trauma is a still-unhealed wound, still carried within oneself
traumatic event, or traumatizing event, is the thing that caused the trauma
often ‘trauma’ is used to mean traumatizing event.
this seems fine to me, so long as the meaning is understood.
However,
The distinction between trauma and traumatizing event is perhaps not widely understood or recognized.
Do you see why this is a good difference to recognize?
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Traumatizing event–a horrific thing that occurs in a particular time/ place.
Trauma–
Traumatizing event continued and repeated over time (i.e. police killing black men on motor stops or jogs or in their bedrooms.)
Also, traumatizing event that a person is not able to release and move on
due to a person’s inability or refusal to let go
or
due to the society (group) not letting go (i.e., racism, sexism, homophobia, misogyny.)
Ric d. Stark
I would say that the trauma (differentiated from traumatizing events or continued patterns of events) is the unhealed effects of those events carried within the psyche. Whether from a single event, multiple, or a continued and continuing pattern of events.
It would be great to also have a term for repeated traumatizing events like you give examples of. Now that you bring it up, I remember repeatedly finding myself as a loss for satisfactory names of phrases for that sort of continuation of traumatizing events.
The traumatizing event is the stimulus, the trauma is a person’s response to the event. The two are different and only connected stochastically.
What do you mean by stochastically here?
The response isn’t hard wired to the stimulus.
Ah, yes indeed.
good points! <3
Important distinction!
Yes, language is so important. To be casual about how we express ideas of mental health is to be callous.
Thanks IdeaSmith. And building on that, I think the actual trauma is something quite different than the traumatizing event.
I appreciate Dr. Gabor Mate’s perspective on trauma. He says that “trauma is not what happens to you, but what happens inside of you in response to what happens to you.” No matter the fracture, wound or event, WE are different (and adapt) in response to what happens to us.
Right! He’s making the same distinction, I believe. Thanks Sara.
Interesting insight, I can see the distinction. Thanks for sharing