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Robert D Stolorow Ph.D.

Feeling, Relating, Existing

TRAUMA

Trauma Destroys Time

The traumatized person lives in an alien reality.
Posted October 21, 2015

“I am no longer one of them, however. They are up there, on

the face of the earth; I am down here, in the bottom of a well.
They possess the light, while I am in the process of losing it.
Sometimes I feel that I may never find my way back to that
world, that I may never again be able to feel the peace of
being enveloped in the light…. Down here there are no
seasons. Not even time exists.”—Haruki Murakami, The Wind-
Up Bird Chronicle

Murakami captures in compelling imagery how trauma

devastatingly disrupts the ordinary, average-everyday
linearity and unity of temporality, the sense of stretching-
along from the past to an open future
(https://www.routledge.com/products/9780881634679).
Experiences of emotional trauma become freeze-framed into
an eternal present in which one remains forever trapped, or
to which one is condemned to be perpetually returned by
life’s slings and arrows. In the region of trauma all duration or
stretching along collapses, the traumatic past becomes

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present, and future loses all meaning other than endless
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repetition. Because trauma so profoundly modifies the
universal or shared structure of temporality, the traumatized
person quite literally lives in another kind of reality, an
experiential world felt to be incommensurable with those of
others. This felt incommensurability, in turn, contributes to the
sense of alienation and estrangement from other human
beings that typically haunts the traumatized person. Torn from
the communal fabric of being-in-time, trauma remains
insulated from human dialogue.

THE BASICS

What Is Trauma?

Find a therapist to heal from trauma

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About the Author

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Trauma
What Is Trauma?
Reviewed by Psychology Today Staff

Trauma is a person’s emotional response to a distressing

experience. Few people can go through life without
encountering some kind of trauma. Unlike ordinary hardships,
traumatic events tend to be sudden and unpredictable,
involve a serious threat to life—like bodily injury or death—
and feel beyond a person’s control. Most important, events
are traumatic to the degree that they undermine a person's
sense of safety in the world and create a sense that
catastrophe could strike at any time. Parental loss in
childhood, auto accidents, physical violence, sexual assault,
military combat experiences, the unexpected loss of a loved
one are commonly traumatic events.

Contents
Types of Trauma
Effects of Trauma
Treatment for Trauma
Controversies About Trauma

Types of Trauma

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Acute trauma reflects intense distress in the

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immediate aftermath of a one-time event and
the reaction is of short duration. Common
examples include a car crash, physical or
sexual assault, or the sudden death of a loved one.

Chronic trauma can arise from harmful events that are

repeated or prolonged. It can develop in response to
persistent bullying, neglect, abuse (emotional, physical, or
sexual), and domestic violence.

Complex trauma can arise from experiencing repeated or

multiple traumatic events from which there is no possibility of
escape. The sense of being trapped is a feature of the
experience. Like other types of trauma, it can undermine a
sense of safety in the world and beget hypervigilance,
constant (and exhausting!) monitoring of the environment for
the possibility of threat.

Secondary or vicarious trauma arises from exposure to other

people’s suffering and can strike those in professions that are
called on to respond to injury and mayhem, notably
physicians, first responders, and law enforcement. Over time,
such individuals are at risk for compassion fatigue, whereby
they avoid investing emotionally in other people in an
attempt to protect themselves from experiencing distress.

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) cover a wide range

of difficult situations that children either directly face or
witness while growing up, before they have developed
effective coping skills. ACEs can disrupt the normal course of
development and the emotional injury can last long into
adulthood. The loss of a parent; neglect; emotional, physical,
or sexual abuse; and divorce are among the most common
types of Adverse Childhood Experiences.

