What is medical trauma?
Medical trauma is one of the most widespread, yet overlooked, forms of trauma
It affects 10-25% of people who undergo intensive medical treatment. That number is even higher for people who have been in intensive treatment as children, and who have seen their own children in intensive treatment.
Intensive treatment aside, medical trauma can occur during routine medical procedures, as well. Trauma can happen when we feel overwhelmed, out of control, shocked, violated, or extremely frightened. It can also occur if we witness someone else badly hurt or with a serious illness.
When something impacts us for months and years after the event, it may be diagnosable as PTSD – post traumatic stress disorder. It means that the event continues to impact us negatively emotionally, physically, and it changes our behaviour. For example, after a bad experience at a hospital, you may become agitated at the thought of hospitals, have nightmares about hospitals, and avoid hospitals whenever you can.
There are theories about how exactly trauma works, though it is not fully understood yet. One theory is that the brain “bookmarks” a memory and all of its contents as dangerous so that we learn to fear and avoid anything that reminds us of the event. Over time, avoidance of the memory (and things that are associated with the memory) build up fear and more avoidance.
Another theory is that trauma memories are “frozen” in a way that biases our memory and attention in a way that makes the danger feel continuously real and present, even if it happened a long time ago.
If this is you
Trauma symptoms can make people feel like they’re going crazy. If this is you, you are not alone. Trauma can make us feel small, scared, dissociated, mistrustful, enraged, exhausted, and frustrated with it all. It can make us feel out of control and not like ourselves. It can steal our sleep, our peace of mind, our joy, and impact our work and relationships. And, with medical trauma in particular, it can make us avoid or delay our medical care.
Luckily, just because science hasn’t figured out everything about trauma yet doesn’t mean that there aren’t useful treatments. There are a lot of reasons for hope - trauma treatment may be challenging and take a while, but you may have a lot to gain from feeling better. However, you’ll want to find a practitioner who really knows their stuff. “Trauma informed” is a big buzz-word these days, so you’ll want to make sure that the practitioner actually has the experience and commitment to trauma treatment you deserve. Also, you’ll want to find a practitioner who you feel like you could build trust with – therapy works best with a good alliance.
References:
Cuneo, A. A., et al. (2023). “Pediatric Medical Traumatic Stress and Trauma-Informed Care in Pediatric Chronic Illness: A Healthcare Provider Survey.” The Journal of Pediatrics, 261, 113580.
Davydow, D. S., Gifford, J. M., Desai, S. V., Needham, D. M., & Bienvenu, O. J. (2008). Posttraumatic stress disorder in general intensive care unit survivors: a systematic review. General hospital psychiatry, 30(5), 421–434. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.genhosppsych.2008.05.006
Harriel - Hidlebaugh, S. (2023). Not Just Non-Consensual Pelvic Exams: The Need for Expressed Consent for All Intimate Tasks for Elective Procedures. Voices in Bioethics, 9. https://doi.org/10.52214/vib.v9i.11927
Kranenburg, L., Lambregtse-van den Berg, M. P., & Stramrood, C. A. I. (2023). Traumatic childbirth experience and childbirth-related post-traumatic stress disorder: A contemporary overview. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20(4), Article 2775. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20042775
Shapiro, J. (2018). “Violence” in medicine: Necessary and unnecessary, intentional and unintentional. Philosophy, Ethics, and Humanities in Medicine, 13, Article 7. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13010-018-0059-y [link.springer.com], [sci-hub.ru]
