Trauma

In our lives today trauma is endemic; it is not unusual, abnormal or exceptional. Trauma invades our culture and rests in all facets of our lives. Gabor Maté states that a person who hasn’t experienced some form of trauma is an outlier in our society.

Wow. That explains the ever-increasing and ever-more apparent numbers of the walking wounded we see in our communities. It explains also the increasing number of people seeking counselling and medical help for mental health problems. “Trauma is not what happens to you, but what happens inside you” (Maté. 2022) and according to psychologist Bessel Van der Kolk, trauma that informs our actions as adults likely occurred in our lives when we were very young children. As we grow, we carry the seeds of this trauma within us and they spring up when unfortunate events trigger us.

Can you draw any parallels between a negative action of yours today and a traumatic happening in your childhood? Comment below.