04/23/2024

Viewpoint: Not All Bad Experiences are Trauma

Trauma's not a bad date or a discontinued Starbucks drink

Recently, a teenager told me she experienced "trauma" because a friend gave her a dirty look. I've heard other young people use the word "trauma" to describe not being invited to a party or a parent yelling at them for playing hooky or being asked to redo a school assignment. A demanding boss, a bad date, a discontinued Starbucks drink, getting caught in the rain, a Soul Cycle teacher switching studios—I’ve heard it all described as "trauma."

As a mom, I talk to a lot of young people: middle schoolers, teens and 20-somethings. As a psychotherapist, I also speak with a lot of adults. These conversations make it clear to me that the term “trauma” has entered the cultural conversation and made its way into everyday speech. It’s now part of our mindset, a way of describing and thinking about our lives. The frequency and casualness with which we now claim to have experienced "trauma" is disturbing.

According to the American Psychological Association's (APA) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition (DSM-5), trauma is defined as occurring when a person is exposed “to actual or threatened death, serious injury, or sexual violence” (American Psychiatric Association [APA], 2013). Although, in truth, psychological trauma can occur in any highly stressful, frightening, or distressing event or series of events—a situation in which the distress, fear or shock associated with what’s happening overwhelms the person’s capacity to digest or process it emotionally.

Please select this link to read the complete article from Psychology Today.