Trauma

What is Trauma?

“There is no present or future – only the past, happening over and over again, now.” -Eugene O’Neill

Very few people go through life without experiencing trauma to some degree. We can drown in 7 feet of water just as easily as in 107 feet of water; trauma can be quietly devastating or loudly destructive. It impacts individuals in many ways. 

Early Developmental Trauma (emotional or physical), such as abuse, neglect, or absence of safety affects us throughout our lifetime. It often becomes the map in which we are view the world as a safe or an unsafe place. 

Shock Trauma is a type of trauma experienced from automobile accidents, assaults, or any time the system is subjected to an event that shocks the system that doesn’t see anything coming and therefore cannot brace or prepare, or from a seemingly benign event. If trauma comes seemingly out of the blue, our systems learn that no place is safe.

Combat or Prolonged Exposure Trauma is experienced when the individual experiences long-term, prolonged trauma, such as experienced during military, war-torn living conditions, or experiences that take place over hours, days, or years.

Medical Trauma is trauma that emerges from disregulating experiences such as surgery, hospitalization, long-term illness, life-threatening injury, and chronic pain.

Community/World Event Trauma is a type of trauma that comes from watching catastrophic world events unfold, either first-hand or even through media sources.

Secondary/Vicarious Trauma can occur through hearing about trauma (empathic engagement) with traumatized others as well as first responders that witness the after-effects of traumatic events.

Attachment Trauma comes from distressing or harmful experiences that affects a child’s ability to form healthy interpersonal relationships, and have long-lasting albeit subtle effects on and individual’s emotional health. Read more about Attachment Theory in my Approaches Section. Individual reactions can vary depending on early developmental experiences, resiliency, past trauma experiences, and temperament.