The topic in question is the misunderstanding and rejection of trauma as a sporting element in the context of various ailments of the population of Western civilization. The word “trauma” is used very frequently nowadays and has taken on more meanings due to which its true meaning has been obscured and diluted. Trauma needs to be extensively and clearly discussed, especially when it comes to human health. Often, when the word “trauma” is used, images of catastrophic events such as war, hurricanes or severe neglect come to mind. Because of this perception of trauma, people unconsciously characterize it as something that is abnormal, extraordinary or unusual.

In order to better understand the impact of trauma on a person and how people actually accept trauma, it is necessary to ask the question: what exactly is trauma?

MISUNDERSTANDING AND INADAPTABILITY OF TRAUMA AS A PSYCHOLOGICAL ELEMENT IN THE CAUSES OF DIFFERENT DISEASES OF THE WESTERN CIVILIZATION POPULATION

According to various authors’ definitions, trauma can be defined as an internal injury, or as a permanent wound or rupture of a tissue due to an event that is painful or distressing. Above all, a trauma is an internal event experienced by a person due to painful or stressful events. Trauma is not the event itself. Trauma is not what a person experienced in an external environment, but rather what happened inside the person’s body and mind during the life event.

“Trauma is not what happens to you, but what happens in you. And, as we shall see, trauma is a process and a kind of suffering that lasts throughout your life and benefits you.” (Gabor, 2022:31-32).

As already mentioned in the introduction to this essay, the word “trauma” has now become so overused that it has begun to lose its original meaning. Most people have heard someone or even themselves say something like, “Oh my God, that commercial was so shocking, I was traumatized after turning off the TV,” or something similar. In these cases, it is often just a matter of emotional or physical stress experienced. “All traumatic events are undoubtedly stressful, but not all stressful events are traumatic” (Gabor, 2022:34).

Trauma can be called an event that weakens a person, in other words, it makes them more limited physically or psychologically than before, in a way that stands out. Reacting stressfully because of something that people experienced at some time in the past does not mean being re-traumatized. It is not about trauma if:

• It does not affect the human capacity to feel, think, believe or be concerned for oneself, and does not make it impossible to share pain.
• Does not prevent the experience of pain, fear and distress without the compulsion to engage in compulsive work, sedation or stimulation in any other way.
• It does not promote self-glorification or self-indulgence with the aim of accepting the environment or justifying one’s own existence.
• It does not interfere with the ability to experience gratitude for the wonders and beauty of life.

An example of creating an inaccurate map of human pain, where one is freer in terms of mental anguish is clearly seen in the example of Darell Hammond, who during his first experience of mental distress was 19 years old, when he studied journalism at the University of Florida. Darell experienced a constant state of inexplicable fear and anxiety. Doctors at the time treated him for depression and paranoia, and even schizophrenia. Over the past ten years, he has been evaluated by various doctors and psychiatrists who have diagnosed him with conditions such as bipolar disorder, PTSD, depression and other related conditions. All these doctors and psychiatrists were led by a premise that is both a precursor of Darell’s treatment and also dominates the greatest part of medical thinking: pain is the source of biological brain disease.

Because of this assumption, Darell (and many others) were treated with changing drug cocktails for half their lives, with no progress. After three decades of taking medication, Darell meets Dr. Nabil Kotbi, who finally asks him about his experiences in childhood, in other words, asks him about the traumas that Darell experienced in childhood. Only then did Darell begin his road to recovery after discovering that he had suffered the result of a trauma caused by the abuse he suffered at the hands of his mother during his childhood.

The Darella Hammond case can be compared with many other cases where the product of the trauma has been (or is) attributed exclusively to the medical field for the physical health of the body. Despite the fact that the aforementioned may be partially or completely true in some cases, this approach to illness is expressly supported for all people who, due to mental illness caused by trauma, have been subjected to inappropriate treatment and deprived of the possibility of regaining a full picture of their own personality, diseases that have never been treated as such but are instead caused by the disabling of the body increase the risk of serious illnesses that could (or could have) become more serious due to the incorrect approach and treatment.

The aforementioned view consequently leaves the person in a position of passively receiving prescribed medical treatments in which physical symptoms are alleviated by medications that they must take, sometimes for the rest of their lives.

