A short YouTube clip explaining iatrogenic trauma — trauma caused by frightening or upsetting experiences in places that should feel safe (medical, therapeutic, spiritual). The speaker gives personal examples (dentist, eye doctor) and recommends EMDR trauma therapy and self-advocacy as responses.
Chapters
What is iatrogenic trauma? It's a big word. And my guess is that many of you, like myself, have experienced iatrogenic trauma. This is a type of trauma that occurs when something aversive or scary or threatening or upsetting happens in an environment that should be safe, whether it's a medical setting, like a doctor's office, therapy office, or even in a spiritual place. I used to have a lot of iatrogenic trauma from the dentist. I would go and my dentist was really overzealous, and he would pull out teeth and teeth and teeth. Where as an adult, I look back and I only got to wiggle out two of my baby teeth because the dentist pulled the rest of them out. I have many memories of being in a lot of pain and getting Novocaine injected into my gums and then walking out with my cheeks full of gauze. And so being numb is really upsetting and triggering for me. Today I went to the eye doctor, and she told me she's going to put numbing drops in my eye. And I told her, I don't like numbing drops. They're kind of upsetting for me. And she's like, well, we have to do it for this glaucoma test. And so she put the numbing drops in my eye, and I proceeded to feel kind of queasy and upset. If you resonate with this, then you might also be dealing with something called iatrogenic trauma. In addition to advocating for yourself, my favorite form of therapy is EMDR trauma therapy.
