“everyone’s been through trauma!” no, no they haven’t. hardship ≠ trauma.
trauma is described by the dsm as “outside the normal range of human experiences”
OUTSIDE. THE NORMAL RANGE. OF HUMAN EXPERIENCES
The thing about this is what the DSM describes as “normal” is inherently western centric and urban/suburban. Diagnostic criteria are based upon how the individual’s productivity is affected more than anything else. That specific definiton was generated in the late 70s/early 80s when American psychiatrists were attempting to define what we call PTSD today in Vietnam War veterans. It has a massive focus on wartime and armed physical violence, and we all know trauma can be caused through indirect and “non-violent” (to society at large) means. The only major change they’ve made in almost 50 years is to slap a ‘c’ in front so they can sloppily diagnose non-veterans with what is specifically labeled a “combat disease”. I much prefer the definition used by Dr. Gabor Maté and other mental health professionals: “Trauma is caused by something that happened that should not have or something that should have happened that didn’t.”
Just because someone’s trauma is smaller than your own or comes from an unexpected source doesn’t negate it’s traumatic effects upon that individual. In many ways, simple hardship causes the most overlooked traumas. The definition above allows us to see the trauma response more clearly for what it is; a natrual and emotional response to neglect and injustice in many forms. It’s the emotional element that is so often stripped away by clinical definitions of trauma, focusing instead on the physical events while it is the mental anguish which continues to hurt long after the event that should be focused on.
There are many traumatic instances which lie well within “the normal range of human experience” such as experincing racism, bullying, being ignored when you have a need (like most Americans do to homeless folks), seeing queerphobic representations in media your whole life, etc. All these events can be potentially traumatic and yet they are very normalized within our society.
Our culture and society covertly seek to traumatize those who are marginalized to “keep them in their place” and that’s why so many who seek trauma diagnoses end up diagnosed with another thing they can drug you for. The average psychiatrist would rather dope you than deal with your emotions or help you to heal your injured psyche. They exist to make you a productive member of society, nothing more. Their definitions are one of their weapons and clinging to them without understanding their history or usage doesn’t help you let alone anyone else.
