What I’m Talking About When I Talk About Trauma

In my work advising organizations on better responses to trauma in the workplace, I often hit an early stumbling block: What is trauma, anyway?

It can be surprisingly controversial. Some are concerned that “trauma” is overused; “I’m so traumatized because my boss is making me come in on Saturday.” For some, trauma is associated with a physical injury, like a blunt force trauma to the head. For others, trauma is what results from a specific set of experiences, like living in a war zone or facing a life-threatening illness. And for some people, trauma is pretty much limited to combat veterans and sexual assault survivors.?

The?Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration?(SAMHSA) notes that,?“Individual trauma results from an event, series of events, or set of circumstances that is experienced by an individual as physically or emotionally harmful or life threatening and that has lasting adverse effects on the individual’s functioning and mental, physical, social, emotional, or spiritual well-being.”?

I use a slimmed-down version of that definition, which is a bit more practical and tailored to the context in which I operate:?

Trauma is a psychological injury that affects performance.?

I am not focused on the physical injury component of trauma, solely on the psychological impacts, and my concern is only those that affect an individual’s ability to function in the way they want to.?That’s the key in a workplace, isn’t it? We don’t need managers going into each employee’s office to interrogate them about their concerns and their injuries. Instead, does the person need help? Are they struggling to perform? Then let’s try to help them.

I generally don’t include the well-being portion of the SAMHSA definition, because it seems subsumed in the ability to function; if your well-being is affected, you aren’t functioning at full capacity. In addition, well-being is harder to assess in a work context.?

I like the SAMHSA definition better than others that tie the definition of trauma to a list of life events, saying that if you have experienced one of those events (e.g., the loss of an immediate family member, a physical assault), then you have experienced trauma. I feel that this fails to account for the wide range of emotional responses any of us can have to the same experiences. As the wise Dawn E. Shedrick, LCSW notes, four people can be in the same car accident, and have very different reactions. One may be shaken up, but able to convey to the police what happened, check on others, and then make their way into work without giving the incident much further thought. Another may be calm at the scene, but begin sobbing and shaking uncontrollably later that evening. Another may need to stay home from work for two days, and be afraid to ride in a car for weeks. None of these is better than the other; they simply represent the wide range of normal human responses to a dramatic and upsetting event.?

I therefore find it unhelpful to focus on the precipitating event or series of events and make judgment calls on whether the person experienced trauma and thus is entitled to whatever services or support might be offered. Instead, focus on the person in front of you and what she needs. And then try to provide that.?

At core, though, I really don’t like focusing on the semantics. We don’t know the full experience of the person with whom we’re interacting. Maybe coming in on a Saturday?is?traumatizing for that person, because it means they’ll miss something imperative at home, or because of an illness that we don’t know about, or because the boss has a history of abusive behavior. You want to use the word trauma? I don’t mind. Just let me know if you need help.?

Similarly, if someone doesn’t want to use the word “trauma,” because for them it’s problematic, that’s also fine. I spoke with a lawyer once about secondary trauma in the legal field. “Oh, I don’t think I have trauma,” she said. “Okay,” I said. “Maybe compassion fatigue fits better.” If people prefer an alternative to the word “trauma,” like “stress” or “distress” or “injury,” that’s fine.?

Let’s just get people the support they need. If we can get better at making it okay for people to admit they need help, and then giving them that help, we will have come a really long way.?