What is  Type A Trauma

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Trauma Type A refers to the absence of essential elements for developing a healthy and stable identity. Type A traumas include neglect, malnutrition, sickness or disease, and lack of affection, which hinder the development of strong emotional and relational capacity.

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What is Type B Trauma

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Type B trauma originates from specific harrowing events such as physical, sexual, or verbal abuse, war, bullying, assault, car accidents, or near-death experiences—whether personally experienced or witnessed. Type B trauma occurs when the brain's control centre is overwhelmed. We all have limits to our capacity to endure overwhelming events and their associated emotions. When the intensity of an emotion surpasses our capacity, and there is no support to handle it, the brain shuts off the higher cortical regions of the control centre, leading to terror and then parasympathetic shutdown as the back of the brain struggles to survive. Not every negative experience leads to trauma. Suppose a person can endure their suffering without being traumatized. In that case, a well-developed control centre in another person's mind can manage what traumatises a poorly developed brain. A stronger mind can quiet itself, maintain relationships, and behave normally in pain. Mastering suffering is the antidote to trauma that emerges as we expand our capacities.

 

What is the difference between Type A and Type B Trauma?

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The distinction between these two types of trauma lies in the fact that Type B category events may not always result in trauma, depending on the strength of a person’s emotional and psychological development, especially in early childhood. A person who has had a healthier environment in early childhood is much more likely to develop the capacity to handle negative events. Studies show that about two-thirds of adults dealing with addiction had some type of childhood trauma. Addiction is often an attempt to self-medicate. For this reason, a teenager undergoing a rehabilitation program is very likely to be guided through a process of identifying events or situations that caused trauma.

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Complex PTSD or Developmental Trauma

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Developmental trauma, also known as Complex PTSD, stems from a series of repeated, often 'invisible' childhood experiences of maltreatment, abuse, neglect, and situations in which the child has little or no control or perceived hope of escape. Growing up in an environment full of unpredictability, danger, parental inconsistency, or emotional abandonment, these individuals are left with 'hidden traumas' that disrupt not only their psychological but also neurological and emotional development. Your trauma will not be resolved by reliving (reenacting physically and emotionally) the traumatic experience. Simply reliving the experience only gives me another chance to go through the terrible experience. To be resolved, the partner or person suffering from trauma must achieve a mutual state of mind with another person in the midst of the experience that will lead her to act like herself (maintaining a relationship), calming together, and then find meaning for her in the experience by discovering how God sees her at that moment

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"Being able to feel safe with other people

is probably the single most important aspect of mental health;

safe connections are fundamental to meaningful and satisfying lives."  

 

B. van der Kolk

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If you want to heal from trauma in your life, and want to discover how your body can never lie but always knows the truth of what happened to you, contact me to help you.