Trauma With a ‘Small t’: Have I Experienced Trauma?

Warning: The topics covered in this blog may be distressing to some readers, please read with care.

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When you hear the word trauma’, you might imagine extreme, life-threatening events—things like war, assault, natural disasters, or major accidents. These events cause what some people call ‘Large T trauma’ or clinical trauma.

If you are reading this blog post, you may be questioning how your experiences of less catastrophic circumstances have caused such distress.

What is trauma?

Trauma is not defined by the event itself – it is defined by how you process and respond to it. A number of factors determine how situations impact someone, including their emotional support, personal history, and capacity to cope.

Psychologically, trauma is defined as the emotional shock following an experience that overwhelms your ability to cope, leaves you feeling helpless, and disrupts your sense of safety or control. It could occur from one significant event, or a build-up of situations over time.

For the purpose of this blog post, the word ‘trauma’ will be used to describe significant psychological distress following a situation, and the word ‘event’ will refer to an incident or situation that may or may not cause trauma.

Trauma responses and triggers

In the face of danger, you will tend to respond to the threat or triggers with something called a ‘trauma response'. The two most well-known responses are fight or flight, which can be explained respectively as the tendency to defend against or escape a perceived threat. Sometimes these options are ineffective or unavailable, and thus fawn or freeze are alternate responses.

The fawn response can be seen as a ‘de-escalation tool’ that undermines your own boundaries and needs to keep peace and avoid abandonment. This is an active measure used when you are unable to safely defend yourself or escape.

The freeze response occurs when your body recognises that you are unable to escape or make choices in a situation. This can appear as dissociation and shutdown, or as a quiet delay in response to a trigger or event.

These responses occur during traumatic events or after a traumatic event when faced with a trigger. A trigger is reminder of events – including a sensory reminder (noise, smell, visual, flavour, or tactile stimulus), conversational topic, or emotional reminder of the feelings that occurred around an event – that causes the body to react as if the threat is still present.

Trauma with a ‘small t’

You can be traumatised without having a clear or dramatic event. These experiences can overwhelm your ability to cope, causing psychological distress:

• Growing up with emotionally unavailable caregivers

• Being criticised, invalidated, or verbally abused

• Experiencing exclusion or discrimination, including micro aggressions

• Being unable to regulate sensory triggers

• Dealing with prolonged financial hardship

• Experiencing ongoing stress without adequate support

These situations may not be life-threatening or violent, but your nervous system might not make that distinction, causing your body to react with a trauma response. Although post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) cannot be caused by these experiences alone, they can cause significant psychological distress, which may contribute to its development if combined with clinical trauma.

Trauma with a ‘large T’

Events of an extremely horrific or threatening nature can cause clinical trauma.

Clinical trauma can be caused by exposure to actual or threatened death, serious injury, or sexual violence. This can occur by:

• Direct experience of the traumatic events

• Witnessing these events firsthand

• Learning that a loved one has died accidentally or violently

• Experiencing repeated and extreme exposure to the aversive details of such events (this applies to people whose work regularly involves hearing or seeing the aftermath of horrific events – such as first responders, forensic workers, or investigators of child abuse cases.)

Such events may occur over a brief or extended period and are likely to cause PTSD or complex PTSD. Not all people who experience these events or clinical trauma will develop a mental disorder.

Why do traumatic events impact people differently?

People respond to similar events in different ways. Some seem to emerge unscathed following catastrophic events, while others may sustain trauma in response to situations that appear less severe.

This variation reflects the complex interaction of multiple personal, relational, and environmental factors. A few key factors include:

Belonging vs Isolation: If someone who is experiencing or has experienced a difficult situation has close community with others and a strong sense of identity within their community, this can provide them with the tools needed to navigate their situation or challenge. Community provides a safe space, where one can have their needs met and be surrounded by people they can relate to. Feeling isolated during or after an event can intensify emotional distress and trauma. Social support and connection within a community can overlap with another protective factor – compassion.

Compassion vs Shame: One of the strongest protective factors against trauma is the presence of an empathetic witness. This is a compassionate person who offers emotional support, listens without judgment, and validates the pain of the experience. When someone is met with empathy, it guides them to reflect and process the event in a healthier way. But if they feel shame or guilt, it can make the trauma more severe, especially if they are actively shamed for their experience. Shame and inappropriate guilt reinforce silence and isolation, and prevents self-compassion, which is essential for recovery and growth.

Resilience and Growth: The ability to recover and adapt is something built over time by facing challenges that ‘stretch’ a person without overwhelming them. Manageable and developmentally appropriate challenges can lead to personal growth, greater confidence, insight, and emotional endurance. As muscles strengthen through use and rest, emotional resilience grows when one faces manageable stress and has support and capacity to process it. On the other hand, trauma in early childhood or a life without any obstacles can leave someone more vulnerable, as they have not had the opportunity to learn how to cope with distress.

It is important to note that this endurance does not come from simply suffering; it comes from navigating challenges with adequate support, guidance, and self-compassion. If a person experiences overwhelming distress without enough support and capacity to endure it, this is unlikely to increase resilience and more likely result in trauma.

Individuals with existing disabilities such as autism, are at greater risk of experiencing trauma due to difficulties with emotional and sensory regulation, communication, and systematic oppression.

Trauma vs. PTSD

While trauma is the distress or damage caused by an event or situation; PTSD is a specific mental health condition that may develop after clinical trauma. Not everyone who experiences trauma will develop PTSD.

PTSD involves symptoms such as:

• Hypervigilance: A state of heightened alertness, constantly scanning for threats.

• Avoidance: Deliberately distancing yourself from places, people, or situations that remind you of the trauma.

• Intrusive Thoughts, Nightmares, or Flashbacks: Unwanted, vivid memories or reliving of the traumatic event.

• Mood Changes and Emotional Numbing: Fluctuations in mood or a sense of emotional disconnection from others.

Prolonged or repetitive clinical trauma, where escape is difficult or impossible – in cases of torture, organised captivity, genocide, prolonged domestic violence, and repeated childhood abuse – can result in complex PTSD.

Even if you do not meet the criteria for PTSD, you may still struggle with significant trauma symptoms. Trauma may also contribute to the development of other conditions, such as anxiety disorders, depression, dissociative disorders, or personality disorders.

Do You Need Support for Trauma?

Trauma isn’t always loud, visible, or dramatic—and your experience still matters.

Whether your experiences are recognised by others or not, your pain is valid. Healing begins with self-compassion, understanding, and support.

If you have experienced trauma and are ready to work through it, the team at Psychwest is here to support you with compassion and care. We can assist with recognising trauma responses, regulating emotions, setting boundaries, building social connection, and healthy coping skills to process your pain.

Contact us today to start your healing journey.