What Counts as Trauma? How to Know If It Was Bad Enough

Other people had it worse. It was never physical. Was it bad enough to count as trauma? Here is what counts as trauma, and how to know. → Does This Count as Trauma? Free checklist: https://cassiemccarthy.com/trauma-che... "It's not the input that we need to measure, it's the effects of the input on the rest of your life." If you have ever wondered whether what you went through qualifies as trauma, you are not the only one asking. Therapists ask it too. A therapist recently asked me about someone who moved a lot as a kid and was bullied at school, none of it physical, and who now struggles as an adult with all the other signs of trauma. Was it bad enough to count? In this video I walk through what the diagnostic manual therapists use (the DSM) says counts as trauma, and the part most people skip: the examples it lists are not the only things that count. What you'll learn: • how to tell if something registered as a threat, using fight, flight, or freeze • why the effects on your life matter more than how serious the event looked • why threats to your housing, money, or immigration status can count • where the narrow, war-centered definition of trauma came from • why being exposed to trauma does not automatically mean PTSD It ends with the question that started it: can bullying cause trauma, even when it was never physical? Chapters 00:00 Does what you went through count as trauma? 04:11 What the DSM says counts as trauma 05:46 How to know if something was a threat to you 07:14 Why the effects matter more than how bad it looked 10:24 Where the narrow definition of trauma came from 17:44 Why trauma checklists miss long-term trauma 21:19 Can bullying be trauma if it wasn't physical? Host: licensed trauma therapist Cassie McCarthy, LICSW (CPT-rostered) 📍 Does This Count as Trauma? Free checklist: https://cassiemccarthy.com/trauma-che... 📍 For therapists, the Clinical Decision-Making Guide: https://cassiemccarthy.com/does-this-... Sources mentioned in this video American Psychiatric Association. (2022). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed., text rev.). https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.books.97... California Surgeon General's Clinical Advisory Committee. (2022). Adverse childhood experience questionnaire for adults (rev. 7.26.22) [Measurement instrument]. ACEs Aware, California Department of Health Care Services. https://www.acesaware.org/learn-about... Dokkedahl, S. B., Vang, M. L., & Elklit, A. (2022). Does tonic immobility mediate the effects of psychological violence on PTSD and complex PTSD? European Journal of Trauma & Dissociation, 6(4), Article 100297. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejtd.2022.1... Mooren, N., & van Minnen, A. (2014). Feeling psychologically restrained: The effect of social exclusion on tonic immobility. European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 5(1), Article 22928. https://doi.org/10.3402/ejpt.v5.22928 Weathers, F. W., Blake, D. D., Schnurr, P. P., Kaloupek, D. G., Marx, B. P., & Keane, T. M. (2013). The Life Events Checklist for DSM-5 (LEC-5) – Standard [Measurement instrument]. National Center for PTSD. https://www.ptsd.va.gov/professional/... Weathers, F. W., Litz, B. T., Keane, T. M., Palmieri, P. A., Marx, B. P., & Schnurr, P. P. (2013). The PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5) [Measurement instrument]. National Center for PTSD. https://www.ptsd.va.gov/professional/... This video is for educational purposes and does not constitute psychotherapy.