with complex trauma often live with waves of emotional intensity, depression, shame, loneliness, that can feel overwhelming or unpredictable. Ginny’s line capture that numb/dark/numb cycle many people know too well. When you’re in it, it swallows you. When you’re out, it almost disappears… until the next time. Whereas Georgia’s feelings are so intense that she is at times overtaken by panic attacks. Georgia keeps a happy facade, but we see the cracks in her quiet moments.
Examples:
Ginny swings between numbness and panic, especially around her mother and boyfriend.
Georgia seems perfectly in control, but has panic attacks where she struggles to breathe.
On Dissociative Avoidance:
“Many survivors are afraid that if they remember, they will be overwhelmed. Avoidance is not denial—it is an act of self-preservation.”
— Judith Herman
“What we avoid doesn’t go away. The past we try not to feel gets stored in our bodies and expressed in our behaviors.”
— Janina Fisher
“Avoiding the past is a brilliant strategy—until it stops working.”
— Paul Walker
“Trauma survivors often organize their lives around not knowing what happened to them.”
— Bessel van der Kolk
“But you have to live in the future 'cause the past will eat you.” — Georgia
“Never look backwards, only forward. It don’t do any good digging through mud. All you get is dirty. Best wash yourself clean and move on.” — Georgia
Georgia is the poster child for dissociative coping. She moves fast, talks fast, changes locations, avoids reflection. This “keep moving or I’ll fall apart” vibe is common in trauma survivors. Dissociation can look like over-functioning, controlling the narrative, or staying busy to avoid collapse.
Examples:
Georgia constantly reinvents herself—new town, new name, new backstory.
Georgia avoids conversations about her childhood abuse and past traumas.
Georgia’s upbeat, charismatic persona hides a deep well of unprocessed pain.
Ginny’s flashbacks show increasingly more disturbing memories of her childhood.
On Coping Mechanisms:
“Momma’s not perfect. Momma’s just trying to survive.” — Georgia
“You don’t get to judge me. You have no idea what it’s like to survive the way I have.” — Georgia
“Coping mechanisms are not the problem—they’re the solution the traumatized brain came up with in the moment. The goal of therapy is not to shame them, but to understand and update them.”
— Janina Fisher
“Complex trauma survivors are masters of survival. The very strategies that saved them in the past can become obstacles to connection and healing in the present.”
— Paul Walker
“We should never underestimate the creativity of the traumatized mind in trying to protect itself.”
— Janina Fisher
Complex trauma often stems from prolonged, relational harm: abuse, neglect, unsafe environments. Survivors don’t always learn safe connection; they learn survival. Georgia’s choices may seem morally messy, but they make a kind of emotional sense when you understand her history. For many clients, shame around “bad coping” lessens when they realize, Oh… that was survival, not failure.
Examples:
Georgia and Ginny’s substance use
Georgia and Ginny’s dissociative fragmentation
Georgia uses manipulation and secrecy to control her environment and protect her kids.
Georgia justifies morally gray choices (like murder) as necessary for survival.
Ginny learns to hide her pain and mask her emotions, mirroring Georgia’s strategies.
On Self-Harm and Self-Destructive Behaviors:
“When you don’t have a voice, you have to scream somehow.” — Ginny
“Self-destructive behaviors often emerge not because people want to die, but because they don’t know how to live with the pain inside.”
— Janina Fisher
“When you can’t express the pain in words, the body will find other ways.”
— Bessel van der Kolk
“Self-harm is often a desperate attempt to turn emotional pain into something concrete, something visible.”
— Judith Herman
Self-harm, eating disorders, risky behaviors…these aren’t attention-seeking. They’re often the language of pain when words aren’t safe or accessible. Ginny is a great example of a teen struggling to make sense of inherited trauma, racial identity, and emotional silencing. Her behavior is communication.
Examples:
Ginny begins self-harming in secret, carving into her inner thigh with a lighter.
Substance abuse, cutting class, and sabotaging relationships
On Paranoia and Trust:
“Many traumatized individuals live as if they are still in danger, even when they are safe. Their nervous systems are on high alert, scanning constantly for threats.”
— Janina Fisher
“When trust has been broken repeatedly, vigilance replaces curiosity.”
— Paul Walker
“For survivors of complex trauma, trust is not an instinct—it’s a skill that must be learned and practiced over time.”
— Janina Fisher
“You can never trust anyone completely. Everyone has an agenda.” — Georgia
“You can’t fall in love if you always have your guard up.” — Ginny
When trust has been broken over and over again, it’s hard to let people in. Paranoia isn’t just a personality quirk. It can be a trauma response. If no one protected you, if closeness meant danger, then being guarded might feel like the only safe option.
Examples:
Georgia snoops through Paul’s things and lies to her fiancé to keep control.
Georgia withholds information from her kids, friends, and even her own lawyer.
Ginny, too, shows her growing distrust of those around her
On Compartamentalization:
“I know about masks. Mine never comes off. Moving around all the time. I’m too white for the black kids and not white enough for the white kids.” — Ginny
“Dissociation is the failure to integrate aspects of experience into a coherent sense of self.”
— Janina Fisher
“When trauma occurs early in life, the self becomes divided. We survive by keeping the trauma out of consciousness, creating separate parts of ourselves who hold the pain.”
— Janina Fisher
“In order to survive abuse, victims must often learn to fragment their consciousness, separating the part of themselves that functions from the part that feels.”
— Judith Herman
“For a woman, life is a battle. And beauty is a goddamn machine gun.” — Georgia
Extreme versions of compartmentalization are trauma strategies: splitting off parts of yourself to function in different spaces. Add racial identity, gendered expectations, and family secrets, and it’s a recipe for deep fragmentation. Both Ginny and Georgia wear masks to survive in environments that demand performance and perfection.
Examples:
Ginny feels caught between racial identities and doesn’t feel like she belongs anywhere.
She presents differently at school, home, and with friends, never fully settling.
Georgia uses her appearance and charm as armor to navigate a sexist, dangerous world.
On Healing:
“What if all your dreams come true, and it’s still not enough?” — Ginny
“The first step in healing is simply to notice, without judgment, the parts of ourselves we’ve had to exile in order to survive.”
— Janina Fisher
“Recovery can take place only within the context of relationships; it cannot occur in isolation.”
— Judith Herman“Healing doesn't mean the damage never existed. It means the wounds no longer control our lives.”
— Akshay Dubey“We don’t get rid of our survival strategies—we learn when and how to soften them.”
— Janina Fisher
“Your past does not define you. You have the power to create your own future.” — Georgia
These lines hit the heart of trauma recovery. Healing isn’t always about fixing the past—it’s about learning how to be with yourself now. Even when things look good on the outside, there’s often an inner voice saying it’s not enough, you’re not enough. That’s the inner critic trauma installs. But healing—slow, nonlinear, sometimes weird and beautiful—is possible. Therapy helps people reclaim their voice, soften the inner war, and build something new.
Examples:
Ginny starts going to therapy and slowly begins unpacking her pain.
Georgia begins to question whether her coping strategies still serve her—or if they’re now hurting the people she loves.
Both characters start confronting their generational trauma, even if awkwardly or imperfectly.
Ginny & Georgia doesn’t offer easy answers. But it does show something real: the complicated legacy of trauma, the generational patterns, the messy humanity underneath it all. If you saw yourself in these characters, you’re not alone—and you’re not broken. There’s a reason you feel the way you do. And there’s help.
You deserve healing that honors your complexity. If you’re ready to explore your story, I’d be honored to walk with you.
