What is Trauma?

Written By Grant Pooley

Trauma--I know this word gets thrown around a lot nowadays, but I wanted to take a minute to explain it. According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), trauma is an event or circumstance resulting in:

  • Physical harm

  • Emotional harm and/or

  • Life-threatening harm

In a nutshell, all of these instances impact the nervous system, so another definition of trauma could be any event or circumstance that negatively impacts your nervous system. 

You may hear your therapist talk about “big T Trauma” and “little t trauma.” This often references the differences between single-incident acute trauma like an assault or a car accident compared to an emotional or relational event like being rejected by a friend group or the death of a family pet.  I often hear from clients that they only consider big T Trauma “actual trauma,” but in reality, little t trauma can also have a lasting effect on our beliefs, thoughts, emotions, and body, and we should be mindful to not minimize or invalidate that just because it wasn’t a “big thing”.  

One of the tenets of trauma therapy is that we are every age we’ve ever been. This means that throughout our lives, we have had traumatic experiences (little t or big T) where we have learned various ways of responding to certain stimuli. When we feel something familiar to that stimuli, we often act out of the strategies that helped us through that time when it first happened. These strategies can sometimes be unhealthy if they lead to disconnection from yourself/others or go against your value system.    

Being mindful of how trauma shows up in our lives can provide an excellent starting place for introspection and self-discovery. This can often lead us to see the way it has shaped who we are and what we do. It is very common for trauma to impact our beliefs about the world, narratives of who we are, our thoughts, our emotions, and our body. 

Questions for Trauma Reflection:

Trauma Beliefs 

  • What are some core beliefs you hold about the world around you?

  • How have past experiences shaped your beliefs about safety, trust, and predictability of the world? 

  • Are there any beliefs that you would like to challenge or explore further? 

  • How do your beliefs about the world influence your behavior and decision-making?  

Trauma Narratives

  • What stories or narratives do you tell yourself about your identity? 

  • How do these narratives affect your self-esteem and confidence? 

  • Are there any narratives you can rationally say are not true but still emotionally believe to be true? 

  • Are there any patterns in the stories you tell yourself about who you are? 

  • Do you want to belief something differently about who you are? And if so, what is it? 

Trauma & Your Thoughts 

  • What patterns do you notice in your thoughts, especially when you are experiencing hardship or stress?

  • Do those thoughts influence your emotions or behavior?

  • Which of these cognitive distortions do you find yourself engaging in? (Filtering, polarizing, overgeneralizing, discounting the positive, jumping to conclusions, catastrophizing, personalization, control fallacies, fallacies of fairness, blaming, should statements, emotional reasoning, fallacy of change, global labeling, always being right) 

Trauma & Emotions

  • What are some common emotions that you feel throughout the day?

  • What do you do when you are experiencing difficult or uncomfortable emotions? 

  • Are there any emotions you tend to avoid? 

  • Do you allow yourself to feel your emotions? 

  • What are some ways that you regulate your emotions? Are there any times when they don’t work? 

Trauma & the Body

  • Take a minute to scan your body for any tension or uncomfortable sensation - where is it in your body? 

  • Are there emotions you typically associate with those physical sensations? 

  • What are practices or techniques you use to connect with and/or regulate your body? (Check out another blog - “Calming the Body for Emotional Regulation” for more on this) 

    What do you notice that stress does to your body?

                 When we begin to reflect, and acknowledge, all the ways our life experiences have impacted the way we connect and develop, we begin the journey towards life-changing growth and healing.  If you are interested in exploring how trauma has impacted your life or are looking for help making some personal or relational changes, please reach out to a member of our team to get started! 

This Post Written By:

Grant Pooley, LPC – Journeys Counseling Center
301 W. Warner Rd, Suite 133
Tempe, Arizona 85284
Phone: (480) 656-0500 x 25
Email: grant@journeyscounselingaz.com

Grant Pooley
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