What is Trauma?

What is Trauma? What makes an experience traumatic? As therapists, in order to treat trauma, we first have to understand what trauma is and what it's not. In this video, Tori provides an overview of the causes and types of trauma and how these experiences often lead to symptoms of PTSD in our clients. She differentiates between single event trauma or "big T" trauma and "little t" trauma that arises from chronic stressors or emotional abuse. For example, stress during childhood can lead to attachment trauma. Other examples of "little t" or chronic traumas are racial trauma or insidious trauma.

Trauma is not an event. Trauma is the impact of the experience on our nervous system. That's why the same event can lead to PTSD symptoms for one person and not for another. Hallmarks of trauma are feeling overwhelmed, powerless, helpless, humiliated or trapped. What we describe as the symptoms of PTSD is really just the result of the way that our brain becomes rewired in an attempt to avoid ever experiencing these intolerable feelings again. This "survival mode," a state of hyper-arousal or hypo-arousal and avoidance can begin to have a negative impact on our relationships, physical health and self esteem and can lead to substance abuse and depression.

Trauma therapy promotes neural integration and works to help our clients to return to a state of empowerment and resilience. This video is the first chapter from Tori's course on Ethical Trauma Treatment. If you're interested in earning Ethics CEUs while learning about experiential and neurobiologically informed approaches to trauma treatment, you can purchase my full three hour course here:

00:00 What is Trauma
04:50 Types of Trauma
06:14 "Small t" Trauma
07:00 Attachment Trauma

[kindreddarkness]

The idea of viewing trauma through the lens of "powerlessness" is really powerful. Thank you!

[jonasc]

I watched 5 videos on trauma before this one and none of them explained it as well as you did in just the first minute. Good video. Thanks.

[heathermulkerns]

Thank you so much for your wonderful videos. They are so useful for both therapists and patients alike. I am a contemporary psychoanalyst and I'd like to add that the relational and intersubjective schools would view trauma as an overwhelming experience which cannot be integrated particularly when there is no "relational home" or a safe relationship in which to emotionally process and hold the experience.

[keymodennis]

I was affected with Truman when the British government decided to revoke my resident permit and I was subject to deportation which separate me from my wife and three children. I had to beg and borrow money for my lawyer fees. Lost the case in court. I had to leave my family behind. We are now reunited in a different country and doing well. But I just don't feel I'm the same person. That's why I searched the subject to have an understanding of the way I am now.

[tareqodeh]

Your smile itself heals and brings hope. Thank you!

[artnelson]

I’ve seen the metaphor of big T, little t used by many therapists. It’s not perfect and I wouldn’t use it when providing psychoeducation for a client but it is a very helpful metaphor for therapists as it keeps us in the realm of experience instead of event. Emotional neglect over time can be just as impactful as a single, widely recognized event that often engenders more empathy and understanding.

[ranirahman]

Thanks for explaining i have been through
This experience

[allsoul]

Thank you for this series of videos. I found your channel by chance. I've always been interested in therapy and thought about becoming a psychologist myself at one point, but the artist in me won out, So I became a singer songwriter and worked low paying day jobs, but I felt like I was a rock star during my twenties. Yet in my thirties though things changed a lot for me, as my Saturn Return didn't go well. Now I feel traumatized by our culture which is no longer the one I grew up in. People don't talk verbally enough anymore, and I can't seem to get a date with a thirty year old woman who wants marriage and family. You have a blessed husband with a wife whose price is beyond rubies. God bless you and yours my dear. Be well, sister Tori. 🙏💞🤟😀

[juliedelling]

Thank you for this helpful explanation!😊

[rlsrxdn]

Thanks for this useful video about trauma

[jodycoletta]

Great presentation Dr.Olds. I subscribed ... thank you. .

[copy]

Awesome and helpful content! May the universe bless you

[booleelaw]

Thank you dr. This is what exactly I’m feeling right now… I hope you can help me to recover from this…

[thebravespirit]

i enrolled to your course, thank u dr tori

[saranox]

I have cptsd. Anxiety, mood swings, hypoarousal and dissociation are a few of my symptoms. I experienced a lot of different types of trauma.

[wisheye]

Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful! Thank you so much for this, I can't wait to see what other amazing videos you have! Thank you!

[edengebrh]

Thanks for this sries videos i like to learn how is work in child Hood, plase ❤

[kylemartin]

can you please make a video about somatic experiencing therapy?

[purplermd]

Can you recommend a childhood trauma therapist in Houston Texas?😢

[zeinanammour]

Is there a way(s) to heal trauma from 8 years of civil war? Is facing fear everyday for a long time more damaging to our nervous system and ability to function in normal daily living?