Help me understand “trauma”
Trauma is a common term in the mental health world. It’s a simple word that represents an incredibly complex concept. Let’s see if we can make it a little easier to understand.
For starters, trauma can be acute or chronic. Acute trauma would be things like a car accident, an isolated sexual assault, a natural disaster, or an armed robbery. Chronic trauma includes things like abuse or neglect during childhood, bullying, prolonged exposure to war, certain medical diagnoses and associated procedures, homelessness, substance and alcohol misuse in the home, and food deprivation.
Another important thing to understand is that many of these things can be considered traumatic if they are merely witnessed. For example, consider when a child grows up hearing their mother be berated and seeing her physically hurt. Even if the child was never the target of such treatment, growing up in that environment and seeing their mom being victimized can still be incredibly traumatic. Another example might be seeing someone else be involved in a major accident of some sort. Even if you yourself were not involved in the incident and even if the individual survived, watching someone else endure a dangerous, painful, or drastic event can still be traumatizing for you as an observer.
Most of the examples introduced so far, while not uncommon, have been somewhat extreme. You might say they are obviously traumatic. Another critical thing to understand about trauma is that there is no minimum level of physical or emotional pain required in order to qualify. If something you experienced has led you to feel overwhelmed, anxious, on edge, depressed, unsafe, powerless, or unloved, it was likely traumatic on some level. For instance, let’s say you overheard your parents talking about how disappointed they were that you preferred to read when they hoped you’d choose to engage in outdoor recreation. For some, that might be a silly perspective that wouldn’t effect them in the slightest. For others, that might cause an emotional bruise that begins to negatively impact the way the view themselves. Another example might be growing up in a bigger body than your peers. Even if you didn’t have anyone bullying you directly, things like not being able to comfortably fit in costumes provided in your drama class or finishing last when running the mile can certainly have a negative effect on a person’s mental and emotional wellbeing.
As you can see, there are a lot of nuances when it comes to describing trauma. Whether your experiences qualify as extreme, like watching someone close to you battle a terminal illness, or subtle, like consistently feeling misunderstood by a caregiver, your life experiences can weigh on your physical, mental, and emotional wellbeing. Your trauma, no matter what it is or how anyone else perceives it, deserves to be properly acknowledged in order to be healed. Seeking out therapy with a trauma informed clinician (especially one trained in EMDR, TF-CBT, or IFS) is a good way to begin this process.
Relief is possible. Hope is possible. Peace is possible. You deserve each of those things.
