Answering “Why do I feel bad?”, Part 13: Trauma
This post is part of a 14-part series of “issues” — emotions, behaviors, and events — that change your life in ways that cause you to ask, “Why do I feel bad?” These issues range from the familiar (regret, tragedy) to the less obvious (distorted thinking) to the unexpected (attachment issues).
If you haven’t already, read Part 1: Introduction and Context. It explains the purpose of this series (including how to read the diagram in this post), answers some Frequently Asked Questions, and gives recommendations on how to use this series to improve your life.
Trauma
People commonly describe anything unpleasant or embarrassing as “traumatic” (“I was totally traumatized by that party last weekend”). But in this article, “trauma” refers to specific patterns of emotional and behavioral reactions to a situation that has threatened or caused physical or psychological harm.
At the start of his surgery, Bao panicked when the anesthesiologist placed a mask over his mouth and nose, and he had to be physically restrained while the anesthetic was being administered.
After the surgery, Bao had recurring nightmares and became highly agitated whenever he saw images of doctors in ads or on television. He was startled and irritated by loud sounds, and his withdrawal from daily life disturbed his family. Nobody realized that he had been traumatized by his experience at the hospital.
Situations that are traumatizing can be either one-time events (getting caught in an earthquake) or a series of events across time (the emotional, physical, or sexual abuse of a child across a period of months or years).
However, what causes a situation to be traumatizing is not the event itself but how a person reacts to the event. Two people can experience the exact same event, but only one of them may be traumatized by it.
A person who has been traumatized usually feels intense helplessness or fear in the face of the traumatizing event. Then aspects of the event repeatedly and negatively intrude on the person’s life.
Trauma is too complex to explain fully here, but here are a few things that you might experience if you were traumatized. You may feel irritated, afraid, or guilty (for example, from surviving a tragedy that killed a loved one). You may have flashbacks that suddenly intrude as a smell, sound, or image from the traumatizing event. Everyday situations may now feel dangerous to you. If your traumatic reactions become serious enough, your experience becomes the mental disorder known as PTSD, or post-traumatic stress disorder.
People may also be traumatized and not know it. This can happen when they lose all memory of the traumatic event, because the mind is not yet able to deal with the event and its consequences.
In the diagram at top, trauma is a tall purple rectangle at the extreme right. It is always serious — sometimes so serious that a person loses the ability to engage in daily life. The height of the rectangle indicates that the visibility of trauma ranges from obvious to considerably hidden.
Next → Answering ‘Why do I feel bad?’, Part 14: Attachment Issues
You can also read the entire series on one page at greggwilliams.co.
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