Trauma And Trauma In Literature

Trauma is defined as having a deeply distressing or disturbing experience, or having a physical injury.

The term “Psychological trauma” refers to damage wrought from a traumatic event, which that damages one’s ability to cope with stressors. “Trauma” is commonly defined as an exposure to a situation in which a person is confronted with an event that involves actual or threatened death or serious injury, or a threat to self or others’ physical well-being (American Psychiatric Association, 2000). Specific types of client trauma frequently encountered by which therapists and other mental health workers frequently encounter in a clinical setting include sexual abuse, physical , or sexual assault, natural disasters such as earthquakes or tsunamis, domestic violence, and school or/and work related violence (James & Gilliland, 2001). Traumatic

Trauma is an individual’s visceral reaction to a horrible event, events such as early childhood traumas, accidents, sexual abuse, or community violence (apa.org, 2016). An individual may react with shock and denial in the aftermath. As time continues some reactions may comprise of mood swings, intrusive memories, difficulties maintaining relationships and can manifest into physical symptoms to include headache or upset stomach. There are individuals who experience difficulties functioning in their daily lives; these observable responses are a normal response to the trauma (apa.org, 2016).

Alhough individuals respond differently to traumatic incidents, going through a traumatic event where a death or mutiple deaths occur, can result in guilt and symptoms that are detrimental to the individual. Though many individuals experiences to traumatic incidents

In Maus, Spiegelman uses a third person narrative to tell the story of his father’s experiences in the Holocaust. In contrast, Robinson uses first and second person to tell the story of Lisa Marie’s family’s hardships due to Residential Schools. Through the use of historical references, relationships and evoking emotion in the reader, Eden Robinson’s narrative better exemplifies how individuals of second generation trauma use the experience of post memory to connect with the reader when compared to Spiegelman’s Maus.

In Susan Farrell, the author of “Just Listen”: Witnessing Trauma in Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, mentioned “...all theorists agree that the process of recovery from trauma must involve a narrativization of traumatic event--putting a sensory images into words in order to integrate trauma into a person 's life story” (186). However, without reading Cathy Caruth’s Trauma, readers will not understand that not only integrating trauma into a narrative will help them recover but it also allows the witness apprehend their flashbacks into meaning. Flashbacks, although are taunting, has the most vivid images compared to narrated memories. For one to remember a highlight or a significant moment, one must preserve it as a flashback. In The Things They Carried, Tim O’Brien convert his flashbacks into narrative memories allowing himself and readers to comprehend his experiences, but O’Brien also added flashbacks into his memories create the most graphic images for the readers.

A traumatic event occurs when a person is in a situation where there is a risk of harm or danger to themselves or other people. Situations like this are usually frightening or cause a lot of stress. In such situations, people feel helpless. We all cope with these traumas in different ways, in the protagonist’s case, he writes about it. Tim O’Brien expresses a candid tone in the passage corresponding to Lavender’s death from fictional novel, The Things They Carried using specific rhetorical strategies in order to create a relatable dilemma with how often times horrific stories are unintentionally skewed.

Trauma comes from the Greek –  meaning wound, and meaning damage, harm, or impairment. Trauma affects every body. The traumatized person will experience dissociation, disbelief, isolation, and hopelessness. They will often wonder “Where is God and why has he left me?”

“American Psychiatric Association defines trauma as an event that represents a threat to life or personal integrity. Trauma can also be experienced when children are faced with a caregiver who acts erratically, emotional and /or physical neglect, and exploitation” (Maltby, L., & Hall, T. 2012. p. 304). Trauma comes in many different forms including: war, rape, kidnapping, abuse, sudden injury, and

Trauma occurs when a child has experienced an event that threatens or causes harm to her emotional and physical well-being. Events can include war, terrorism, natural disasters, but the most common and harmful to a child’s psychosocial well-being are those such as domestic violence, neglect, physical and sexual abuse, maltreatment, and witnessing a traumatic event. While some children may experience a traumatic event and go on to develop normally, many children have long lasting implications into adulthood.

Most people often fail to perceive trauma accurately. In many occasions, some individuals often dismiss or think of it as something that is curable. However, it is an unfortunate and complicated form of damage that requires careful consideration and is not easy to deal with. Besides, trauma occurs on a scale that varies depending on each individual. It is arguable that nearly every individual has dealt with trauma in their lives.

trauma (CPTSD), as defined by Herman (1992, 1997) and Courtois (2008), with its emphasis on

A person who has experienced trauma in their life often struggles with feelings of powerlessness and hopelessness. Most of us go through “crisis’s” in our lives and with deal with them through whatever coping skills we have acquired through our life experiences. However, when one deals with a traumatic event coping skills are not effective. In the lecture, trauma is defined as “an event outside normal human experience.” With such an event, there is nothing the person can do to prevent or stop the abnormal event from happening (i.e. car accident, being abused by as a child, rape, etc.). Though people may respond to trauma in different way, all are helpless to stop the event. The trauma shakes the person’s sense of safety, security, and

When I decided to take the trauma course, I was hesitant at first to take it. I did not know what to expect nor felt I would be prepare listen to stories about traumatic occurrences, despite of the number of years I have worked in the field of community mental health. Therefore, now that we are in week eight, I am delighted to have taken this course. The impression I had at first, has changed my insight concerning what is trauma, as for many years, I did not understand why a person in many instances, could not process their trauma. In a quote by Chang stated, “The greater the doubt, the greater the awakening; the smaller the doubt, the smaller the awakening. No doubt, no awakening” (Van Der Kolk, 2014, p. 22). The goes in congruence with my understanding on trauma and how it has changed during this course. As a result, I feel I am awakening when acquiring more about trauma.

The experience of trauma can be identified as either acute (e.g., natural disaster, serious accident) or chronic (e.g., physical abuse, sexual abuse), which