Trauma is More Than a Catch Word
Written by Samantha Varela, MA Intern, June 2025
Lately, I’ve heard the term, ‘trauma’ being used more often than ever before. In fact, sometimes it feels like the word is haunting me, making an appearance at every turn in my life. However, before anyone can explore why this term is popping up in so many places of life, it would be useful to understand what trauma is and how it applies to mental health.
Simply explained, trauma is an injury. In the medical field traumas can be defined using certain features such as the type of trauma (contusion, laceration, fracture, etc.), the size and depth of an injury, and its functional impact on the body. What most people do not consider is that something as simple as a paper cut is considered a trauma. However, another important point to consider is the extent of the damage. If you’ve ever heard the expression, ‘death by a thousand paper cuts,’ you can understand that numerous small injuries that each individually cause a small amount of blood loss can cumulatively cause a significant impact or death. Likewise, even small injuries, like paper cuts, that are not properly cleaned, treated, and heal can become infected and lead to widespread sepsis that can be fatal.
You may be wondering how all of this is relates to mental health. The answer lies in the fact that it’s the same concept. Over the course of our lifetime, we sustain mental health injuries (traumas) and some of them may be minor while others can be major traumas. If we have effective coping skills, resiliency, or mental health treatment immediately after the injury, we can heal the wound. However, if we lack effective coping skills, the injury overwhelms our coping skills, or do not receive adequate mental health treatment after the initial injury, we run the risk of the wound becoming infected, potential sepsis, and possible death (in the form of suicide, untreated substance abuse, or consistent self-neglect). The cumulative effects of multiple traumas, regardless of the severity, can have the same outcome.
The question may be, how do you fix this? The answer is to work with a therapist who is knowledgeable in treating trauma. Therapists use a wide variety of strategies to help create an atmosphere and relationship of safety and security so that you can learn new and effective coping skills and begin to apply those skills to healing your mental health trauma. The good news is that you develop new coping skills, you can use these coping skills for any future injuries you sustain!
The most significant take away point from all of this is that the term trauma is getting a lot of attention in the mental health communities and in society, but it’s important to remember what trauma really means. Trauma is simply an injury and in the mental health world, trauma is a mental health injury that has left wounds. If left untreated the injury can get worse. Working with a trauma knowledgably therapist can help you heal these old and current wounds to help you live your life with the best mental health possible for you!