When you consider the word trauma in relation to food, health and eating what does it conjure up? In what ways is trauma relevant to dietetic practice? What does it even mean? In this article, I briefly introduce the concept of trauma as used in public health, social justice activism and counselling.
UK DIETETICS TODAY Public health, social justice activism and counselling are three overlapping arenas that are germane to dietetic discourse and practise. Here I talk about those arenas in relation to trauma, plus I explore irritable bowel syndrome to highlight why we need to talk about trauma. I’ve not written a step-by-step guide to consultation - in the space available, this would become a tick box activity and as such, it would miss the point that the topic, including its erstwhile absence from dietetic discourse, deserves lengthy consideration. Instead, I’ve written an overview that flags up why we need to integrate trauma physiology into our practice. I hope it conveys the urgent need for conversation and action.
Shortly after starting work as a community dietitian, I began to suspect that I was missing something important about health, something that couldn’t be pinned down to eating or exercise. Take prejudice: surely racism harmed health. I had no vocabulary for this, no biochemistry of discrimination to draw on from my dietetic education. So I searched a clinical database for ‘racism’ and ‘heart disease’. The results made such an impact on me that I can still recall the first papers I read. One investigated racism and waist circumference;1 another asked, ‘Does racism harm health? Did child abuse exist before 1962?’;2 a third introduced me to Michael Marmot’s work on status syndrome and the social determinants of health.3
I was shocked, including by my ignorance, and by the fact that the ramifications of knowing that it was only by stepping outside of my professional conditioning on knowledge creation that I learnt pathways linking racism, classism and abuse with ‘lifestyle’ disease. I began to think of health in terms of both self-care and social justice. As part of this awakening, I came to realise that understanding the concept of trauma was crucial to my work as a dietitian with individuals and groups, and for addressing health inequalities.
[To read the rest of this article by Lucy Aphramor, click here.]
[Photo of Lucy Aphramor from here.]
Comments (5)