The Trauma of Everyday Living

Trauma can be defined as any experience that causes a person to develop a false belief about themselves or the world which keeps them from living to their full potential and causes suffering.

When danger is perceived (from the environment or in the mind) the body automatically responds by activating the sympathetic nervous system which releases stress hormones that initiate our fight, flight or freeze response.

If we cannot fight or flee, the mind dissociates from they body and the experience to help us manage the pain. The freeze or dissociation response means that the experience has overwhelmed our resources to cope. An important thing to note is that this experience of trauma is subjective. For example, the trauma does not have to be from physical violence or a natural disaster. It is any experience that causes the mind-body-spirit to become overwhelmed and shut down.

When we experience a traumatic event, it is encoded in implicit memory. Implicit memory means that instead of a cohesive, meaningful and logical narrative, the memory is encoded in a fragmented form of sensations and in a highly emotionally charged manner. Implicit memory has no sense of time, so every time something reminds us of a traumatic incident, we are not remembering but re-experiencing the emotions of the original trauma. Essentially, we get “triggered” without realizing it.

Two Types of Trauma

We define trauma into two types, Big “T" and small “t” traumas. A “Big T” trauma is a single incident trauma or life changing event. A “Big T,” would be a single or series of severely traumatic experiences (e.g. war, rape and major accidents).

We specialize in small “t” or complex traumas which are experiences that lessen a person’s self-confidence and affects a person’s ability to deal with life stressors. Small “t” traumas create a perpetual filter that narrow and limit one’s view of self and the world, impeding one from living to one’s full potential, and causing suffering.

Small “t” traumas are a series of traumatic or abusive events that occur over a period of time. Some examples of small “t” traumas include:

painful experiences from childhood
abusive relationships
sexual assault/abuse
prolonged chronic stress at home or at work
difficulty healing from betrayal or loss in relationship
bullying from peers

Most people have experienced small “t” traumas and probably do not think of these events as traumatic. However, these subtler and more complicated experiences can shape and influence how you are in the world, in a disempowered way. Small “t” traumas usually require more EMDR therapy sessions than Big “T” traumas.