OPINION: Trauma in our lives - it’s important that it gets the space it deserves

Most people have had some level of trauma in their lives. No trauma, is “bigger” or “smaller” than another. Everyone’s experience of trauma is completely unique to that individual.

We should sway from comparing our traumas with others who may have had a “bigger” trauma as it can lead to minimising our own individual experiences thus resulting in a feeling of guilt and shame as the comparison of the trauma unravels.

There are all different types of trauma which I won’t go into in this article. However, I would like to touch on the collective trauma that can be felt generationally and through our ancestors and families.

A recent example of how trauma can manifest and engrain into the world’s collective psyche is the unfolding of the events of the 9/11 terrorist attack in New York.

Most people remember exactly where they were when this took place as the level of devastation was felt, not only in America, but for most of the rest of the world.

The very image of two planes hitting a building can bring up unease in itself.

I remember where I was. I was sitting in Art class in my first year of secondary school. I remember there being a sense of panic, even in the room as the teacher announced that this had taken place.

I think this brought a certain level of trauma in everyone’s lives that is not to be dismissed or thought of as something that doesn’t affect “us”.

Us, for want of a better word here is referring to Irish people and of course presuming that you were not directly affected by the atrocities of this attack.

Again, generationally there can be trauma in families, communities and even nations. The effects of world wars are still felt in households even in Ireland today and not to mention the times of Bloody Sunday which was recently commemorated.

How do we approach this collective trauma within both ourselves, our ancestors and our families today? I believe the first step is awareness of the said trauma.

When you acknowledge and accept that this trauma does in fact exist, you can then have a sense of compassion, not only for yourself but for the people around you as well as the families affected by the said trauma.

Bloody Sunday is an apt example here as it is so relatively recent. There are still families and people alive today that have been directly affected by the atrocities of what took place in Croke Park that day.

Although we feel compassion for these people and their families, we will never fully comprehend the hurt and loss felt by what took place.

As mentioned, this can affect communities and nations and Bloody Sunday had a rippling effect throughout Ireland and even the subject creates a lot of pain and anger to this day.

Traumatic experiences in families down through the years can also have a devastating impact.

For example, a death in a family that happened many generations ago can still be felt within that family today – whether in the conscious talking about the death itself and the hurt it may have caused or else it may also alive in the subconscious.

Families may have carried such deaths to the point of it still affecting people today, in their present lives.

Trauma remains an extremely complex matter. It is coming to the fore for me as I dig into research about trauma itself – how the mind, brain and body carries trauma.

n my research, I stumbled upon an excellent and insightful book that explains how trauma is stored in the body for many years.

The book is called, The Body Knows The Score, by Bessell van der Kolk who is a psychiatrist who has worked specifically with people with acute trauma including United States veterans.

To my surprise, he explains that when war veterans recount their experiences (which were horrible I might add) they had a sense of animation and almost adrenaline as they recounted and almost lived out their experiences in group settings.

I found it surprising to find that the veterans only fully came alive when they spoke about their experiences of the war – the same traumatic experiences that were holding them back from living a full life.

They had lost all sense of hope and their identities were confusing to them as they attempted to re-adjust to normal life.

Of course, they witnessed the devastating capacity of the human being to cause and inflict hurt upon innocent people to which they never fully recovered.

According to the research, if we find ways to get back into our bodies and feel what is fully going on for us, although it may feel uneasy, it can help the body in recovering from trauma. This includes meditation, exercise and the arts (expression through music or theatre for example).

The book is quiet scientific in nature and explains in detail, the intricate complexities of the brain in uncovering trauma. It really is fascinating for anyone interested in the subject although it is extremely scientific.

Well done in taking the time today to read a little about the subject of trauma. Maybe it provoked some sense of thought and encouraged compassion for yourself or others.

Everyone has experienced trauma at some point in their lives and it is ok to call it trauma. Trauma doesn’t just exist for people involved in accidents or victims of certain injustices.

Trauma is part of our lives and it is important to give it the space it deserves without allowing it to take power over our daily lives.