During the past week, a few people have asked me why I am now choosing to speak out about current events and how it relates to trauma. I have not taken this approach in the past. I spoke briefly about it in my last blog, but I want to expand upon my decision in this blog. In my past work, I have helped my clients and followers to process their childhood trauma using triggers or gateways based on what is happening now. This is how we can partner with the universe (who is always trying to get our attention) to see the patterns and address the emotional impact they have on us.
Most of the time, it is possible to detach the past trauma from the current trigger through hard work and awareness. We can see the emotions are not representative of the current situation. We can allow ourselves to process the traumatic emotions from childhood and see the differences. The emotional expression can allow us to see how we have options we could not see before when completely consumed with the past narrative. This is powerful work and it’s how the patterns change and the cycles break.
That said, things have changed. I am not going to say that our previous political environment was not full of corrupt people who were only out for themselves. I know better than to sugarcoat our previous administrations, but this is different. Now, we are faced with a group of very rich and powerful people who are actively attempting to put people “in trauma” and build their fear. You might think I am biased here, but these words have been said. Look them up. It’s not hard to find. It’s not a new approach either. They are doing this in two main ways. The are implementing Project 2025 which is systematically taking away the rights of women and people of color. And they are instigating World War III to make rich people richer.
This is why everything has changed for me. There is not a way to detach our past trauma from our current trauma in the same way. The triggers that are coming from our current environment are bringing childhood traumatic emotions to a new level. The fear is higher. The rage is higher. The futility is higher. They are making it even harder to establish the safety we need to process all these feelings (also on purpose), so many people who were healing could start to shut down. I cannot remain silent about these triggers and still do my job. I cannot pretend the environment has not significantly changed and that personal safety is not threatened in new ways. I can and must point out the patterns. If we see the patterns, we might be able to process the emotions and make new choices, choices which will work better for us in this new environment. Here’s some patterns I want to point out today.
The oppression of people based on color, gender, age, disability, and ethnicity is too close to the oppression of children in abusive environments. While this has been happening since the beginning of “civilization”, the attempts at oppression are becoming louder and more unapologetic as people are feeling emboldened in their hateful rhetoric and actions. This is incredibly triggering for those of us who experienced oppression based on any externally identifiable factors in an abusive home or other abusive environment. It can bring up futility and anger as we witness these patterns escalating in the world around us.
The ranking of people as better than others is too similar to how we were compared as children to our parents and our siblings. This ranking is often used by oppressors to ensure they are elevating themselves to squelch whatever shame lives in them. These rankings are meant to be a “shame transferring technique” but it doesn’t work. Shame doesn’t release by shaming others, but most oppressors will keep trying, and we will keep having our own shame triggered by it.
The enabling of oppressors by the very people who are being oppressed is often too similar to the enabling of abuse by others in our family. It can be incredibly triggering to watch women and people of color supporting oppressors who have no respect for them. This is their own trauma feeding their need for validation from the oppressor, but that doesn’t make it any less triggering to witness. If we grew up with an abusive father and a mother who allowed it (or even facilitated it), this can trigger so much anger and futility for us.
The isolating of our nation as our allies are alienated for purposes of “protection” is often too close to how abusers isolated us in childhood so we could not become fully aware of our abuse or discuss it with others. It is very triggering to watch our nation move into a state of isolation where our previous allies are no longer allies. It can be incredibly scary to know we stand alone in the world no matter what the rhetoric says about our superiority. Deep down, everyone knows that’s not true, but it is often used to keep the abused in their place. The apparent need to unite with our abusers because our previous allies are now our enemies can trigger so much fear in us.
The creation of division among people so they will not unite against the oppressor is similar to pitting us against our siblings or others in childhood homes. The division doesn’t end with outside enemies. We are also taught those around us are not to be trusted. This is the old tried and true “divide and conquer” approach. It can spin us with fear and leave us seriously confused about who we can trust. This is highly triggering and keeps the abusers in charge.
When abusers induce chaos so we are unable to stay on top of what is happening behind the scenes, it might feel similar to the chaos we grew up with in a traumatic home. The chaos-creators always have the same intentions. They want to make sure we can’t ground and see the truth. It is easier to hide behind hundreds of transgressions than just one. If we have just one thing to focus on, we can fight back. Oppressors know this. If we spent childhood trying desperately to get our feet under us to no avail, this kind of tactic can trigger fear and futility and plenty of confusion, making it very difficult to figure out our next move.
The use of violence against others to instill fear is quite similar to the use of scapegoats in our childhood homes. It doesn’t matter if we were the scapegoat or not, we will still be triggered by this tactic. In our homes, we may have watched our abusers vilify and blame the scapegoat for speaking up. We learned to stay quiet. We will often experience the fear and futility associated with this tactic because we have seen it before.
I want to conclude by saying that I know these are oversimplified examples. The patterns have existed in almost every aspect of our lives, especially for women and people of color. Schools, corporations, medical systems and governmental systems have been using these methods since they were first created to ensure some people cannot have the same opportunities as others. In fact, I wholeheartedly believe it is our strides in human rights that have made these strategies come out of the shadows to regain control. I understand these issues are bigger than our childhood trauma patterns, but this isn’t a book. It is a blog and this is a place to start. Sometimes, it’s the hardest place to start.
You might be wondering what you can do with this information. I know it sounds hopeless. If our current events are re-traumatizing us to the point where we are inundated with traumatic emotions, what can we really do? This is where emotional journaling can be incredibly helpful. Our traumatic emotions can drive us to take ungrounded actions if we have no other way of channeling them. Allow yourself to bring these emotions to the page whenever possible. This is shockingly good at helping us ground and bringing clarity about our next steps when nothing seems possible. If they can’t make us feel like giving up, they don’t win the fight.
