What is Big “T” and little ”t” Trauma?
At Panorama Wellness Group we each identify as being trauma-informed therapists. The word trauma often causes people to think that we only deal with the really big stuff, so you might think that what you’re dealing with isn’t really big enough to go to counselling with. And yet nothing could be further from the truth.
In counsellor-speak, we understand that there is what we call big “T” trauma and little “t” trauma, and all of it matters.
What is trauma?
The American Psychological Association defines trauma as…
an emotional response to a terrible event like an accident, rape or natural disaster. Immediately after the event, shock and denial are typical. Longer-term reactions include unpredictable emotions, flashbacks, strained relationships and even physical symptoms like headaches or nausea. While these feelings are normal, some people have difficulty moving on with their lives.
The Center for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) defines trauma as…
the lasting emotional response that often results from living through a distressing event. Experiencing a traumatic event can harm a person’s sense of safety, sense of self, and ability to regulate emotions and navigate relationships. Long after the traumatic event occurs, people with trauma can often feel shame, helplessness, powerlessness and intense fear.
Bessel van der Kolk, one of the premiere trauma therapists defines it as…
Trauma is an experience that basically leaves people stuck in a state of helplessness and terror. Trauma starts with the feeling of “Oh my god, my life is over.” Mind and brain become overwhelmed, resulting in a change over how you perceive danger, and what you consider relevant and irrelevant to your survival.
I describe it as an event that is unexpected, you weren’t able to prepare for it, and it was overwhelming at the time. That event then changes the way that you view life or operate within your world.
So now you might be even more convinced that the stuff you’ve lived through “isn’t that bad” and wouldn’t classify as trauma. So what is big “T” and little “t” trauma?
Big “T” Trauma
Big “T” trauma would be classified as the things that everyone seems to know is a traumatic event. Things like a serious injury, sexual violence, life-threatening experiences and continual abuse are events that could leave you with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). These types of traumatic events leave you feeling extremely unsafe within yourself, your surroundings and your relationships. They shake you to your very core and have a long-lasting effect on who you are and how you operate. Some examples of Big “T” trauma would be:
rape
war
physical abuse
continuous abuse such as financial, emotional, sexual or verbal abuse in a serious relationship
threats of serious physical injury
threats of death
threats of sexual violence
being a witness to any of these events
Little “t” Trauma
Little “t” traumatic events are cause a high level of distress in your life, but might not be as easy to point to as being a big event that everyone might easily identify with. The single event might not classify as a PTSD-causing incident, but it still causes a disturbance in your life. If you have many of these throughout your life they can contribute to that feeling of not being safe within your world, self or relationships. Some examples of little “t” trauma would be:
non-life-threatening injuries
death of a pet
bullying or harassment
loss of a close friend
divorce
an affair
environmental events
interpersonal conflict
legal or financial troubles
We each have our own unique way and capacity to handle stress, which is called resilience and impacts your ability to cope with trauma. What is highly distressing to me might not cause you any emotional reaction at all, so the key to understanding little “t” trauma is to examine how it affects you rather than focusing on the event itself. It’s also important to consider how many of these little “t” traumatic events have taken place in your life because if they keep adding up and you don’t have a way of coping with them or acknowledging them, they can accumulate and have the same effect as a Big “T” traumatic event would.
How do I know if trauma is affecting me?
While this list is not exhaustive, here are some examples of ways that traumatic events in your life might still be affecting you now.
Trouble sleeping
Disordered eating habits
Anxiety
Depression
Trouble sleeping
Physical ailments that don’t have an explanation
Chronic pain
Chronic fatigue
Find it hard to handle emotions
How can you move forward?
As you have read through the information so far, you may realize that you have lived through multiple small “t” traumas or maybe one or two Big “T” traumatic events. If you are aware of how these have impacted your life, we want you to know that there is hope. You don’t have to suffer in silence and there are treatments that can help – through counselling, acupuncture or even attention to your nutrition and physical health.
Trauma-focused therapy typically includes evidence-based counselling treatments such as prolonged-exposure and cognitive-processing therapy, as well as EMDR. These are effective (and research-based) treatments that can reduce, if not eliminate, trauma symptoms and and how you experience life moving forward. Each approach taken, and therapist at Panorama has the goal of helping you decrease your experience of trauma symptoms, and distress in your life and body, while simultaneously increasing your quality of life.
Each treatment is quite different, and they include strategies such as recalling and reducing the memory of the trauma and how it is stored in your brain and body, while addressing and reprocessing memories, thoughts, and beliefs.
While these approaches are effective, we do want to make sure that you know that there is no quick fix and there are no “cures” for trauma. It requires a lot of time, work and energy on your part. Working alongside your therapist at Panorama Wellness Group you can begin to eliminate your experience of symptoms from the traumatic events you’ve experienced in your life. This can look like eliminating the impact of the traumatic memory on your life, and/or improving your coping skills and ability to improve your quality of life. Either way, one thing we know for sure is that it’s better to dig in and do the work than it is to avoid the problems. It’s hard work, but if you can live the rest of your life in a state of resilience and being a survivor rather than a victim, we believe it’s worth it.
If you’d like to get started today, click on the button below, and we will help you find the best practitioner to help you reach your goals for overcoming the way that trauma is impacting your life.
Lisa Catallo is the Owner/Director at Panorama Wellness Group. Each member of our team is trauma-informed and believes that creating a safe space for you within our office and your life is our first priority.
