What is Trauma?

When you first hear the word trauma, what comes to mind?

A sexual assault? A car accident? A natural disaster? The death of a loved one? Abuse or neglect? War?

Absolutely. All of these experiences can be incredibly traumatic and can greatly impact how someone navigates the world around them. Anxiety, nightmares, chronic pain, feeling overwhelmed, being “on guard”, and difficulty concentrating are just a few of the possible responses.

AND, trauma has a much more expansive definition than what typically first comes to mind when we hear the word. What happens when we allow ourselves to identify all the experiences of trauma?

Trauma is anything that overwhelms or floods our nervous system.

Anything can be traumatic for your system when it is too much, too soon, or too fast.

Or too little, for too long.

This all may seem a bit new or confusing. So here are some examples of experiences that can often be felt in this way.

A pap smear. Navigating this world in a body that is a minority (person of color, female, larger body, non-binary, etc). Infertility. Having had an emotionally unavailable caregiver. Surgery. Living in poverty. A break-up. Placing a child for adoption. A c-section. The list is truly endless because trauma is not actually in the event itself. It is all in how the event is registered in your nervous system. Anything that sends your body into a fight, flight, or freeze response can be interpreted as overwhelming and traumatic.

So, coming to therapy for “trauma work” doesn’t mean you have to have been assaulted, abused, or experienced a natural disaster. It can mean that. And it is not limited to that.

Trauma is not a competition.

Anything that is registered in your system as overwhelming is worth processing through so it doesn’t get stuck in your brain, body, and behavior patterns.

So, if you’ve found yourself struggling but told yourself that the experience wasn’t “bad enough”, it might be worth exploring with a trauma specialist.  This person can validate your experience and help you to understand why an event may have “seemed minor” but is causing a lot of distress for you.

There are many ways to heal from trauma. There is not a one-size-fits-all solution. I offer a body-centered approach to therapy and healing, informed by neuroscience. The trauma modalities I offer include EMDR, Trauma-Informed Yoga, and Somatic Experiencing in conjunction with traditional talk therapy.