‘Are We Normalizing Trauma?’ Here’s The Why.
While I think that the answer to this question is yes, I think that the purpose of the question is to ultimately mitigate traumas, and I believe that the problem of trauma is solved by teaching people how to connect to each other and to the world in healthy ways, as trauma is the experience of the overloading of our coping abilities, meaning that it is the experience of feeling overwhelmed to the point of hurt.
Trauma takes different forms, as some can be sudden (think car accidents), and others more progressive (think abuse), and it is this type of trauma that I deem as preventable and solvable AND most destructive, as they are usually a result of psychosocial factors and personal choices, which can both be changed with consistent and relevant attention.
But indeed, the fact that trauma and mental health needs are as widespread as they are in today’s world, indicates that something is amiss, and it is definitely time that we look at our cultural norms to examine how they contribute to factors that promote trauma and build people up to suffer catastrophic events that leave them stunted and crawling around looking for — hopefully — solutions.
But let’s be frank, trauma often leaves you reeling, so it is likely that you are just crawling around trying to come to some consciousness before you begin to grapple with what has happened to you. I’d like to think that traumas are generally psychological “surprises” that do not meet your preparation or expectations, and thus you are suddenly thrown into the throes of your ‘fight or flight’ response as you are suddenly called to deal with an unexpected psychological event.
The ‘fight or flight’ response automatically activates in the face of a depressing surprise, and its purpose is to speed up our thinking and our awareness to help us survive the sudden emotional onslaught.
Depending on one’s personal tendencies (i.e., is it your tendency to ‘fight, flee, or freeze’ when you are caught by surprises that cause you psychological/emotional pain?), if it is the right response to the event (i.e., a response that you would do even when you are not emotionally activated by the event), then the impact will tell on your coping abilities.
Basically, you will know if you made the right decision by how the decision/event affects your self-esteem. Decisions that promote your highest self will be most rewarding, as you are essentially feeding yourself the psychological events that bring about lasting feelings of euphoria and gladness.
What I have just described is a superb level of self-awareness and self-determination, and it is difficult to achieve this level of awareness in a culture that is teeming with distractions.
To me, American culture has become more capitalistic even as it has become less religious, and herein lies the aspects of American culture that contributes to the proliferation of trauma, which is the loss of a stabilizing effect that has negatively affected the direction of our culture. Enough time has passed for us to see the effects of the challenges to religion in our civic and educational institutions, and I am not surprised that all that we have reaped is an increase in anxiety and fear in our society. I believe that our decline in the religious norms that were constricting to some, but essential to many in a developed nation, is the cause of the increased prevalence of trauma.
Evidence shows that religious individuals (Google Search Results) live more psychologically fulfilling lives, per their own self-report, in variety of life situations, than those who do not have any religious underpinnings, which to me, is undeniable evidence that an important part of our health is our religious inclination.
However, while we are a culture that touts religious freedom, we do not take kindly to the promotion of religious practices and to their adherence, and if I project my feelings, it would mostly be because of the shame that the preaching of such practices inflicts on the powerful people who do not care for their teachings.
Thus, we have carved out a semi-religious nation, which uses religion conveniently to support our wants, rather than one that balances the teachings that are likely to supersede our wants. In essence, we as a culture are doing what we want rather than what history has told us is the right/life-supporting thing to do, and we are seeing the effects of our bravado.
In the year 2021, we are fully in the age of information, yet, as a culture we promote wantonness, lasciviousness and other damaging characterological tendencies, which, I am convinced, is responsible for the proliferation of trauma in our culture.
For one treatment model that I practice, trauma is defined as, “What happened to you?”, and this approach is intended to sift out the event(s) that are affecting one’s pyschoemotional abilities.
The premise of this treatment model is that trauma and mental illness is an event and not a characteristic, making the impact of traumas mitigatable.
Protective factors against trauma are relationships, as this is the currency that determines how much an event really affects you. Furthermore, having a higher power to turn to tends to leave people feeling empowered and cared for, as they are able to generate thoughts that are protective and progressively empowering.
