Why Are We Talking About Medical Trauma?

  • Talking about medical trauma is very important given how frequently individuals in our community experience medical trauma, in addition to the added toll medical trauma can take on our health and well-being. It is also important to talk about because we don’t talk enough about trauma and the toll it can take on our minds and bodies!

  • Our bodies hold on to negative experiences, pain, grief, and trauma in ways that we often don’t recognize or realize in the moment. Sometimes even years later we may not recognize our trauma, trauma history, or the impact trauma has had in our life.

  • We can grow accustomed to normalizing our trauma, minimizing our trauma, or avoiding our trauma in ways that can be quite painful and/or harmful in an effort to cope and survive.

  • Trauma has also been shown, time and time again, to increase the risk for the development of autoimmune disease and chronic illness. There have even been studies demonstrating that veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are more likely to develop autoimmune disease (O’Donovan et al., 2015)! This is very striking, especially given the prevalence of autoimmune diseases within our community, and the belief that some forms of POTS are autoimmune in nature. If this is indeed the case, experiencing additional medical trauma, and not properly healing, could increase the risk for further disease, illness, or worsening of underlying illnesses within our community.

  • This is something we want to discuss to help reduce the overall risk, increase awareness, and ensure that individuals in our community are able to access the proper support and opportunities for healing that they deserve.

  • We must also emphasize that while we note the link between trauma and autoimmune disease, you did NOT cause your illness.

  • Your illness is not your fault and your trauma is not your fault. Blaming ourselves for illnesses and situations out of our control can cause so much added pain and distress that can impact our ability to heal.

Sources:

O’Donovan, A., Cohen, B. E., Seal, K. H., Bertenthal, D., Margaretten, M., Nishimi, K., & Neylan, T. C. (2015). Elevated risk for autoimmune disorders in Iraq and Afghanistan veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder. Biological Psychiatry, 77(4), 365–374. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2014.06.015