In medicine, it can also be about illnesses of the most diverse kinds. Precisely because of this, it is clear that the concept of illness in general is not well known. Illness is a concept that can only truly be utilized in the singular. “The plural of illness is as meaningless as the plural of health: health. Pain and health are singular concepts that relate to the state of human well-being, and not, as is customary in contemporary linguistic usage, to organs or parts of the body.” (Dethlefsen and Dahlke, 2017:15).

The body is never sick or healthy, the body receives information that sends it to the world. The world in this case is the information that is manifested in the body. Visually displayed, the world is radio program, and the body is listener. Pain represents a break in harmony, and at the same time pain seeks to establish equilibrium. When harmony is disturbed, it unfolds in the mind at the level of information, and the body serves only as an indicator. That said, if a person experiences imbalance in their consciousness, it will certainly be displayed in the body.

There is a threshold that was identified as far back as 1984 by Jon Franklin, and it refers to how current psychiatry is on the threshold of becoming an exact science that is precise and relates to molecular genetics. However, forty years ago, science was a long way from this desired goal. The American Psychiatric Association published the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders in 2013, when the head of the working group, Dr. David Kupfer, acknowledged how much they hope to be able to identify disorders in the future using biological and genetic information. David Kupfer acknowledged how hopeful they are that in the future they will be able to identify the condition using biological and genetic markers that provide accurate diagnoses. It has been known for several decades that patients are waiting for biomarkers that have not yet arrived.

Although there are people who are opponents of pharmacology, as well as those who rely entirely on pharmacology, this work does not wish to take on either of the aforementioned sides. It has been shown that medication, psychotherapy and their combination help people with emotional or behavioral problems. Different types of problems, however, will react differently to different treatments; therefore, choosing the right treatment can be complicated. According to the available literature, neurobiology plays a role in the dynamics and potential alleviation of mental distress. Distancing oneself from the trauma experienced and from traumatic symptoms can sometimes facilitate the intelligent use of medication.

The population of the Western civilization, in the precincts of the SAD, is struggling with the problems of great differences between social strata, racism and other social problems that affect human health, creating a great deal of stress that results in physical and mental illness. The above can be summarized under the heading of social trauma, which is widespread and is the cause of many different illnesses. Traditionally, teaching and medical institutions do not include interventions in their lectures with regard to social issues, nor how to react to them.

The injustice that occurs within a society that singles out certain lives from among human lives has biological effects that are not due solely to lower property status. Social status can be linked to health using a social gradient that runs through all levels of society. Social status can be a trigger for illness and physiological stress. The culture of the Western population is based on materialism and consumer culture, which replaces healthy behavior patterns. Pharmaceuticals are growing in terms of drug prescriptions and the creation of new drugs for neurochemical properties, while psychiatry is not progressing at the same rate, although progress is being made.

The purpose of psychotherapy is to help people heal in the process of acceptance and change, because the body is always right, it shows what consciousness cannot see. Although it is necessary to treat pain, it is not necessary to wage war against it, because pain is a path to healing and a path to change in society.

Understanding pain as a consequence of trauma is a big step for both the individual and society. Pain can be a personal guide on the road to health. Pain in a community is often used as a weapon of self-defense and illusion, because of which not only the individual suffers, but also the whole community. It is necessary to remove the pain from the customary narrow field of medical observation and look it in the eye and deal with it. Traumas are not just harmful to children in the form of cruelty, but also social traumas, of various kinds, national, material, etc., which divide society into classes and create health risks and system dysfunctions. Many ailments are caused by stressful events that are now characterized as “everyday” or “normal” in the population of Western civilization.

Chronic mental and physical ailments must be viewed from a broader perspective because Western medicine does not affect the approach to the whole person, but only the physical approach, neglecting the fact that “modern” culture causes mental and physical stress, promotes immune system overload and disrupts emotional balance. The listed factors have consequences on the multi-layered processes in human life and the aspect of “normal” values that people live by, and at the same time are not aware of the psychological effects that cause them.

*Key words: trauma, pain, regulation of the nervous system, somatic experiencing therapy, psychotherapist zagreb, gestalt therapy

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