What is Trauma?
I used to hear the word trauma and would think, “I’m not traumatized”. My family was nurturing and did their best to raise me. That is true, AND I now realize I didn’t grow up unscratched. The deeper I go in my journey, the more I saw the pervasiveness of trauma and how it comes in many shapes.
I like the definition of trauma from Dr. Albert Wong as any event that was too much, too fast, and too soon. Trauma is our personal reaction to an event, and not the event itself. Trauma is any experience that creates undigested emotional residue that prevents me from being present.
Here are a few types of trauma as I understand them.
Acute Trauma (big T) is a single high-impact incident that was overwhelming. Examples such as a car accident, physical or sexual assault, illness, etc.
Developmental trauma is the repeatedly overwhelming experiences OR the lack of experiences during childhood. Examples such as receiving constant criticisms, not feeling loved, not having emotional support in challenging times, etc.
Intergenerational trauma is the overwhelming events that happened in the family lineage that weren’t processed. It is passed down when the child unconsciously absorbs the undigested emotional energy from the parent. Examples such as abandonment, alcoholism, immigration, etc.
Collective trauma is an overwhelming event that occurs to a group of people. Examples such as COVID-19, Holocaust, the Sino-Japanese War, etc.
As you can see, some are big overwhelming events and others are more ongoing neglects. Everyone has some sort of trauma. I know sometimes people can feel protective of their parents or experiences, and bringing awareness to trauma isn’t to blame or shame but to help name and normalize its existence.
A few leading voices in the world of trauma are Bessel van der Kolk, Gabor Mate, Peter Levine, and Thomas Hubl.
Bessel van der Kolk popularized the idea that the body stores trauma in his book The Body Keeps the Score. He found that early childhood bonding/environments are strongly correlated to life outcomes and autoimmune diseases. He believes trauma is one of the biggest hidden public health epidemics. He recommends somatic and expressive modalities for trauma treatment over our culture’s strong leaning on medication. He suggests treatments such as body/touch therapy (i.e., yoga, bodywork, and EMDR), narrative-based therapy (i.e., journaling, talk therapy, and internal family systems), and community therapy (i.e., theater, art, and dance).
Gabor Mate his physician practice saw a correlation between people's thoughts/behaviors to autoimmune diseases such as ALS, Crohns, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, rheumatoid sicknesses, breast cancer, and Multiple Sclerosis. Early childhood experiences create beliefs and suppress emotions that also suppress the immune system, which results in the body becoming sick. In order to survive, kids create negative self-beliefs of being not good enough, develop extreme self-reliance, or self-sacrificing and pessimistic tendencies. He also saw how addiction is strongly correlated to trauma.
A few thoughts/behaviors that are affiliated with autoimmune diseases are:
-I have to be strong
-It’s not right for me to be angry. If I’m angry, I will not be lovable
-I’m responsible for the world. I can handle anything
-I’m not wanted, I’m not lovable
-I don’t exist unless I do something. I must justify my existence
-I have to be very ill to deserve being taken care of
While stress is experienced as a threat, and the lack of physical and emotional safety and support is also a source of threat. He suggests healing through becoming aware of emotions and needs, expressing emotions, and clearing past shadows.
Peter Levine discovered that when animals are under attack, they would go into freeze in order to not be noticed by predators. To exit the shock when it’s safe, they would naturally shake off the freeze. Humans also go into freeze when we don’t feel safe, but we suppress the natural urge to unshake to return to normal. So Peter created a modality called Somatic Eperiencing to help treat acute trauma. Many other modalities were created out of SE, such as NARM, which focuses on treating developmental trauma.
Thomas Hubl’s work focuses on collective trauma. He discovered during group healings that people would move through energetic releases at the same time. It may be from a similar event during the Holocaust or World War II. His work focuses on how resonance and relationality can heal trauma for the collective.
Book Recommendations:
The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk
When the Body Says No; The Myth of Normal by Gabor Mate
Healing Collective Trauma by Thomas Hubl
Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma; In an Unspoken Voice: How the Body Releases Trauma and Restores Goodness by Peter Levine
Healing Developmental Trauma: How Early Trauma Affects Self-Regulation, Self-Image, and the Capacity for Relationship by Laurence Heller & Aline LaPierre
