I appreciate your ackinowledgement that trauma does not have to define one's life trajectory. As a clinical psychologist, I am well aware that there has been a trend toward sometimes an overidentification with one's diagnosis or label or the assumption that trama defines them. In a recent literature review I did for a special issue on resilience for Gifted Education International, it seemed clear that many children do not suffer long-term consequences from ACE's, even though some do. An appreciation of the struggles some have endured, yet encouragement to recognize their strengths, is essential to avoid feeling "damaged" by their experiences and recognize that they can move past them and even thrive.
This is a wonderful approach and I’m enthusiastic about the turn towards resiliency in TIA … indeed in my own experience, focusing solely on the problems (avoidance) without movement towards the goal (approach) tends to make me irritable and frustrated. And that proportionate attention to the trauma in transactions can reinforce the magnitude for kids. I recall a passage in Seligman’s “Optimistic Child” where he says that kids who endure recounting their past adverse experiences on the witness stand have a greater chance of experiencing it as a traumatic experience than the one who has support from their parents and guardians who don’t focus on it and make more of it — helping them grow beyond it. I had something awful happen to me around 4 and 5 years old that my parents didn’t make a big deal about and they carried a lot of guilt that I didn’t get therapy even though in 1974 it wasn’t commonly known to do that. I called them up and read them the passage and assured them that they did alright. Resilience to Adversity is the way to grow kids!
Using all past experiences as a stimulus for ongoing growth seems to be a helpful outlook. To transcend its surely about creating more of you that you are proud of and value, as well as minimising the downside of any unhelpful experiences or responses. Future growth and self-determination as the basis for how you want to “get better” provide the basis for any healing that needs to take place or any growth that means you feel more whole anyway.
This is all very interesting to me. I’m a public school educator in the US and all we hear is about trauma-informed everything, and to presume all of our students have gone through at least one trauma (big t trauma DSM or small t Gabor-Mate trauma). And we get shown vids in staff meetings of Oprah. Oprah says that when she used to encounter an angry staff member, she’d ask “what’s wrong with him?”, but now, after learning about the trauma we all (supposedly) have, she asks, “what’s HAPPENED to him?” I have no formal background in psychology but I can’t help but thinking that something about all this “trauma talk” is “off”. This essay gives me a different perspective, and for that I’m glad!
I'm pleased to see that there's increasing attention on ACE, especially since cPTSD is not yet included in the DSM. I recognize that everyone experiences trauma differently, both in terms of level and severity. However, I believe we should categorize trauma into three groups for clarity.
I've worked with clients who have cPTSD, those who experienced trauma after age 18 without military involvement, and others with combat-related trauma. While all these experiences are valid, my therapeutic approach varies significantly depending on the type of trauma. For instance, a client who experienced sexual trauma as a child requires a different approach than someone who has faced combat trauma. Additionally, there are individuals who have experienced trauma after 18 without any military context, less common, but still needing a different approach.
I always start by asking clients to identify their trauma. I inquire about their earliest emotional memories, focusing first on positive experiences before exploring what they consider their first traumatic memory. Some clients may have repressed memories that emerge later, especially with techniques like EMDR.
I also delve into their attachment styles and the roles their parents played in their upbringing. I find it helpful to refer to Erik Erikson's model to determine if there are stages where they might have become stuck. I have found, more often than not, they don’t recognize this.
I also incorporate a reality, existential, and logotherapy approach in my work. While I begin by addressing their past, my goal is to shift their focus to the present. I believe that their past experiences shouldn't weigh them down; instead, we work on transforming that energy into something positive and constructive for their current lives.
Anyhoo, this makes me happy to see this shift. Research is increasing and stigma is decreasing. 🎉
Having experienced conventional ACEs, I will offer that the biggest challenge I’ve faced with any of them was navigating Other People’s assumptions that I’ve been damaged or broken. I’ve made my peace with the experiences and have treated each as a moment in my life, not a monument of my life.
I too thank you for your very thoughtful and practical advice. Like so many ideas that take on a ‘life of their own’, ACE is out of control, a singular focus to the exclusion of people’s strengths and the fact that the brain is designed to change, to respond to caring loving relationships.