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Effects of Trauma
Disturbing events activate the amygdala, a
structure in the brain responsible for detecting
threats. It responds by sending out an alarm to
multiple body systems to prepare for defense.
The sympathetic nervous system jumps into action,
stimulating the release of adrenaline and noradrenaline and
stress hormones that prepare the body for a fight-flight-or-
freeze response. Short-term fear, anxiety, shock, and
anger/aggression are all normal responses to trauma. Such
negative feelings dissipate as the crisis abates and the
experience fades from memory, but for some people, tthe
distressing feelings can linger, interfering with day-to-day life.

Sufferers of long-term trauma may develop emotional

disturbances, such as extreme anxiety, anger, sadness,
survivor’s guilt, disassociation, the inability to feel pleasure
(anhedonia), or PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder). The
amygdala become hyperactive, its over-reaction to minor
perturbations leading to an outpouring of stress hormones.
Living in defense mode, and ever-vigilant to the possibility of
threat, people may experience ongoing problems with sleep
or physical pain, encounter turbulence in their personal and
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professional relationships, and feel a diminished sense of

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self-worth.

Positive psychological changes after trauma are also possible

when people acknowledge their difficulties and see
themselves as survivors rather than victims of unfortunate
experience. These can include building resilience, the
development of effective coping skills, and development of a
sense of self.-efficacy. Some people may undergo post-
traumatic growth, forging stronger relationships, redefining
their relationship with new meaning and/or spiritual purpose,
and gaining a deeper appreciation for life. It may sound
contradictory, but post-traumatic growth can exist right
alongside PTSD.

Treatment for Trauma

Left unaddressed or untreated, trauma can
undermine relationships and wreak havoc on
personal and professional lives. There are
multiple avenues of treatment available for
people experiencing from short- or long-term trauma
symptoms.

Lifestyle changes are an early treatment option to consider.

Eating healthy, exercising, avoiding alcohol and drugs, getting
enough sleep, seeing loved ones regularly, and emphasizing
self-care can help relieve trauma symptoms.

Psychotherapy can help a person build resilience, develop

coping skills, and address unresolved feelings that are
keeping them stuck. Exposure therapy and cognitive
reappraisal therapy are two of the more reliable treatments
for trauma and PTSD.

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Trauma-informed care treats the whole person, recognizes

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past trauma and the maladaptive coping mechanisms that the
individual may have adopted to survive their distressing
experience.. Trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy is
frequently used to address the destructive effects of early
trauma, proving particularly helpful to youth with PTSD and
mood disorders resulting from abuse, violence, or unresolved
grief.

Psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy with MDMA (aka

Ecstasy or Molly) is a promising form of treatment for deep-
seated trauma. Under a therapist’s supervision and support,
PTSD patients are given MDMA to help them talk in depth
about disturbing traumatic experiences and learn to control
their reactivity. The MDMA appears to speed up the
therapeutic process for patients.

Ketamine (special K) may also be used to expedite recovery.

It is injected under a therapist’s supervision prior to a talk
therapy session. Research has shown it to be effective.

Controversies About Trauma

There are many myths about trauma that
impede understanding and care. For example,
there is a popular assumption that all
childhoods are traumatic, which causes
people to mistake ordinary hardship or distress for genuine
trauma. While this view of trauma may seem initially validating
of a difficult experience, it can quickly lead individuals to
question their own experiences growing up and the
adequacy of their caretakers.

Another common misconception about trauma is that it will

destroy your life forever. Some people who experience
trauma assume the identity of a victim, expecting the world to
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harm them and seeing slights where they don't exist; this
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tendency has helped to create a culture of victimhood that
does more harm than good by ignoring people's capacity for
growth through challenge. Letting go of the victim label can
enable people to see themselves instead as survivors,
allowing them to grow and feel optimistic about the future.

It is generally assumed that talking about negative emotions

and experiences leads to healing. However, with traumatic
events, especially large-scale disasters or wars that impact
thousands of people, data show that rehashing painful
memories can be dangerous. As a result, treatments such as
psychological debriefing are best deployed carefully and on
a case-by-case basis. Everyone’s journey through trauma will
be different.

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