What is trauma?
“Trauma is widespread. Nearly 70% of adults in the U.S. have experienced some type of traumatic event at least once in their lives. That’s 223.4 million people in the U.S. alone. In public behavioral health, meaning people receiving care for mental health, substance abuse, and/or life stressors and crises over 90% of clients have experienced trauma.” — National Council for Mental Wellbeing)
“Not everyone who has experienced a traumatic event will have long-lasting effects. Around 20% of people who experience a traumatic event will develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and many others might still have subthreshold symptoms of post-traumatic stress.”
“Trauma that repeatedly occurs over time can have a cumulative impact. This is known as complex trauma. Complex trauma is often associated with childhood trauma. Early experiences of trauma can leave a deep imprint on your worldview, sense of self, and relationships later in life.”
Life is stressful for all of us, we go through stages
But there’s an important difference between stress and trauma
Stress ends. Trauma doesn’t, it returns, it’s distorting.
No real concrete definition of trauma yet, evolving with the research.
At first, it was considered a disorder only affecting veterans. But over time, they found it was much more common.
Trauma is typically associated with significant events such as physical or sexual assault, violence, or accidents. But it can also involve responses to repeated events, like ongoing emotional abuse or childhood neglect.
The crazy thing is, the trauma is not the event, it’s the reaction to the event—that’s the trauma.
Trauma rewires the brain and how we view and respond to the world around us.
Trauma can have lifelong physical and mental consequences.
Its effects can be multi-generational.
Given the extensive and long-lasting impacts of trauma and its incredible prevalence in our society, it’s critical that we develop systems and processes that are informed by these traumas and their impacts on our families, friends, neighbors, and fellow community members.
People are more resilient if they have someone there to support them during the trauma event.