I grew up between ages 7 and 13 without a mother, who had died when I was 1 year old, and with a father who I never saw as he was fully occupied helping Churchill with WWII. I had to look after my sister in London during the bombing. She was a year younger than I. In my teens I realised that it had been a great lesson even though it was traumatic at the time. John
Hi Scott - How might the ACE approach work for people with severe psychosis, specifically delusional ideation? A recent book I read and reviewed, Decoding Delusions — A Clinician’s Guide to Working With Delusions and Other Extreme Beliefs, written by over 25 practitioners, seem to base their entire CBT approach on getting at childhood trauma through Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. Thanks for your thoughts.
Good to know SBK, thank you. I'm learning about trauma-informed approaches at the moment, it was a joy to see something on this from you, and fabulous to get the good steer early.
In related dopaminerdic travels I found an article noting that trauma-informed approaches are often administered in a non-TIA manner, such as encouraging the client to talk about the adverse experience and treating the potential traumatic experience as the trauma rather than the neurological changes. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/11786329231215037
Thank you so much for introducing these ideas in such an accessible way.
I’ve been struggling with the over-reliance on the trauma-informed perspective. Not every adverse experience is going to permanently damage someone. Likewise, not every slip and fall will result in significant musculoskeletal injury.
> Not every adverse experience will necessarily be “traumatic”.
Even so, some adverse experience are traumatic, as in leading to long-term adaptations which then take lifetime to unlearn (if even). Sure, positive experiences deserve our attention, perhaps that's where the ultimate solution lies. But we can't deny the existence of multi-generational trauma, the toxicity of our culture and our civilization.
We should at least be conscious of the possibility that, when it comes to human nature, what we consider normal simply isn't so. Maybe self-actualization, transcendence should be the norm, not the exception.
"The most ancient human beings lived with no evil desires, without guilt or crime, and, therefore, without penalties or compulsions. Nor was there any need of rewards, since by the prompting of their own nature they followed righteous ways." ~Tacitus, 1st century AD
"In [the Logos] was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light in darkness shined; and the darkness comprehended it not." ~John 1-4:5
I appreciate your ackinowledgement that trauma does not have to define one's life trajectory. As a clinical psychologist, I am well aware that there has been a trend toward sometimes an overidentification with one's diagnosis or label or the assumption that trama defines them. In a recent literature review I did for a special issue on resilience for Gifted Education International, it seemed clear that many children do not suffer long-term consequences from ACE's, even though some do. An appreciation of the struggles some have endured, yet encouragement to recognize their strengths, is essential to avoid feeling "damaged" by their experiences and recognize that they can move past them and even thrive.
This is a wonderful approach and I’m enthusiastic about the turn towards resiliency in TIA … indeed in my own experience, focusing solely on the problems (avoidance) without movement towards the goal (approach) tends to make me irritable and frustrated. And that proportionate attention to the trauma in transactions can reinforce the magnitude for kids. I recall a passage in Seligman’s “Optimistic Child” where he says that kids who endure recounting their past adverse experiences on the witness stand have a greater chance of experiencing it as a traumatic experience than the one who has support from their parents and guardians who don’t focus on it and make more of it — helping them grow beyond it. I had something awful happen to me around 4 and 5 years old that my parents didn’t make a big deal about and they carried a lot of guilt that I didn’t get therapy even though in 1974 it wasn’t commonly known to do that. I called them up and read them the passage and assured them that they did alright. Resilience to Adversity is the way to grow kids!
Peace
Using all past experiences as a stimulus for ongoing growth seems to be a helpful outlook. To transcend its surely about creating more of you that you are proud of and value, as well as minimising the downside of any unhelpful experiences or responses. Future growth and self-determination as the basis for how you want to “get better” provide the basis for any healing that needs to take place or any growth that means you feel more whole anyway.
This is all very interesting to me. I’m a public school educator in the US and all we hear is about trauma-informed everything, and to presume all of our students have gone through at least one trauma (big t trauma DSM or small t Gabor-Mate trauma). And we get shown vids in staff meetings of Oprah. Oprah says that when she used to encounter an angry staff member, she’d ask “what’s wrong with him?”, but now, after learning about the trauma we all (supposedly) have, she asks, “what’s HAPPENED to him?” I have no formal background in psychology but I can’t help but thinking that something about all this “trauma talk” is “off”. This essay gives me a different perspective, and for that I’m glad!
