What is trauma? – Part 1

*The following passage contains definitions of trauma and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and some examples of traumatic experience. This material may cause distress or fear so please exercise caution and discretion if you choose to continue reading.*

The concept of trauma is sometimes used casually in popular culture and in the media. Here I am to give a more specific and detailed definition of trauma according to psychodynamic and psychoanalytic theory and practice.

Sigmund Freud first defined trauma as occurring when an external force (physical or mental) breaches an individual’s ordinary defensive modes (Freud 2003; Laplanche and Pontalis 465-470). The traumatic event or stimulus is overwhelming, profoundly shocking, and defies comprehension; thus, the capacity to think and experience breaks down (Freud 2003; Laplanche and Pontalis 465-470). Later scholars have developed and refined his definition.

According to Judith Herman, an individual becomes traumatised when they are forced into a helpless or wholly passive position in relation to danger or violence—that is, if we feel unable to take any action to save ourselves, either due to terror, the threat or reality of overwhelming violence or suffering, or powerful forces that are beyond the individual’s control. It must also be said, however, that a traumatic event does not have to be exclusively violent or appear dramatic in societal terms to effect traumatic stress. For example, consider the following (imaginary) situation. If a child finds herself locked alone in a car while her mother or father goes grocery shopping, and if the child fears that her parent has abandoned her, and feels trapped in the car, a traumatic experience may develop (either immediately or sometime after the event). The key is the subjective experience of the individual—and not only the event that occurs in the real world.