The second symptom cluster involves attempts to avoid the trauma. This includes avoiding anything that reminds you of the traumatic event. I often discuss the concept of triggering when I train people. Triggers can be anything that stimulates your senses—sounds, smells, or visuals—that remind you of the trauma and transport you back there. For instance, encountering someone who looks like the person involved in the trauma might lead to a conversation that triggers memories and emotions. The reaction to the intense pain of re-experiencing trauma is to try and avoid it. This leads to avoidance behaviours such as avoiding certain conversations, relationships, or anything that may trigger the traumatic experience. It's crucial to understand this because, when struggling with trauma, and I believe most of us in South Africa have experienced trauma, you tend to oscillate between intrusion and avoidance. This constant movement between the two consumes psychological energy, leaving you depleted and unable to focus on important aspects of life or work. So, your day-to-day functioning can be significantly affected by trauma. For children, it may impact their schooling. The final cluster of symptoms is hyperarousal, which means your nervous system is constantly on high alert. You may feel constantly irritable, easily scared, or reactive to any sudden noise. These are the broad clusters associated with trauma, but there are many more symptoms within each cluster. In my work, I focus on helping people understand that in traumatized contexts, we often deal with multiple layers of trauma. Some may have experienced prolonged trauma or repeated trauma at a personal level, which adds complexity. There's also the concept of collective trauma, where groups of people or societies can experience trauma and respond in traumatic ways. For example, as a country, we may experience collective trauma triggered by events such as a sudden shutdown, leading to fear and potential violence. Historical trauma is another aspect, as individuals can carry the unresolved pain of previous generations. This work is crucial because the intensity of our pain can be intertwined with the pain of our ancestors, impacting future generations. Additionally, trauma can be embedded within our systems and structures. We often overlook structural trauma, where institutions and organisations may perpetuate traumatization. For instance, the treatment of women in hospitals can be traumatic in itself. This summary provides an overview of what we mean when we talk about trauma.
CAM: Now that you've spoken about trauma, what is trauma?
Nomfundo : I think the question is very important because it also pertains to healing. The beginning of healing is awareness and awakening. In our society, many people don't even realise they are carrying trauma. So, to address it broadly, I want to touch on Post- Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). There are two key aspects to trauma. The first one is external, which relates to the experience itself and its nature. In the field of trauma, there is a tendency to medicalise it, stemming from its emergence after World War Two. However, some of us advocate for a broader understanding. Essentially, trauma refers to an environment where an experience is life-threatening, sudden, and psychologically challenging. It's not just about physical threats; it can also violate your sense of integrity and boundaries. The second aspect is the internal experience, which involves how you personally experience the trauma. In classic trauma, there are feelings of terror and fear during the traumatic event. I believe this distinction is important because it's not just about what you go through; it's also about how you respond. Two people can go through the same event, but one may be traumatized while the other isn't, due to various influencing factors. For me, the broader definition of trauma relates to the Greek word that signifies an injury to the soul. So, a traumatic experience is one that inflicts injury upon our psyche or soul. This injury affects how we perceive things, respond to situations, and show up in the world. There are various symptoms associated with trauma, but I consider three classic symptoms worth noting. The first symptom is re-experiencing the trauma. It's different from simply thinking about a painful past event. When you re- experience trauma, you are transported back to the moment it occurred, and the pain feels fresh. For example, someone in their forties might recall a traumatic experience from their childhood and be instantly transported back to being that ten-year-old girl, feeling the intensity of the pain again.
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June 2023 | Collective Action Magazine
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