If you haven’t been traumatized, and you haven’t already come across someone who has, I can guarantee that you will at some point — because more than half of the people in the U.S. have suffered at least one trauma. That’s why the notion of being trauma-informed has been a topic of growing interest over the years.
If you are a trauma survivor, you want someone to understand what that means and how they should interact with you. If you are interacting with someone who has been traumatized, you should know how to address trauma in a way that is sensitive and safe.
The idea of being trauma-informed started when people became educated about veterans returning home from war with issues. When we started understanding their symptoms of trauma, and named it post-traumatic stress disorder, we began to understand that other traumatic experiences, like abuse or assault, could also cause physical and psychological problems.
Studies then began to focus on the symptoms of trauma, from panic attacks to depression. Groundbreaking studies on childhood trauma showed that trauma is common, and often comes with associated complications, during childhood or lasting into adulthood.
Now we’ve come to a place where we not only understand that trauma is real, we also want to understand how to respond to it. Since so many people have suffered from trauma, it’s likely you will encounter a traumatized person in places besides a mental health setting. It is important to know how to react to a trauma survivor, so you won’t retraumatize them.
APA has a series of articles on the importance of being trauma-informed.
Some of them examine how practitioners can interact in a trauma-informed way with their clients, some direct readers to resources on trauma treatment, and some give tips on general interaction with trauma survivors. Inside the psychology field or outside — if you encounter a trauma survivor, operating in a trauma-informed way is essential to their well-being. For clinical psychologists, teachers or anyone who works in an office, being aware of the possibility of trauma and its effects will help you to communicate in a better way.
