I used to think trauma was “just trauma”. It wasn’t relevant to me. My parents loved me, I grew up in a privileged family, nothing looked like trauma on the outside.
Then I began to understand trauma is not “just trauma”.
Trauma is not just for veterans, victims & vulnerable people.
Trauma is not just something to stop thinking about, quit complaining over, move on from.
Trauma is not just something small compared to other problems.
Trauma is not just something that happens once. It can also be a constant experience.
Trauma is not just individual. It is also cultural, historical & intergenerational.
Trauma is not just physical. It is also developmental, genetic, emotional & psychological.
Trauma is not just the Big Things that happen outside. It is also the little things that happen inside.
Trauma is anything that overwhelms our nervous system & we can’t process, stored in our body as undischarged survival energy.
It changes which genes express themselves & how our brain is wired.
Trauma is not just something we experience consciously. It can happen before, during & shortly after birth.
Trauma is not just something that happens to us. It can be passed down in our genes, epigenetically & how our parents respond to trauma.
It changes how we connect with our body & our identity.
It changes how we connect & socialise with other people.
It changes how we connect with our external world & fit into society.
Trauma is not “just trauma”.
When we begin to understand trauma, we see that it explains every kind of psychological distress & many physical problems.
To acknowledge trauma is not to invalidate experiences of suffering & resilience. It acknowledges human suffering & resilience, at the very deepest level.
“Trauma is perhaps the most avoided, ignored, belittled, denied, misunderstood & untreated cause of human suffering.” Dr Levine
Trauma is not “just trauma”. It can explain everything, if only we are able to be open to it.
Finally realising I’d experienced trauma was traumatic in itself. Society leaves us alone to discover it, without the right support to process it. We need a paradigm shift so we can heal together. ✨