suffering is the result of the event coupled with the person experiencing the event inside a culture

when the trauma label has been applied by outside mores – when an event like an explosion, an assault or a sexual event has taken place and our culture insists that it be traumatising. Sometimes this extraneous narrative resonates and provides a sense of relief, but in other instances disagreement and refusal of the label can lead to judgement from... See more

Traumatisation is most usually presented as an unassailable, concrete fact, and this is where I need to be respectful. If someone brings a firm conviction of their religion, politics or the genesis of their suffering, it is not for me to deny it. But it is for me to offer the possibility to open up the conviction in order to transform it from a sed... See more

Adverse events were not seen as trauma, nor necessarily as having effects beyond the immediate agitation and subsequent sense making.