Our understanding of trauma

has developed markedly in the last four decades, at least in the West that is (I get the impression others have been on to it for millenia). In the late 90’s the results of the adverse childhood experiences study * began waking folk up in the US as it showed the causal link between childhood trauma and increased incidence of life threatening illness and early death in adults. As a result the movement to become trauma informed in health and social care services began, eventually reaching the UK and expanding into other service industries like education, community services and leadership. In recent years even the church here in the UK has begun to ask what it might look like to become more trauma informed in terms of its structures and processes for outreach and pastoral care**. And whole new field of theology has developed just in the twenty-first century; that of trauma theology***. 

Still, most conversations I have reveal the assumption that trauma is something that happens ‘out there’ to ‘those people’, cue stock images of the homeless, the refugee, the drug addict, the foster kid. So long as the people whose job it is to look after ‘them’ know about trauma, that’s OK, it doesn’t affect me; I’ll leave it to the experts. 

I invite you to do an experiment, review the last twenty four hours and note the proportion of waking time you spent 1) preoccupied with or replaying the past, 2) rehearsing the future, 3) engaged with media/entertainment/superficial interactions, or 4) present to yourself and your surroundings in the moment. Most of us will spend most of our waking time engaged in the first three types of activity. Why is that?

Well one reason is that the effect of trauma is to send us into the past or future in an effort to avoid the present; it is a self preservation strategy because we carry wounds and becoming present to ourselves could lead us to feel them again.  “The meaning of the word ‘trauma’ in its Greek origin is ‘wound’. Whether we realize it or not, it is our woundedness, or how we cope with it, that dictates much of our behavior, shapes our social habits, and informs our ways of thinking about the world.” Gabor Mate. The best way to approach a wound is with gentleness and an intelligent intention to aid it’s healing.

In the West we revere and reward the brave, rugged individual who white-knuckles it through fear, adversity and opposition; ruled by their mind and vision not by their feelings, self sufficient and independent. The ‘good’ Christian individual, family or leader looks remarkably similar, as does the ‘spiritual warfare pray-er’ approaching grief and suffering as enemies to be fought and overcome at all costs.  The result is a model of human existence that bears little resemblance to One in whose image we were made, or to the One who bid us come follow, or to the Sabbath Rest we are exhorted to make every effort to enter. Instead we generate and perpetuate life and relationships that wound us at our very core, both individually and communally. We are all wounded, living in a wounded and wounding world that we have created. Trauma is part of all our stories.

Join me in person for my next Trauma Training Day where you can develop your understanding of trauma and its effect on you and those around you. We will explore a trauma-healing theology and how to develop a way of life and being that supports healing from trauma. I hope to see you soon.

*Vincent Felitti et al. (1998) ‘Relationship of childhood abuse and household dysfunction to many of the leading causes of death in adults: the adverse childhood experiences (ACE) study.’, American Journal of Preventative Medicine, Vol 14 (4), pp. 245-258.

** https://www.traumainformedchurches.org/ 

***Karen O’Donnell. (2023). ‘Trauma Theology’, St Andrews Encyclopaedia of Theology. Available at: https://www.saet.ac.uk/Christianity/TraumaTheology