Aspects of Trauma and Abuse
Aspects of Trauma and Abuse
This section is not meant to provide a means by which Survivors can compare the severity of their traumas with those of other Survivors. It is intended to point out some of the factors generally thought to be significant in understanding an individual's reactions to traumatic experiences, while bearing in mind that each individual has her or his own responses to these factors, and that those responses may vary widely. The particular symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) will be discussed in another section.
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1 Age at which the trauma occurred. Generally speaking, the earlier the trauma occurs, the more likely that the person will experience significant symptoms of PTSD. We know, however, that severe trauma later in life can cause PTSD. The problem with early trauma is that is often occurs because of the behavior of an adult, usually a care giver, and can seriously impair the development of the victim, especially in the areas of autonomy, self-worth, integration of ego resources, and socialization.
2 Whether the trauma was natural or man-made. In "natural" events, I am including such things as floods, famines, automobile crashes, severe accidents, and debilitating diseases, events in which there is usually no involvement of another person seeking to harm the victim. Although natural disasters can evoke the same feelings of helplessness, those traumas which are the product of a human's intentional actions are often more devastating because they involve direct use of power against the victim, whether that power is actual physical force or fear and intimidation. Wars, concentration camps, terrorism, torture, rape, and abuse are examples of this type of intentionality. In either case, the boundary violations and loss of autonomy threaten the very integrity of a person's existence and self-concept with often horrific consequences.
3 Whether the perpetrator was known to the victim. Even though abuse by strangers may result in severe trauma symptoms, when the abuser is known to the victim, the reactions are often worse because the victim usually trusts the abuser or feels more diminished and frightened because the abuser often causes the victim to feel ashamed, and the victim fears being thought of as a bad person who perhaps brought the abuse on or somehow deserved it. Often, victims will internalize this shame, and come to believe that they are indeed bad, and that they got what they deserved.
4 The relationship between the victim and the abuser. Abuse by a family member, particularly by a parent, may result in worse symptoms than that caused by someone who is simply an acquaintance of the victim. The important issues here are how much trust the victim has developed for the abuser prior to the abuse, and how much the victim is dependent on the abuser as a care giver. In the case of teachers, religious leaders, baby sitters, and especially parents, when abuse occurs, the victim feels a major betrayal of trust, as well as boundary violations and loss of autonomy. To varying degrees, the victim has come to rely on these relationships for support, protection, and care giving, and when the trust which is the basis for their reliance is breached, the victim can feel set adrift, helpless, and unable to depend on someone whom she or he needs to provide security. When the abuser is a parent, the effects are often the worst. Children need to have a secure base for proper development, and that usually means a supportive and nurturing relationship with parents. When victims have been unable to develop that relationship with a parent, or when they find that the relationship is not secure, then the victims must not only fend for themselves, and face the shock of finding that they must do so, but they also may feel shame or that they are bad. They often feel this way because it is the only way to process, ie., to explain to themselves, why such a thing would happen to them.
5 Single or multiple traumas. A single trauma, especially if it results from abuse, can be quite serious, and this should never be minimized. When the trauma is repeated several or many times, or when there are multiple instances of various types of traumatic experiences, however, the consequences seem to grow worse. This is true whether or not the repetitions are predictable. Although a person may appear to become hardened or more accustomed to these experiences, they actually become more sensitized so that each new trauma, even though the actual severity may be less than previous traumas, has an increasingly profound effect on the victim's personality. When trauma continues for many years, victims may begin to believe that this is "normal" in life and they may appear relatively flagmatic in their outlook concerning the events, but internally their suffering from stress is increasing, and the symptoms of PTSD will eventually be evident. This is especially true in the cases of ritual and institutionalized abuse, as the victim must continue surviving in the traumatic environment, and so must maintain an exterior front in order to avoid drawing attention to herself or himself.
6 Individual sensitivity to trauma. People have quite varying predispositions to trauma effects. Some may be more sensitive or resistant because of psychological factors influenced by their development. When a person has had a very safe and nurturing family environment, they may be better equipped to work through processing traumatic events than someone who has had an unstable, violent, or distant family during their early development. In addition, there may be genetic factors which cause some individuals to be constitutionally more or less immune to the psychological effects of trauma. Research is currently being conducted on this issue, but there are no definitive answers as yet.
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Last updated July 13, 1999.
Copyright © 1998, 1999 Carolyn R. Gyger.
