What is trauma, exactly?

When I was taking admission calls for a drug and alcohol treatment facility, I asked potential clients if they had any history of trauma. I heard many clients say something like “I don’t have any trauma. My parents didn’t hit me or anything.”  

While physical abuse definitely qualifies as trauma, so do many other experiences. I believe trauma is best described as something that happens to you, that you did not want to happen, that you had no control over, that causes deep distress.  While this definition may sound general, the experience of trauma looks different for each individual. We experience traumas that fall into five categories:

  1. Event trauma: Experiencing or witnessing an event that causes significant distress to oneself or others. Some examples are sexual assault, a natural disaster, car accident, or surgery.

 

  1. Developmental trauma: Experiences during childhood where basic needs are not met or abuse occurs.  This includes lack of physical, sexual, mental, and emotional safety, including attachment needs.

 

  1. Intergenerational trauma: Trauma that is transferred through generations. Intergenerational trauma can be traced back to specific events or trauma that has been passed down through generational systems.   Individuals who survived slavery, for example, may pass down trauma responses through parenting practices or behavioral influence. Biological influence has also been studied showing neurochemical influence on offspring.

 

  1. Cultural or societal trauma: Experiences shared by a collective group of people that can be experienced personally, but can also be well known historical events.  Some examples of this type of trauma include the Holocaust, racism, or genocides.

 

  1. Chronic stress: Prolonged periods of nervous system escalation.  Chronic stress prevents biological systems from experiencing rest.  Some causes of chronic stress include having a demanding career, financial hardship, starvation, or turbulent relationships.

 

So why is it important to recognize trauma? Traumatic experiences and events can have a tremendous impact on our quality of life.  Although not an exhaustive list, trauma commonly impacts life in the following areas: sleep, digestion, stress tolerance, anxiety, concentration, hypervigilance, and of course fight/flight/freeze patterns.  Trauma impacts the way we engage in relationships and increases our sensitivity to perceived threats.  This can make daily life extremely difficult!

Some people minimize their experiences and deny trauma by saying things like “it could have been worse” or “I know I have it better than other people.”    If this sounds familiar, I encourage you to consider what healing could take place if you allowed yourself to consider how your experiences have truly impacted you.

Even though the impact of trauma can be significant, there is hope.  Trauma therapy is the healing of thoughts, feelings, ideas, or sensations that were changed by your traumatic experience.  When we experience trauma, we develop ways of protecting ourselves from further trauma.  Unfortunately, these coping skills eventually negatively impact other parts of our well-being or stop serving their intended purpose completely. Trauma therapy helps identify useful coping skills and helps enable us to do things we  did not have the capacity to do following our trauma!

If any of this feels familiar to you, I would invite you to start considering whether now is the time for you to consider trauma therapy, and begin a therapeutic journey towards healing.

Suzanne Cooper, MA, LPCC is passionate about using her experience to help her clients find healing. To request an appointment with her or any of our therapists, click here.