What Counts as Trauma? 4 Reasons Why Understanding Trauma Matters
by Barb Hill
The word ‘trauma’ is a bit of a buzzword these days. As a trauma therapist, I’m grateful it’s being discussed more often, but I also hold some concern about the possibility that we’re straying too far from a solid definition and understanding of it.
People’s lived experiences are deeply formative and dictate much of our development and relationships to ourselves, others, and God. If we’re talking about a person’s traumatic experiences, we are acknowledging a whole other dimension of their lives that is often misunderstood or missed altogether.
Here are four (of many) reasons why understanding what trauma is matters, especially as Christians.
Trauma is an Experience, not an Event
We often used the word “trauma” to describe an event that caused us harm (a car accident, breakup or abuse), but rightly understood, trauma describes the internal experience of these events. Trauma is an experience, not an event, and it's what happens inside of us because of what has happened to us. Trauma is rooted in how we internalized, processed, or didn’t process the events that occurred.
Our Faith Needs to Inform our Approach to Trauma
I am passionate about the integration of faith and mental health. As a person of faith, I’ve watched in horror as well-meaning Christians have mishandled a person’s experience by bypassing the pain and slapping a bible verse on top like a bandage. When I look at Jesus’ life however, I see a radically different approach. I see him kneeling down in the dirt showing compassion for the woman caught in adultery, I see him mourning with Mary and Martha at Lazarus’ tomb, and I see him touching not only the wounds of leprosy but the scars of shame to bring healing and restoration.
As Christians, it’s important that we not only understand what trauma is but also seek to equip ourselves to interact empathetically with the person who has experienced it with the utmost care and wisdom.
Trauma Touches Everyone
Some reading this might think to themselves, “Well, I don’t have trauma so this doesn’t really apply to me.” But it might apply more than you realize.
I understand trauma as any time you felt alone in your pain. Traumatic experiences can be categorized into little “t” traumas and big “T” traumas, and although you may not have big “T” traumas in your story like divorce or abuse, you probably have experienced a breakup or undergone a difficult transition, and we would call that a little “t” trauma. As we established already, trauma is an experience not an event, so how we process or didn’t process that event is what leads to trauma.
Trauma is a Holistic Experience
Bessel Van Der Kolk, author of The Body Keeps the Score, helped us understand the reality that our body carries the weight of traumatic experiences:
“Being trapped in a prolonged state of emotional reactivity might change the way our body functions. When we are chronically angry or scared, constant muscle tension might lead to spasms, back pain, migraine headaches, fibromyalgia (widespread musculoskeletal pain), and other forms of chronic pain.”
As holistic beings with a mind, body, and spirit, we register the pain and emotions of our experiences in each one of these areas. Consider how Jesus approached the women with the issue of blood in Mark 5. When she touched the hem of his garment, her disease was healed immediately and Jesus could have let her carry on without stopping everything to inquire who touched him. But because Jesus cares about holistic healing, he invited her to come forward so he could also deliver her from the shame of carrying this disease in her body for twelve years.
These four reasons are just some of why as fellow humans and Christians we need to understand trauma and its implications first for ourselves, and then for others so we can choose to heal our wounds and be compassionate companions as others look to do the same.
BARB HILL
Barb Hill is a licensed professional counselor (LPC-MHSP) with a speciality in trauma and certification as a spiritually integrated psychotherapist. She is the author of Seasons of Waiting: An Invitation to Hope, and founded Holding Space Counseling, a group therapy practice in Brentwood, TN. When she’s not with clients, you can find her on a hike with her pup, writing, or at coffee shop with friends.
