What Is Trauma?
Trauma is generally used to refer to emotional reactions to terrible or tragic events. Trauma in its most clinically significant form manifests as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). PTSD is an anxiety disorder that can form in some individuals who are exposed to trauma. Symptoms include:
- Memories of the events or upsetting dreams that are intrusive and distressing
- Flashbacks or reliving the events as if they were happening
- Severe emotional or physical reactions to things that remind you of the events
- Avoidance of talking about events or of people, places, and activities that remind you of the events
- Emotional numbness, feelings of hopelessness, or memory problems
- Irritability or outbursts of anger
- Feeling like you have to be “on guard” for danger
- Being easily startled or frightened
- Increased alcohol or substance abuse/misuse
On average, Blacks have the highest likelihood of experiencing PTSD in their lifetime. However, you can be impacted by tragic events without demonstrating clinically diagnosable symptoms of PTSD or experiencing them directly.
MUST READ: Why PTSD Is Undiagnosed In Many Black Women
Understanding Indirect Trauma
It may be hard to think about suffering from trauma when you haven’t been directly victimized. Yet, the truth of the matter is that you can experience trauma symptoms just from bearing witness to someone else’s victimization. The American Counseling Association describes this experience as vicarious trauma.
The term vicarious trauma is most often used to describe the impact of working with victims on counselors. But, there are interesting parallels to be drawn between the “emotional residue” that builds up among trauma counselors and the cumulative emotional fatigue that results from bearing witness to pain and suffering caused by race-related victimization.
Symptoms of vicarious trauma can mimic those associated with PTSD but are especially deceptive because of the tendency to discount what you are seeing and feeling. In the midst of vicarious trauma, it is not uncommon to feel that you don’t have the right to feel “some type of way” about what has happened. That could not be further from the truth. In fact, the only way to heal is by acknowledging our pain and facing the traumas of our past and present head-on.