The journey toward mental wellness and self-care can be especially challenging for trauma survivors. “Trauma literally means ‘wound, injury, or shock,'” according to the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation (ISSTD). “It refers to extreme stress that overwhelms a person’s ability to cope,” writes Esther Giller of the Sidran Institute. The impact of trauma makes it difficult for survivors to understand their own experiences, and can interfere with their ability to get the help they need.
A trauma-informed therapist develops skills to become mindful of the impact of trauma to aid in working with clients. This awareness is the basis for a therapeutic relationship that is responsive to the needs of trauma survivors. Understanding the trauma-informed approach is important because it can help all of us recognize the challenges trauma survivors face when seeking healing and support.
What Makes an Experience Traumatic?
Individuals have different coping skills and levels of resilience. Not every crisis will be traumatic. But when a person is not yet able to come to terms with threatening events, that person is “left with a host of intense responses and symptoms that ‘tell the story’ without words and without the knowledge that we are remembering events and feelings from long ago,” says Janina Fisher, PhD, therapist, author and educator.
Unresolved trauma negatively impacts physical, emotional and psychological health. “The survival response system may become chronically activated, resulting in long-term feelings of alarm and danger, tendencies to flee or fight under stress, debilitating feelings of vulnerability and exhaustion, or an inability to assert and protect ourselves,” explains Fisher.
A study of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE’s) among 17,500 adults found that childhood trauma “dramatically increased the risk for seven out of 10 of the leading causes of death in the United States,” says Dr. Nadine Burke Harris, TED speaker and founder of the Center for Youth Wellness.
The researchers discovered that the incidence of traumatic experience is more common than anyone expected. Dr. Harris explains: “What they found was striking. Two things: Number one, ACEs are incredibly common. Sixty-seven percent of the population had at least one ACE, and 12.6 percent, one in eight, had four or more ACEs....
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