Traumas of Comission

As mentioned previously, one way that we can think about trauma will be to talk about traumas of omission versus traumas of commission. Today I want to focus on traumas of commission.

These are traumas in which something is actually done to us that should not have been done, or which was done too early, or too intensely.

These are the types of events and experiences most people recognize as traumatic, so it might be physical or sexual abuse, stealing, killing someone, or destroying someone’s property.

These traumas are caused by or committed by other humans (so not natural disasters). This then also applies to political system, family systems, and religious systems that commit in acts that cause harm.

From another lens, we might consider the trauma associated with our own participation in harmful behaviors.

It is absolutely possible to be traumatized by things we did in the heat of the moment, under the influence, as ordered by people in authority, or before we knew better. And as a friendly reminder, acknowledging how we are traumatized by our own behavior does not negate the harm we caused. These are not mutually exclusive experiences.