Trauma, Complex Trauma, Generational Trauma, Cultural Trauma,
and PTSD
Adverse experiences shape our lives. One could say that they are the foundation of our learning to be human beings. When we find that we are unable to show up for our lives in the manner that we want, however, we typically say that we are having mental health issues. The more intense and problematic the issue is, the more likely we can associate it with some basic trauma that the client experienced in their lives, which affected the development of a particular ability, concept, view, skill, or understanding of ourselves and or the world around us. In this was, trauma can be viewed along a continuum of experience depending on what is happening for the person and why they choose to come to therapy. At one end, what we could call the adverse experience is but a sort of annoyance, while at the other end, the effect-reaction is so pronounced that the individual's life begins to crumble, so affected the person is and so disruptive the traumatic event(s) have become to the person's life and sense of self. It is at this end of the spectrum that PTSD, or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is diagnosed.
Trauma may not be as simple as one event or circumstance that is causing such a ruckus in one's life. Many adverse experiences, or traumas, can have a cumulative effect of distress. "A thousand bee-stings", as a saying goes, can have the same effect as one devastating car crash, or many years of emotional abuse or neglect the same outcome of one sexual assault, for examples. As well, while a single traumatic even might not affect a person very much, subsequent traumatic events can build on previous ones to the level of disrupting their life. All of these kinds of circumstances can fell under the heading of complex trauma.
We recognize generational trauma as a kind of effect that runs through families that can leave individuals vulnerable to mental issues and substance misuse. Similarly, the effect of trauma can run through cultures, leaving members of a culture likewise vulnerable.
PTSD is a diagnostic category recognizes a broad variety of symptoms caused by trauma, from avoidance of certain kinds of experiences, sleep and memory disturbances, pronounced startle response, reckless or self-destructive behavior, depression, anxiety, and suicidality, just to name a few.