So what is trauma? You may have heard the word used frequently in treatment, but what exactly does it mean? Trauma is defined as an event where a person witnesses or experiences a deeply disturbing or threatening situation. Whether the trauma was emotional or physical, it tends to manifest psychologically. Immediately after the trauma, denial, and shock are common reactions. Flashbacks and unpredictable behaviors may follow the trauma for years on end.
Addressing trauma can be tricky, and shutting out the harsh memories helps us deal with the grief. But trauma can lurk in the folds of one’s life and strain relationships and distort one’s perception of the world. It can result in educational challenges for children experiencing trauma, including lower grades and more suspensions and expulsions. Let’s explore the different categories of trauma.
Bullying
Bullying is a type of purposeful victimization that typically occurs in school-age individuals but can occur at any age. Bullying is aimed at making someone feel less powerful and unable to stand up for themselves. This harassment keeps the victim silent and prevents them from participating in a school, work, or social environment. Bullying manifests socially as name-calling, outcasting someone, making fun of appearance, or sexual harassment. Physically, bullying is seen by throwing items, tripping people, or intentionally spilling things. Cyberbullying via the internet is prevalent on social media platforms and results in posting harmful content or ridiculing people and their identities online.
Community Violence
Community violence is a type of trauma committed in a neighborhood or suburban area, typically of lower socioeconomic status. Individuals acting alone and gangs commit burglary, auto theft, or armed robberies regularly. The elevated presence of weapons like guns and knives drives a heightened sense of fear for everyone in the neighborhood. In some areas, gangs take over the neighborhoods, resulting in universal fear for surrounding children and parents. Getting shot or assaulted — or the fear of it — can change a person’s life forever. Victims often develop an inability and unwillingness to trust strangers, severely damaging one’s ability to live a normal life.
Family Trauma
Family trauma usually involves domestic violence or verbal abuse. This could be parents yelling at each other and the children listening and internalizing the abuse. The trauma could be parents hitting each other, parents hitting children, or children hitting each other. A violent or mentally degrading household can affect how a child grows up and learns about their surroundings.
This type of trauma goes unnoticed most of the time and comes with many implications. The child may grow up angry and aggressive but not know the reason for it. Children growing up with a constant flight, fight, or freeze response have behavioral, emotional, and physiological problems resulting in delayed education or social isolation. The home is supposed to be a safe, stable environment for a child. Children living in fear and instability may experience insecure attachments with their parents and in their future relationships.
Natural Disasters
Natural disasters can destroy communities and uproot lives and lead to personal trauma. Disasters such as hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, earthquakes, wildfires, droughts, and blizzards can result in job loss, moving to a different place, losing a house and precious memories and it. In worst-case scenarios, families may lose loved ones and have to deal with multiple griefs.
Intimate Partner Violence
This type of trauma is often referred to as domestic violence. Intimate partner violence is a tactic used to control the actions or beliefs of the other partner through intimidation. Individuals may experience emotional abuse through stalking, manipulation, shaming, name-calling, or flat-out ignoring. This trauma can be harrowing because the partner knows everything that hurts the most, and they know just the right ways to achieve their goal. The very person that should be trusted for love and emotional support is the abuser, often leading to an inability to trust relationships in the future. Fortunately, there are several outlets of support for someone going through intimate partner violence. Domestic violence is a crime and needs immediate intervention.
Refugee Trauma
Refugee trauma can happen in the country where they are leaving or the country where they are settling through physical or emotional abuse. Sometimes they are fleeing nationwide violence, such as in war or genocide. Or refugees may face imprisonment or other difficulties with immigration. Refugee trauma can also occur when people have to leave everything behind during the moving process. Leaving behind one’s traditions, language, and culture is stressful and takes time to grieve.
Sexual Abuse
Sexual abuse affects people of all ages and genders. This trauma can happen when forced to participate in sexual activities with ultimatums or coercion. Another form of sexual abuse is exhibitionism, an act of the abuser exposing themselves to someone who is unconsenting. It can also manifest as voyeurism, when one looks at the naked body, and becomes abuse when it is done without consent- many movies and TV shows feature characters surving incidents of ”peeping tom” behavior. Recording video or taking photos without consent is a modern form of sexual abuse- even celebrities fall victim to “revenge porn” or “doxxing.” Surviving sexual abuse makes future intimacy difficult due to flashbacks and fearfulness. Like domestic abuse, this is a crime and should be reported immediately to the appropriate law enforcement agencies.
Terrorism
Acts of terrorism are similar to neighborhood violence but on a more widespread scale. It affects a community when there are bombings, threats, or mass shootings. Terrorism is a trauma that may require medical attention for wounds or more serious, life threatening procedures, but its hallmark is widespread fear. This trauma can take extensive recovery for both the people healing physically and the community healing emotionally.
The effects of trauma can last for years and can impact relationships and daily life. Although it may take time, individuals can heal from their past. There are many behavioral and psychotherapeutic methods recommended as the first steps towards unravelling the mental anguish caused by trauma. Therapy is a pivotal practice for mending the effects of previous distress or trauma. Many people don’t realize that there are several types of trauma that may present themselves and each may require different approaches. It is important to pinpoint the emotions left behind from trauma and explore them. There are plenty of therapeutic communities that can help individuals who have been victims of trauma. At Rancho Milagro, we have a wholesome team whose purpose is to help you heal. Our farm is the ideal pace to process past traumas and understand the best ways to cope. Call (951) 526-4582 to start your journey at Rancho Milagro.