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Anne Marie Brooks, M. Ed
What Is Trauma?
Trauma is not a disorder.
Trauma is any incident that happens to a normal person that elicits an abnormal response.
“Any situation beyond the realm of a person’s usual experience that overwhelms his or her sense of vulnerability and/or sense of control.” Roger Solomon, Ph.d.
“Any situation faced by a person that causes them to experience unusually strong emotional reactions which have the potential to interfere with their ability to function either at the time or some time later”. Adapted from Jeff Mitchell, Ph.d.
Traumas violate our world assumptions:
This is not supposed to happen!
The world is benevolent—bad things won’t happen to me.
The world is meaningful—the world is predictable, fair and controllable.
The self is worthy—bad things don’t happen to good people.
It is important to realize that many different things can be traumatic.
There are Big T traumas like war, accidents, any wide spread disaster, physical violence to you or a loved one.
Or it can be a small t trauma, like a put down by someone important to you, an infidelity or personal betrayal.
What is traumatic to one person is not necessarily traumatic to another person. This is normal. We each come from different backgrounds and experiences, which determine what, will be traumatic for each of us.
Not everyone experiences a traumatic reaction to the same event. Normally we go by the 1/3 rd rule:
1/3…… experience a mild or no reaction to a particular event
1/3…… experience a moderate reaction
1/3…… experience a severe or significant reaction
1. Physiological reaction when the situation occurs . Fight or flight – evolutionary.
2. Perceptual distortions commonly experienced: time distortion, auditory distortion and visual distortion. These are either heightened or decreased.
3. Shock/Disruption: the person may be initially dazed, inattentive, or confused. This may last for minutes or days.
4. Come down reactions can be any of those listed previously.
5. Denial or dissociation – running on autopilot.
6. Emotional arousal
7. Feeling of isolation
8. Preoccupation with the event.
9. Spiritual questioning: What if? If only, Why me ?, What if it happens again ?, Can I handle it ?
10. Acceptance /Resolution: The incident happened. I was part of it, and that’s reality.
a. I am vulnerable, and that’s part of the human condition – but I’m not helpless.
b. I can’t control everything, but I can control my response to the incident.
c. I did the best I could at the time.
11. Fear is a normal reaction to the perception of danger and can be utilized constructively.
12. By facing and actively processing my emotional/physical/spiritual reactions, I will come out stronger.
13. Learning to live with it:
a. Experiencing a traumatic incident is like crossing a fence… and losing one’s naivete… with no possibility of jumping back.
b. Positive self realization: “I’m not unique; I’m normal”
c. Similar future incidents may bring back emotional reactions.
d. Anniversary reactions are common
14. We are vulnerable.
a. Accept it.
b. Use it.
c. Learn from it.
d. Help others because of it.
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