Trauma is Trauma

Dr. William McDermott, internationally renown Trauma Psychologist, explains that trauma is trauma. We have to define trauma by the internal event not by the external event. So we may be with someone who has been in a minor car crash and also later in the day be with someone who has been viciously beaten and sexually assaulted and presume inadvertently, and inaccurately, that the traumatic reaction to one of those events wouldn’t be as severe as to the other.  By finding out what the internal reaction to an event is how we know whether or not there is a traumatic reaction and whether or not there is a post-traumatic stress disorder. Our self-concept begins at infancy by knowing our body and how we move through the external and social environment. When we lose a part of our body, we lose a part of ourselves as we know it. We need to remind them what has changed is ‘your body, not yourself’.  A dream team of family, friends and professionals helps the person reorganise the way they think about themselves, accept the realities of what has been lost and appreciate what has been gained.