People have been experiencing trauma for thousands of years. Arousal is the physical reaction to a perceived threat that energizes all animal's survival responses. It is also known as the fight, flight, freeze or collapse mechanism. Designed for a physical world, arousal either activates, or shuts down certain physiological reactions that prepare the body to fight danger, to run away from danger, or to numb the pain response if the danger proves fatal. These responses are instinctual; they pre-date even the most primitive parts of the brain.

 

The roots of trauma lie in an instinctive physical fear response that has become suspended in the brain and nervous system unprocessed. Thus, initiates troublesome symptoms such that interfere in your daily life and future goals Eg: as avoidance, addiction, sleep problems, forgetfulness, headaches, irritability, intrusive thoughts, phobias, anxiety attacks, depression and so many more. These are all symptoms of hyper-vigilance (fight, flight, or freeze). When your body cannot sustain constant hyper-vigilance, the collapse response is activated. Symptoms include a loss of motivation, indecision, confusion, physical pain, numbing, fatigue, body tension, isolation and depression.  Sometimes, indicators of trauma can remain hidden for years and then, suddenly surface after being triggered by something.

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Sometimes traumatic events can eventually be processed over time with out a lot of intervention. But many times a traumatic experience keeps its power and doesn't fall into the past. In these cases the original traumatic event remains stored in a flawed way in your brain in short-term memory because it cannot be processed and put into long-term memory until it can be re-understood and reprocessed while you are in a regulated state. Until then it will remain frozen in its original state.

 

Trauma experiences can be conceptualized as existing on a spectrum and can be responsible for a variety of trauma symptoms:

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"Big-T" Trauma

 

“Big -T” Trauma has been conceptualized as higher on the spectrum and higher in disturbance and duration, this is often also called complex trauma. The origins are buried in experiences such as:

• Childhood abuse, neglect and a lack of basic safety

• Critical events (Eg: experienced crime, hate crime, accidents, fire, terrorist attacks, torture, natural disaster, refugee, immigration experiences etc.)

• Sexual abuse, sexual assault, rape, exploitation

• Birth trauma and other pregnancy related issues or losses

• Medical and surgical injuries

• Accidents & Injuries Eg: car, terrible injuries, loss of identity, witnessing tragedy etc

• Death of a loved one 

• Domestic violence or other adult violence experiences

• Institutionalized trauma (Eg: foster care, prison, psychiatric stays)

• Racism, sexism, homophobia and other discrimination or targeted prejudicial experiences

• MUCH MORE

 

"little-t" Trauma

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While most people recognize the negative effects of extreme forms of trauma, such as abuse, violence and being the victim of a crime, they may be unaware that seemingly benign child- or adulthood situations can lead to widespread and hidden after-effects that are just as debilitating.

 

The origins of "little-t” trauma lie in those unresolved moments, often in childhood, when you felt overwhelmed, powerless and confused these experiences could be on a spectrum. On the smaller end some examples could be: being seriously scolded by a teacher, or teased by a schoolmate. It can even be a single statement made by an authority figure that you still hear clearly to this day such as, “You’re stupid.”

In adulthood, these moments are frequently perceived as unimportant but often can be the "root" or starting point of a negative belief that you've since carried into adulthood without even realizing it and could be connected to a current issue.

 

As an adult we are exposed to a lot of smaller t's relatively consistently at some level just by simply existing and moving through the phases of life. A lot of times we recover quickly but sometimes these experiences can create a significant amount of stress, physical symptoms and even cause shifts in personality.

 

“Little - t” traumas can create problematic symptoms and even pile up,  but at first glance, may not appear at the same intensity and could be on the lower part of the spectrum from one’s own point of view. Certainly though even some things classified a little t's may  be a Big T for any given person. These incidents could include:

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• Workplace harassment, stress, conflict, and termination

• Being gossiped about

• Vicarious trauma (Ongoing exposure indirectly to trauma experiences)

• Relational betrayals

• Embarrassing experiences

• Experiencing bullying

• The ending of a relationship or friendship

• The death of a pet

•  Significant or sudden change

• Personal failures

• Living in an unsafe community

• Impacts of growing up or living in poverty

• Not meeting family or cultural expectations

• Impacts of divorce

• ANYTHING YOU PERCEIVE AS TRAUMATIZING