3 ms·

I’m a bit disturbed by the way the article and most commenters here use the word trauma. Most of what’s discussed doesn’t seem to me to be "outside the normal r

I’m a bit disturbed by the way the article and most commenters here use the word trauma. Most of what’s discussed doesn’t seem to me to be "outside the normal range of human experiences". Am I completely out of the loop about how the word is used in the US now?

dredmorbius 2y ago
trauma: "an emotional wound or shock often having long-lasting effects" <https://dict.org/bin/Dict?Form=Dict2&Database=wn&Query=trauma https://dict.org/bin/Dict?Form=Dict2&Database=wn&Query=traum...> Etymology may also be informative: <https://www.etymonline.com/word/trauma https://www.etymonline.com/word/trauma> The description you give seems to come from Wikipedia's article, which at this writing follows that immediately with: "It must be understood by the affected person as directly threatening the affected person or their loved ones with death, severe bodily injury, or sexual violence." <https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Psychological_trauma&oldid=1234675877 https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Psychological_tra...> The situations being discussed in TFA and by numerous commenters (and certainly myself) do in fact involve direct threats of death or severe bodily injury to the affected person or their loved ones.
- RandomThoughts3 2y ago
  Well, no, the usual definition of trauma involves being "outside the normal range of human experiences". Having cancer is extremely distressing but it is not trauma. Anyway, yours and the other answer I got confirm what I though. The word definition has indeed been widely broadened in the US.
  - kranke155 2y ago
    late 17th century: from Greek, literally ‘wound’ - a deeply distressing or disturbing experience. What's your definition.
    - RandomThoughts3 2y ago
      "a powerful psychological shock that has damaging effects" OED, unchanged since 1917 A trauma is not just a distressing experience. That’s silly. We wouldn’t even have needed a new word if that was the case. Why weaken and therefore overall diminish the English language?
      - kranke155 2y ago
        So you literally went to another dictionary to prove yourself right? Must be fun.
Cthulhu_ 2y ago
Yes; trauma feels like a heavyweight, serious business word reserved for the worst experiences of humankind, but in psychology it's used in a much wider context. For one, it's the result of a subjective experience, that is, what may traumatize one person may be someone else's day job. I do like that the wiki page calls out in the first paragraph that witnessing traumatic events indirectly on TV may be distressing, but aren't considered traumatic experiences. And there are some people that use it too casually / colloquially.

dredmorbius 2y ago

trauma: "an emotional wound or shock often having long-lasting effects" <https://dict.org/bin/Dict?Form=Dict2&Database=wn&Query=trauma https://dict.org/bin/Dict?Form=Dict2&Database=wn&Query=traum...> Etymology may also be informative: <https://www.etymonline.com/word/trauma https://www.etymonline.com/word/trauma> The description you give seems to come from Wikipedia's article, which at this writing follows that immediately with: "It must be understood by the affected person as directly threatening the affected person or their loved ones with death, severe bodily injury, or sexual violence." <https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Psychological_trauma&oldid=1234675877 https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Psychological_tra...> The situations being discussed in TFA and by numerous commenters (and certainly myself) do in fact involve direct threats of death or severe bodily injury to the affected person or their loved ones.

RandomThoughts3 2y ago
Well, no, the usual definition of trauma involves being "outside the normal range of human experiences". Having cancer is extremely distressing but it is not trauma. Anyway, yours and the other answer I got confirm what I though. The word definition has indeed been widely broadened in the US.
- kranke155 2y ago
  late 17th century: from Greek, literally ‘wound’ - a deeply distressing or disturbing experience. What's your definition.
  - RandomThoughts3 2y ago
    "a powerful psychological shock that has damaging effects" OED, unchanged since 1917 A trauma is not just a distressing experience. That’s silly. We wouldn’t even have needed a new word if that was the case. Why weaken and therefore overall diminish the English language?
    - kranke155 2y ago
      So you literally went to another dictionary to prove yourself right? Must be fun.

Cthulhu_ 2y ago

Yes; trauma feels like a heavyweight, serious business word reserved for the worst experiences of humankind, but in psychology it's used in a much wider context. For one, it's the result of a subjective experience, that is, what may traumatize one person may be someone else's day job. I do like that the wiki page calls out in the first paragraph that witnessing traumatic events indirectly on TV may be distressing, but aren't considered traumatic experiences. And there are some people that use it too casually / colloquially.