Small "t" Trauma
SUE NOBLE, RCC, VITALITY COLLECTIVE
SURRY THERAPIST & REGISTERED CLINICAL COUNSELLOR
In the past few decades, our understanding of trauma and its effects has deepened, developed, and expanded.
You can still experience the effects of trauma without a diagnosis of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Although, it used to be that PTSD was only relegated to those with large T trauma experiences. These experiences would only include a threat to life such as participation in war or being involved in a disaster, such as a hurricane or a vehicle accident. However, it still seems to me that small t trauma, which includes the perceived threat to life, is not fully understood or accepted. So often I hear, “it wasn’t that bad”, “I want to just get over it”, “why does this still bother me so much, it shouldn’t”. It is now recognized that trauma is experienced by those who not only experience traumatic events but also by those who perceive a threat to their life. Additionally, the accumulation of several, chronic and stressful experiences can equate to trauma. The event itself is not the trauma, but how one experiences the event(s). The “hallmark” of the traumatic experience is that it overwhelms the individual mentally, physically, and emotionally.
There are several categories of trauma that I think may be helpful to better understand its effects.
Types of Traumas
Acute Trauma – As mentioned previously, a single event that is time-limited.
Chronic Trauma – The experience of multiple traumatic events, remember both a real and perceived threat to life.
Complex Trauma - A situation where one has a traumatic encounter that the experience causes a mental, physical, and emotional fight, flight, freeze response. Complex trauma is evidenced by the inability to calm down in order to fully come out of this state. Hence, a chronic state of anxiety perpetuates a perceived or real risk of having another traumatic experience.
Developmental Trauma (which includes infant, children, and youth) - Includes, early and ongoing exposure to ongoing neglect, abandonment, physical, emotional, and sexual abuse or assault, witnessing violence or death, as well as coercion or betrayal.
System Induced Trauma – This can be seen in the traumatic removal from one’s home, such as residential schooling for the Indigenous as well as the 60’s scoop. Being incarcerated and or having multiple residents in a short period of time can also induce systems trauma. This perpetuates both chronic and complex trauma.
Vicarious Trauma – This is when someone, often a caregiver or professional, is not the witness to the traumatic event but absorbs and integrates certain disturbing aspects of the traumatic experience into his or her own functioning.
Effects of Trauma
As I mentioned before trauma can affect us physically, emotionally, and mentally (cognitive). The response one has to a traumatic experience can vary as much as the individual does. However, there are some common effects.
Physical – Gastrointestinal problems, disturbed sleep, headaches, change in appetite, nausea, dizziness.
Psychological – Anxiety, depression, PTSD, substance abuse problems, dissociative disorders.
So, what do these effects look like or… how are they experienced? Physically, you can have chronic health issues that feel overwhelming, uncontrollable, or that there’s no medical answer for the issue you suffer from. This can make you feel misunderstood, you fear others think you’re ‘crazy”, and you can become angry and frustrated with others as well as yourself. Your disturbed sleep can make you irritable, you may struggle with work and school, or generally with concentration. On the other hand, you may be quite numb, completely shut down and your loved ones don’t seem to be able to “reach” you or connect with you.
Psychologically, you can constantly feel on guard, be hyper-vigilant, or feel like your finger is stuck in the light socket. Overall, you may experience a consistent sense of defensiveness. The problem with this is that your heightened sense of awareness or numbness becomes your normal, and then it can be difficult to experience feeling calm. Feeling calm can then feel very scary because it is your “norm”. Emotions that are typically experienced with the various types of traumas stated include, sadness, anger, denial, fear, and shame. As you can well expect, these emotions can lead to issues with relationships, confidence, self-worth, and emotional instability.
These emotions affect your mental state, as previously mentioned, your ability to concentrate. Since experiencing trauma puts us in a state of fight, flight or freeze our brain reduces access to our frontal cortex where our higher functioning takes place. Those higher functioning abilities include things like problem-solving, abstract thinking, rational thought, etc.… So, for those who know another who has had traumatic experiences they may seem to make bizarre and irrational decisions, they may seem scattered or inconsistent and highly reactive to what you perceive as something small. For those who have experienced trauma, you may make decisions that allow you to immediately relieve yourself from the panicky, uncomfortable, distressing feelings which may be helpful to dissuade these feelings. However, they often perpetuate the mental health issues such as anxiety and dissociation caused by the traumatic experiences(s).
How to Help
One of the tricky things about us humans is that we want to think our way out of most things, situations, problems, distressing feelings, or conflicts. However, when someone is in a fight, flight, or freeze response their ability to think coherently is impaired, as stated above. It is important to calm the nervous system first. Discharge that energy by psychical activity such as, jumping jacks, running, doing sit-ups, playing tennis…. whatever works for you. Then, the body needs to be grounded, to feel present, to regulate the emotional distress, at least to some degree. Don’t expect miracles in a week, most forms of trauma have taken a toll over time, sometimes a lifetime. Grounding can include meditation, stretching, breathing exercises, etc.…. when with those who have experienced trauma be patient, you can use the concept of “what happened to you”? instead of “what’s wrong with you”?
In closing I hope we can be kind to one another and ourselves; be patient and tolerant of our own struggles and reactive behaviours. Healing and growth come through compassion and understanding.
Resources
https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/health/child-teen-mental-health/trauma-informed_practice_guide.pdf
https://www.traumainformedcare.chcs.org/what-is-trauma/
https://integratedlistening.com/what-is-trauma/
Trauma-Informed Practice (TIP) – Resources - Province of British Columbia (gov.bc.ca)