Trauma

What is trauma?  Some would say “anything less than a nurturing experience”.

Experiences of physical or sexual abuse is traumatic; having emotionally unavailable parents is traumatic;  being neglected as a child is traumatic;  having a parent who is overly critical or shaming can be traumatic; being bullied or excluded is traumatic; witnessing the abuse of another is traumatic; immigrating to a new country can be traumatic;  living with alcoholism and addiction is traumatic……..and the list goes on. We all have different levels of resilience, so it can be unhelpful to compare our reaction to trauma to someone else’s.

Our experience was our experience and our methods of coping and adapting to survive are our own.  Its hugely important not to generalise, judge, or minimise, but to recognise when the aftermath is wreaking havoc in our lives.

Do any of these apply to you?

 I’m worried that something traumatic that has happened to me in the past is still affecting my life today.

 I have never told anyone about what happened.

 I’m not sure that what happened was that bad.

 I told people what happened, but no one did anything at the time.

 Others have had bad things happen and they seem ok, so why aren’t I?

 I have trouble trusting people.

 I often try to minimize what happened.