Wound is the literal English translation of the Greek word trauma.
A well documented feature of trauma, is our inability to articulate what happens to us. Not only do we lose our words, but something happens with our memory as well. During a traumatic incident, our thought process can become scattered and disorganized in such a way that we no longer recognize the memories as belonging to the original event. Instead, fragments of memory, dispersed as images, body sensations, and words, are stored in our unconscious and can become activated later by anything even remotely reminiscent of the original experience. Once they are triggered, it is as if an invisible rewind button has been pressed, causing us to reenact aspects of the original trauma in our day-to-day lives. Unconsciously we find ourselves reacting to certain people, events or situations in old, familiar ways that echo the past.
Let’s consider some elementary principles regarding wounds:
They come in all shapes and sizes.
Open wounds are usually visible to others and include incisions (e.g., from knives), lacerations (tears), abrasions (grazes), punctures, penetration wounds, and gunshot wounds.
Closed wounds are usually not obvious to others and include contusions (bruises), hematomas (blood tumors), internal scar tissue, crush injuries, and slowly forming chronic wounds that can develop from conditions such as diabetic ulcers.
They can form due to a variety of causes.
Different wounds can affect people in different ways, depending on other variables (e.g., medical issues, genetics, environmental factors, phsychosocial considerations, economic issues, access to treatment).
They heal form the inside out.
They are usually obtained quickly but take time to thoroughly heal.
Before wounds can begin their internal healing, steps must be taken to stop the initial bleeding (e.g., using banddages, gauze, stitches, sutures).
Failure to receive the proper treatment after a wounding can complicate the healing process.
They can leave a variety of scars (e.g., some are permanent, others are temporary; many no longer hurt after the scarring has taken place; some scarring can cause ongoing irritation).
The skin around a healed scar is tougher than the rest of a person’s skin.
No two people wound in the same way, even if they experienced similar injuries.
If this physical wound knowledge makes sense to you, simply transfer the knowledge to the emotional realm.
Emotional traumas also come in various shapes and sizes, resulting from many possible causes. For some, simple traumas (wounds) can clear on their own, but for others with more complex emotional variables, the healing process make take longer. If an individual doesn’t obtain the proper conditions to heal, it will probably take longer for the trauma to resolve. In the meantime, other symptoms can manifest.
When drawing the parallels between physical and emotional trauma, understanding the concept of re-wounding is imperative. It is bad enough when a person experiences a traumatic event and is not given the optimal conditions in which to heal but what if other people keep prodding the wound with insensitive comments and potentially re-traumatizing actions. The wound will not get better. In all likelihood, it will get worse.
My intention in explaining the parallels between physical and emotional wounds is because it is the simplest way to understand trauma and how it affects different people in different ways.
Large T” and small “t” traumas
Large “T” traumas are those that would be overwhelming to anyone, and for diagnostic purposes, they involve the life-threatening or perceived life-threatening component, resulting in a response of helplessness or horror that is needed to warrant a formal, DSM-V (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual) diagnosis of PTSD. (Post-traumatic Stress Disorder). In addition to life-threatening events, those that involve major injury (or the perceived threat of major injury) can also be covered by this formal diagnosis.
Small “t” traumas are the upsetting experiences that life sends our way that we are not able to integrate into our system of understanding. If a small “t” traumas remain unprocessed (like the small wounds that don’t receive the treatment that they need), they can end up being just as significant as Large “T” traumas, especially if there are complicating variables, or if small “t” traumas continue to build one on top of another.
Learn More About the Affects of Trauma