However, we have a culture that likes to deal with religion in predictable and superficial ways, and so far, the result is mass confusion, a sense of helplessness, anger, defensiveness, and the list goes on.
Because we are not taking stock of ourselves as a culture and we are not having the difficult conversations and taking the necessary corrective actions to restore a wholeness to our society, we end up shouldering a lot, and people get burned out easily because we are not built for living without true religion’s sustaining form.
The fact that I am pointing out that our suffering is the result of our egotistical choices as a society is unpopular, but it should not deter us from testing the validity of this opinion.
As someone who has worked with needy populations, I can say that families are better prepared to endure difficult situations when they are more complete in structure (i.e., both parents in the home, extended family nearby)and have healthy routines (e.g., the parental structure is sound, the children follow orders, priorities are set, etc.,), and the commitment to taking care of each other is strong — and truth be told — families like these tend to thrive and escape certain traumas, simply due to how they live.
It is families/individuals who are struggling in lonely situations/places who end up being thrown into strange life situations, and suffer from them because of a lack of protective factors as I have mentioned.
So it is not that we have normalized trauma, as much as it is that we have ushered in trauma because we refuse to discuss and rectify our differences on these very important issues.
As a person who knows mental health treatment, the therapeutic dissonance that arises from linking a person with treatment when that person does not have beliefs that support the treatment is difficult to do. This is likely another reason why trauma continues to exist so widely, is that treatment continues to be ineffective because of people’s disconnect, and people continue to have experiences that bow their defenses, leaving them easily ravished and exhausted.
Ultimately, we could go on and on about the reasons why so many people are suffering serious illnesses, but if we are solution focused, I think that we will see the validity of the points that I have mentioned, simply because they are nonignorable facts about our society.
If we want to see more people healed, we have to live condignly. A society that has itself in order will experience more collective peace, as there would be nothing to fight about.
Of course, this is a simplistic view, but it is intended to note that the solution to the mass hurt is simple, and it begins by conforming to the order of the universe, which will oversee outcomes when we wholly give in to its knowledge.
It requires a level of trust and belief which are tenable constructs, and easily affected by the environment, so it is necessary for us to build a world that is just and operates justly, so as to relieve people’s stress, alleviate difficulties and promote religious uprightness.
The more comfort the world allows people with the things that promote good connections (e.g., kindness, humility, selflessness, mercy, etc.), the more we will develop individuals’ strengths to avoid making regrettable choices, choose wisely, and the more we will reap the positive benefits of having religious underpinnings, thereby increasing our positivity, our longevity and our overall protective mien.
To see this unfold in our society would be monumental, as we will have put to bed a longstanding qualm of the human condition. Reading religious records show that humans have always suffered because of their lack of belief, but we are now in a society in which we can promote self-discovery through religion if we wish.
To find truly religious people is a blessed thing, as their company is rewarding because of the kindness that they freely bestow and the comfort that they naturally bring.
The more people that we can forge to be like this, the better protected our society will be, because of the tolerance and the togetherness it would naturally forge.
Hopefully, as humans turn to and fro to find solutions to our existential sufferings, we will be sensitive enough to the universe that is ever inviting us into its protective knowledge. The more that we have knowledge on how we should live, the more we are able to make choices to withstand surprises, and the less likely we err, as we are more keen on the mental reasonings that we need to perform, and therefore more informed on what we should do to align ourselves with wellness.
I encourage readers to do their research and I believe that if we want, scientifically testing these principles would only lead us closer to divine revelations, for our society has not yet been able to demonstrate a suitable replacement. Issues of faith resolve mental uncertainty, shock, depression, guilt and all of the negative emotions that compound trauma, and while science is unable to fully divulge religion’s process, it does not mean that religious teachings should be ignored, even as we search to resolve our conundrums. I strongly believe that individuals who have this part of their lives figured out have the key to survival, as the evidence to me is clear.
When you choose to believe in God, you are making yourself an ally of the universe, thereby increasing your protective vices. Any other thought-train will only increase negative emotions and confusion, leaving you susceptible to disarray, and quite frankly, this is where we have ended up. Isn’t it time that we take a different turn?