I'm pleased to see that there's increasing attention on ACE, especially since cPTSD is not yet included in the DSM. I recognize that everyone experiences trauma differently, both in terms of level and severity. However, I believe we should categorize trauma into three groups for clarity.
I've worked with clients who have cPTSD, those who experienced trauma after age 18 without military involvement, and others with combat-related trauma. While all these experiences are valid, my therapeutic approach varies significantly depending on the type of trauma. For instance, a client who experienced sexual trauma as a child requires a different approach than someone who has faced combat trauma. Additionally, there are individuals who have experienced trauma after 18 without any military context, less common, but still needing a different approach.
I always start by asking clients to identify their trauma. I inquire about their earliest emotional memories, focusing first on positive experiences before exploring what they consider their first traumatic memory. Some clients may have repressed memories that emerge later, especially with techniques like EMDR.
I also delve into their attachment styles and the roles their parents played in their upbringing. I find it helpful to refer to Erik Erikson's model to determine if there are stages where they might have become stuck. I have found, more often than not, they don’t recognize this.
I also incorporate a reality, existential, and logotherapy approach in my work. While I begin by addressing their past, my goal is to shift their focus to the present. I believe that their past experiences shouldn't weigh them down; instead, we work on transforming that energy into something positive and constructive for their current lives.
Anyhoo, this makes me happy to see this shift. Research is increasing and stigma is decreasing. 🎉
Having experienced conventional ACEs, I will offer that the biggest challenge I’ve faced with any of them was navigating Other People’s assumptions that I’ve been damaged or broken. I’ve made my peace with the experiences and have treated each as a moment in my life, not a monument of my life.
I too thank you for your very thoughtful and practical advice. Like so many ideas that take on a ‘life of their own’, ACE is out of control, a singular focus to the exclusion of people’s strengths and the fact that the brain is designed to change, to respond to caring loving relationships.
I grew up between ages 7 and 13 without a mother, who had died when I was 1 year old, and with a father who I never saw as he was fully occupied helping Churchill with WWII. I had to look after my sister in London during the bombing. She was a year younger than I. In my teens I realised that it had been a great lesson even though it was traumatic at the time. John
Yes 🙌
Hi Scott - How might the ACE approach work for people with severe psychosis, specifically delusional ideation? A recent book I read and reviewed, Decoding Delusions — A Clinician’s Guide to Working With Delusions and Other Extreme Beliefs, written by over 25 practitioners, seem to base their entire CBT approach on getting at childhood trauma through Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. Thanks for your thoughts.
https://medium.com/@jylterps/i-cant-prove-it-it-s-just-what-i-believe-decoding-delusions-and-other-beliefs-through-5cef41345af1
Great question, will contemplate.
Good to know SBK, thank you. I'm learning about trauma-informed approaches at the moment, it was a joy to see something on this from you, and fabulous to get the good steer early.
In related dopaminerdic travels I found an article noting that trauma-informed approaches are often administered in a non-TIA manner, such as encouraging the client to talk about the adverse experience and treating the potential traumatic experience as the trauma rather than the neurological changes. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/11786329231215037
Long live Sharky
🙌🙌🙌
Thank you so much for introducing these ideas in such an accessible way.
I’ve been struggling with the over-reliance on the trauma-informed perspective. Not every adverse experience is going to permanently damage someone. Likewise, not every slip and fall will result in significant musculoskeletal injury.
Exactly! 🙌
This article and approach speaks to me and my owned childhood adversity on so many levels. Thank you for sharing.
> Not every adverse experience will necessarily be “traumatic”.
Even so, some adverse experience are traumatic, as in leading to long-term adaptations which then take lifetime to unlearn (if even). Sure, positive experiences deserve our attention, perhaps that's where the ultimate solution lies. But we can't deny the existence of multi-generational trauma, the toxicity of our culture and our civilization.
We should at least be conscious of the possibility that, when it comes to human nature, what we consider normal simply isn't so. Maybe self-actualization, transcendence should be the norm, not the exception.
"The most ancient human beings lived with no evil desires, without guilt or crime, and, therefore, without penalties or compulsions. Nor was there any need of rewards, since by the prompting of their own nature they followed righteous ways." ~Tacitus, 1st century AD
"In [the Logos] was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light in darkness shined; and the darkness comprehended it not." ~John 1-4:5