What is trauma?

According to the American Psychological Association (APA):

Trauma is an emotional response to a terrible event like an accident, rape, or natural disaster. Immediately after the event, shock and denial are typical. Longer term reactions include unpredictable emotions, flashbacks, strained relationships, and even physical symptoms like headaches or nausea.

Trauma can also be defined as not the actual event itself but how our bodies internalize and respond to what happened. Take a car accident for example. Two people get into the same car accident. One person walks away a bit shaken up, but they are able to drive and continue functioning in their daily life. The other person also walks away shaken up, but the following days and weeks there is a new anxiety around getting into a car, maybe physical sensations like racing heart beat and sweating that this person now experiences while driving or even as a passenger. Both of these people had the same outward experience of a car accident, but internally their bodies experienced this much differently.

Trauma is tricky like that. What one person might consider to be traumatic, someone else might not. Even how trauma manifests in someone’s body may look different from person to person.

Big “T” trauma and little “t” trauma.

When we think of traumatic events and experiences we probably think of some sort of natural disaster or assault or something really horrific and catastrophic. All of these would fall under the big “T” trauma category. Gabor Mate (retired physician and author) asserts that when one experiences a traumatic event on this scale it can lead to high levels of inflammation in the body, increased physiological stress, and impact the healthy functioning of genes. This can also be seen through what is known as the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) studies which takes into account a person’s childhood experiences as a predictor of health issues later in life.

On the other side of the trauma spectrum is what is known as little “t” trauma. These are the events in life that may appear like ordinary occurrences but leave a lasting mark on a person. Examples of this type of trauma might be the repetitive negative comments one heard from their coach in high school, the absence of a parent who traveled frequently for work, or the hurtful teasing from a sibling or friend.

So it is not the event or experience itself that is the trauma, but how it impacts and alters us which both big T and little t traumas have in common.

As Bessel Van der Kolk (psychiatrist and educator) has stated, “Trauma is when we are not seen and known.”

Or Peter Levine (creator of Somatic Experiencing) puts it, trauma “is about a loss of connection - to ourselves, our families, and the world around us. This loss is hard to recognize, because it happens slowly, over time. We adapt to these subtle changes'; sometimes without noticing them.” Therefore everything we do moving forward is through this new lens shaped by the trauma we have internalized. It is not hard to imagine then that the world, and every person you encounter, is carrying around trauma regardless of how catastrophic or seemingly ordinary the experience was.

When we can open our eyes to the hurt around us we can then begin so respond with more compassion and empathy for ourselves and others. We can also begin to make connections between what we may be feeling physically with what we are feeling emotionally.

Signs or symptoms of unresolved trauma in the body:

• frequent strong or intense emotions

• reactions/responses that are disproportionate to situation

• easily over-stimulated

• feeling numb, lacking motivation, checked out

• constant restlessness and agitation in thoughts and/or body

• sleep disturbances

This does not cover every symptom of trauma but if you begin to slowly reconnect with your body you may discover that some experiences from your life have impacted you more than you realized. In somatic practices, it is helpful to first practice reconnecting with your body during positive or neutral experiences and noticing how it feels and what happens in your body during those moments. It takes time and intention to rebuild the trust with your own body after a traumatic experience as many of us shut down those parts of our selves that are simply too painful.

For some it may be hard to imagine that healing is even possible, or what it might look like to live without the symptoms of trauma. As Gabor Mate puts it, healing is a “natural movement towards wholeness.” There is no final destination or arrival of healing, but a continual process and moving towards a more whole version of yourself. Every day, every moment is an intentional choice to work towards that healing.

Be kind and curious,

Hollis