Why Complex Trauma Survivors Can’t Just ‘Get Over It’
The challenges of moving forward from a traumatic history
God asks no person whether he or she will accept life. That is not the choice. You must take it. The only choice is how ~ Henry Ward Beecher
Trauma is a penetrating wound and injury, which threatens one’s life and arrests the course of normal development by its repetitive intrusion of terror and helplessness into the survivor’s life. When there is prolonged repetitious exposure to multiple severe traumatic events perpetrated by one’s caregivers throughout childhood, what results is referred to as complex trauma.
Although child abuse is the predominant catalyst of complex trauma I encounter as a trauma therapist, complex trauma can also result from emotional, physical or sexual abuse and neglect incurred through trafficking, domestic violence, hostage situations, medical abuse, refugee displacement and war. All these conditions disrupt development and cause fragmentation of the overall personality.
Given that recurring trauma stymies cohesive identity formation, a reliable sense of independence within connection is ruptured. Consequently, as trauma survivors attempt to negotiate relationships, the psychological defenses formed through trauma bonding becomes increasingly maladaptive…
