What is a little trauma? Does that mean that whatever caused the trauma was real quick, like getting struck by lighting or real small, like an electric shock? Maybe it means the reaction was little, like a quick gasp or single tear. Maybe it means that the trauma is a little noticeable. Maybe it means that the trauma only causes a little anxiety or a little depression or a little psychosis. Maybe it is the amount of emotion expressed after experiencing trauma.
There is no real way of knowing what this means because there is no research that measures the impact of trauma in terms of little. There is a concept of little t and Big T trauma but this concept is not considered evidence-based by mental health professionals who specialize in trauma. The concept of Big and little t trauma is common in practice but not in the research.
10 years ago, being a victim of bullying, stalking or racial discrimination as well as living in poverty, were all considered little t traumas. I was shocked to read this and honestly this makes no sense to me. I don’t specialize in trauma but I have done a considerable amount of research on the way trauma affects children with disabilities. I see no benefit to the child in categorizing or creating a hierarchy of traumatic events. It contradicts the research, which has concluded that the way people experience, cope with and manifest trauma is inconclusive. Meaning, we don’t know how an individual will respond to trauma because there have been so many different responses.
There may be a benefit to a mental health professional who prefers very structured interventions where categories are necessary or to provide a framework or starting point. It simplifies complex problems and processes. It may reduce therapists’ assumptions about the impact of trauma to an individual, making it less likely to imply that a person “should” feel a certain way. For more information about this concept, I recommend doing a quick search on www.pubmed.gov for the most current and reliable research.
What does this have to do with school safety? I am glad you asked. One – emergencies are usually not pleasant. We are not preparing for random acts of kindness or world peace. We are preparing for disaster. We need to be cautious when we are teaching students to be prepared. We need to be especially cautious with students who are prone to anxiety or depression, which is about 1 in 8 children. We need to be mindful of the unknown impact of trauma, especially for students with cognitive differences, developmental differences, intellectual differences and students who do not speak or communicate in ways that we understand.
Just to make a long post even longer, below are examples of what trauma can do
To be clear and not sarcastic at all, this roulette wheel of lifelong, debilitating and sometimes lethal consequences may be a result of Big T or little t trauma. Again, I ask, what is “a little trauma”?