Recognizing Trauma (Strickland)
Seeing someone’s trauma can be difficult because the wounds it leaves are often invisible or express themselves in ways that keep us from recognizing what is going on… However, while we cannot diagnose others with trauma or assume that they have it, we can learn to recognize common indicators of unaddressed trauma. Sufferers may display emotional, relational, or spiritual patterns that have been shaped by deep wounds. Some key signs include the following:
- Emotional responses: unexplained anxiety, hypervigilance, panic attacks, or emotional numbness. Some sufferers struggle to manage their emotions and may seem either overly reactive or disconnected.
- Relational patterns: difficulty trusting others, fear of authority, reluctance to engage in close community, or cycles of unhealthy relationships. Sufferers may struggle with drawing healthy relational lines or feel intense guilt when they do.
- Physical responses: chronic fatigue, headaches, digestive issues, or other physical symptoms that have no clear medical cause. The body carries trauma, and survivors may struggle with illnesses that are related to their stress and past harm.
- Spiritual struggles: Some trauma survivors wrestle deeply with God. They may fear him, feel abandoned by him, or struggle to believe that he truly loves them. Others may overachieve or become perfectionistic out of a belief that they must earn God’s favour. Their faith may be marked by either rigid rule-keeping or deep spiritual disengagement.
A trauma victim may not exhibit all these signs, but when we notice that someone is deeply anxious, withdrawn, or resistant to connection, we help them best when we respond with curiosity and compassion rather than judgment. Trauma often isolates, and one of the greatest gifts we can offer someone is the simple assurance that we see them and value them. (pp.36-37)
