“You have to have the Courage to attend When you cannot understand The outcome” Ann L (client)

Trauma can go unrecognised for years and this may explain why many years later, a distressful life situation can trigger mental and physical symptoms that start to feel overwhelming. Trauma symptoms are a response to immediate life threatening events, such as physical or sexual assault, child abuse, warfare, traffic collisions. The same symptoms can be linked with complex trauma that can develop in response to prolonged, repeated experiences in which there has been little or no chance of escape. Safety, nurturing, emotional, physical and spiritual care in our early years are vital basic needs in our development. When such needs are met we have the ability to feel safe in the world, to be resilient when facing challenges and the capacity to form close and meaningful relationships and achieve our full potential. When this is not provided it can leave us feeling vulnerable, unsafe and out of control. We learn to cope often using external factors such as relationships, addiction, distractions like work, even extreme situations. The world can feel a pretty unpredictable, frightening and overwhelming place.

We have heard the word trauma a lot in the last thirty years or more. Is trauma happening more? Or do we finally have a word to describe what has probably always been happening.