What do you think of when you hear the word, “trauma?” Who is traumatized, and by what? Further, who identifies and treats another person’s trauma?
Trauma is the buzzword amongst helping professionals. As a whole, our culture is quite involved in understanding trauma. This is evidenced not only by the rise in mental health services. Indeed, dedicated films, podcasts, comic books, sermons, forums, and songs all represent a collective push to express and comprehend man’s resilience, or lack thereof.
Our culture divides man into two parts: the mind and the body. A result of this schism is the further division of helping professionals: therapists explore and tend to the mind where internists examine and treat the body. However, research is uncovering trends in the manifestations of trauma that show this neck-up/neck-down division to be highly problematic and a disservice to survivors. For example, gastrointestinal (GI) problems are surpassed only by depression amongst survivors of child sex abuse. GI illnesses and other medical conditions common in pertinent research have heretofore been considered idiopathic. The lenses through which both doctors and therapists view pain have been obstructed immensely by an absence of interdisciplinary effort in understanding this very complicated experience.
Medical professionals who have presented their data (mostly gastroenterologists, gynecologists, obstetricians, and maxillofacial specialists) invariably do so with a conclusion containing a cry for help; citing lack of time, lack of professional support, and especially lack of comfort and confidence as reasons why fewer than 12% of clients are screened for sexual activity at all in some offices. Our mental/medical construct impinges on the internist’s, therapist’s, and client’s potential for a holistic understanding of how trauma can change our bodies. If we cannot cooperate to lift this divide, our society will continue to be blindly saturated in trauma and so-called idiopathic pain.
About the presenterA. Maria Marcelin
I am a graduate student in the dual-Masters programme (Social Work and Human Sexuality) at Widener University, where I work as a Graduate Assistant. My research interests include sexual trauma and human trafficking. I plan to become a medical educator and sensitivity trainer on the topic of sexual trauma disclosure. Education, international travel, and Adventure Time are my sources of joy. I am a photographer and former foster parent. I can barely stand Facebook.