Philosophy Discussion Forums | A Humans-Only Club for Open-Minded Discussion & Debate

[Xenophon]

First of all, let's dilute the drama. "Trauma" is old Greek for "wound." "Injury" if you will. Every creature that walks under the sun has had an injurious experience or fifty. Whether it gets styled "trauma" is directly proportional to an individual's propensity to self-pity.

Case in point. Before I went on to grad degrees in philosophy, I got beat up a bit in first grade. Traumatic right? Well, only till I learned you could even the odds (which were unequal in that particular playground) by throwing rocks. Trauma? I learned a valuable lesson the day I cast the first stone (if not struck the first blow.) "If you're in a fair fight, you're using flawed tactics."

Then? Then I moved on with life. I never believed the world was a safe place after that. Because of "trauma?" Of course not. Because...(drum roll) the other kids showed me the world is not a safe place. So call that my first philosophy lesson: deal with situations, not self-absorbed reactions.

[Sy Borg]

"Just snap out of it," does not work.

[Pattern-chaser]

First of all, let's dilute the drama. "Trauma" is old Greek for "wound." "Injury" if you will. Every creature that walks under the sun has had an injurious experience or fifty. Whether it gets styled "trauma" is directly proportional to an individual's propensity to self-pity.

Case in point. Before I went on to grad degrees in philosophy, I got beat up a bit in first grade. Traumatic right? Well, only till I learned you could even the odds (which were unequal in that particular playground) by throwing rocks. Trauma? I learned a valuable lesson the day I cast the first stone (if not struck the first blow.) "If you're in a fair fight, you're using flawed tactics."

Then? Then I moved on with life. I never believed the world was a safe place after that. Because of "trauma?" Of course not. Because...(drum roll) the other kids showed me the world is not a safe place. So call that my first philosophy lesson: deal with situations, not self-absorbed reactions.

We have adopted the word "trauma" to describe a bad experience that leaves mental or emotional side effects. In the worst cases, we see full-blown PTSD following a trauma, and that is a very real and serious condition. I think it's a bit dangerous to dismiss all 'trauma' as something blown out of proportion by the over-sensitive. It isn't.