Short video by Dr. Don Wood offering a simple diagnostic test for whether past events still constitute active trauma: when you recall an event, if you feel an emotion (because emotion calls for action), the trauma is still having an effect and remains active.
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So here's a test that I'm going to ask you which will identify whether trauma is having an effect on you. When you think on an event that happened in your life and you think about it right now, do you feel an emotion? If you can feel an emotion, then that trauma is still having an effect. Because the purpose of an emotion is a call for an action. So your mind is looking at that event that you just looked at and seeing it in real time, which is how trauma affects us. And your mind is going to want some resolution to it, and it's going to create an emotion to get you into an action. That means the trauma is still active.