Fleet MaullThe Entrepreneur’s Zen Master

Gabor Maté discusses Trauma, Addiction and Emotional Health. #trauma #traumahealing #traumainformed

16 Aug 2023 · 1 min

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Speaker defines trauma as a "psychic wound" (Greek-root sense of wounding) and emphasizes that trauma is about what happens inside a person as a result of events—or the absence of expected positive experiences. The speaker distinguishes between "big T" traumas (sexual/physical/emotional abuse, parental death, family addiction, violence, poverty, racism, neglect) and wounds from essential needs not being met in childhood.

Chapters

If we begin with the unifying understanding that trauma is not whatever happens to you, but what happens inside you as a result of what happens, or sometimes what doesn't happen to you, then we understand the words Greek origin, which means wound or wounding. So trauma is a psychic wound. And we can incur wounds, really, in two broad ways. When bad things happen to children or adults that shouldn't happen, such as sexual, physical, emotional abuse, all the adults. Childhood experiences, a parent dying, addiction in the family, violence in the family, poverty, of course, racism, neglect. So children can be heard that way. That's usually called, what, the big T traumas. But children can also be wounded. Again, going back to the Greek origin of the word. Not by bad things happening that shouldn't have, but by the good things that should have happened, not happening.