By Nancy Virden (c)2026 AlwaysTheFight.com

You’ve heard the word trauma more often lately, haven’t you? It’s a miserable and unfortunate thing when a potent word is watered down by the ignorant to mean anything for anybody. Trauma is not a headache, a disparaging word, being picked on, or even abused. Wait, did I say that right?

Abuse is not the trauma, nor are the nasty things that happened to you. Natural disasters are not trauma. Everything I mentioned so far may be traumatizing, but they are not trauma.

When something devastating occurs suddenly (such as a flash flood) or slowly over time (such as long-term abuse), trauma can result. Trauma is the loss of self, the inability to separate from the hurt and terror so as to go on functioning normally. Something has clicked on or off in our brains that numbs or supercharges our pain and fear.

We cease to be who we were or might have been without the disturbing event. A child confronted with sexual abuse for the first time may become withdrawn, grades drop, and their personality seems to change. A woman following a rape may be looking over her shoulder for years. Someone treated as if they are nothing by significant others may be abnormally apologetic. Or, none of these people may react outwardly.

Let’s not throw around the word as if it is meaningless because then it does lose its depth. It is futile to compare and say, “So-n-so had it worse, and they are okay.” No one fits a formula. Each person has their specific experience, expectations, perceptions, and psyche. Each person survives in the way they know how at the time.

-COMMENTS WELCOME

Today’s Helpful Word

Proverbs 14:10

Each heart knows its own bitterness, and no one else can fully share its joy.

If you are feeling suicidal or concerned about someone who is, in the U.S., call 988, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline. For a list of international suicide hotlines, go here.

If you are suicidal with a plan, immediately call 911 in the U.S. or go to your nearest emergency room; in the EU, call 112. (For other international emergency numbers, go here.) Hope and help are yours!

Always the Fight Ministries (ATFM) has been displaying compassion for those fighting mental illness, addiction, or abuse since 2012. Nancy is the founder and voice of ATFM and openly shares her emotional resurrection from despair. 

NOTE: Nancy is not a doctor or a mental health professional and speaks only from personal experience and observations. This website is not intended to substitute for professional mental or behavioral health care.

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