Therapist Insights: Common Misconceptions About Trauma Responses on TikTok

The Pitfalls of Overgeneralizing Trauma Responses

As a therapist specializing in trauma treatment, particularly post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), I utilize evidence-based methods like eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy to help individuals affected by abuse, neglect, interpersonal violence, and other severe life events.

While trauma was once primarily linked to veterans, contemporary research recognizes that various adverse experiences can qualify as trauma and elicit trauma responses.

In my practice, I’ve observed that trauma often goes unrecognized. For instance, cultural norms such as corporal punishment may cross into child abuse territory, leading to trauma. Additionally, some individuals who identify as hardworking may be using overwork as a coping mechanism to distract from past trauma.

Greater understanding of trauma’s effects on the mind, body, and emotions can empower more people to seek healing and break cycles of trauma. However, not every reaction is a trauma response, and mislabeling can cause unintended harm.

Understanding Trauma and Trauma Responses

The American Psychological Association defines trauma as “any disturbing experience that results in significant fear, helplessness, dissociation, confusion, or other intense feelings that have a lasting negative impact on a person’s attitudes, behavior, and functioning.” Key elements include the significance, duration, and impact on daily life.

Trauma involves both the triggering event and the internal processing that shapes our reaction. Trauma responses typically manifest as fight, flight, freeze, or fawn behaviors—automatic reactions governed by the autonomic nervous system during traumatic situations.

Fight involves confronting danger directly; flight is escaping to safety; freeze means becoming immobile; and fawn (or “tend and befriend”) entails appeasing the threat to prevent escalation.

Separating Trauma Responses from Common Behaviors

Social media platforms like TikTok often blur the lines, suggesting that many everyday behaviors are trauma responses. For example, some content claims that repeatedly watching the same movies or TV shows is a trauma coping mechanism because familiarity reduces unpredictability, which can trigger trauma survivors.

While revisiting familiar media can indeed provide comfort and foster reflection on personal growth, it does not necessarily indicate a trauma response. Enjoying reruns like "This Is Us" is not automatically linked to trauma.

It’s important to remember that social media cannot replace professional therapy, and trauma responses are highly individualized. Viral content lacking scientific sources can lead many to mistakenly believe they have trauma when they do not.

Moreover, anecdotal insights from therapists should be clearly identified as such to differentiate from peer-reviewed research.

Avoiding Pathologizing Trauma Survivors

Even individuals diagnosed with PTSD do not constantly experience trauma responses. For example, a person with PTSD may feel upset after a disagreement with a partner, which is a normal emotional reaction rather than a trauma response. Labeling such appropriate reactions as trauma responses can be stigmatizing.

When to Seek Professional Support

Therapists themselves sometimes question what constitutes trauma. I personally dislike dental visits due to sensory sensitivities and once experienced fear during a procedure. Reflecting on this, I realized my reaction was understandable but did not meet the criteria for a trauma response since it did not cause long-term dysfunction.

This distinction helped me manage my anxiety and communicate with my dentist to improve future experiences.

The Risks of Over-Labeling Trauma

Mislabeling normal reactions as trauma responses can lead individuals to search for traumatic causes unnecessarily, potentially causing distress. It can also pathologize survivors who are already coping with genuine trauma.

When Trauma Labels Aid Healing

Accurately identifying trauma is crucial for many who suffer silently, blaming themselves or minimizing their experiences. Understanding that their reactions are trauma responses can bring relief and hope, helping them realize they are not broken but responding to protect themselves.

Recognizing trauma responses can transform perspectives and support recovery.

• Conditions A-Z
• PTSD

Sources:

1. American Psychological Association. Trauma.
2. Russell CA, Levy SJ. The temporal and focal dynamics of volitional reconsumption: a phenomenological investigation of repeated hedonic experiences. Journal of Consumer Research. 2012;39(2):341-359. doi:10.1086/662996

By Julia Childs Heyl, MSW
Julia Childs Heyl is a clinical social worker and writer focusing on mental health disparities through the lens of critical race theory. She specializes in treating anxiety, depression, and trauma among people of color using depth therapy and EMDR trauma therapy.

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