As a trauma therapist,
A question I often get asked is,
What actually is trauma?
And I think it's one of those words which is often used,
But perhaps often misunderstood.
What I usually say is,
Let's go back to the origins of the word trauma.
In ancient Greece.
Where it means wound.
And originally that was used to mean a physical wound like breaking a leg or getting a sudden severe injury.
But actually that was later expanded to include psychological wounds.
So trauma is something which leaves a lasting wound.
In our mind and body and nervous system.
Another helpful idea is to distinguish between what we call big T trauma and small T trauma.
So big T trauma would be the things that we often think about as traumas.
Being in a really bad car crash.
A natural disaster like an earthquake or tsunami.
Being the victim of a violent robbery.
Is obviously traumatic.
Events which can also cause trauma for us.
But small t-traumas are much more common.
And these are things like experiencing severe bullying at school,
Which can be extremely traumatic for children.
Things like having surgery or chronic illness,
Especially as a child.
Growing up in a home where there's a lot of anger and shouting or possibly domestic violence.
It's these kinds of smaller.
.
.
Ongoing experiences.
Which can be extremely difficult for us,
Especially when we're children.
Because our mind and body and nervous system and brain are still developing.
And so our capacity,
Our coping resources.
Are much less than an adult,
So something that might not be traumatic for an adult.
Absolutely can be traumatic for a child.
So I think it's really important to understand trauma is very common,
It's widespread.
But we need to also be careful about our use of the word so it doesn't get too diluted.
There's anything that leaves a lasting.
.
.
On every level of your mind,
Brain,
Body,
Nervous system.
That's really what we mean by trauma.
I hope you found that helpful.
And also that you have a lovely day.
