Trauma should be approached as an experience that fractures temporal continuity and demands integration into a coherent life narrative for healing. Neurobiological findings illuminate correlates of traumatic impact but do not capture existential or symbolic dimensions. Protocolized, evidence-based interventions can reduce symptoms yet risk objectifying suffering and alienating survivors when meaning-making is neglected. Psychoanalytic and relational perspectives emphasize the centrality of therapeutic alliance, meaningful relationships, and narrative integration. Effective trauma work attends to both symptom relief and restoration of meaning, dignity, and relational connection to support lasting recovery.
In our current clinical landscape, "trauma" has become a ubiquitous term-both in the scientific literature and in popular discourse. The word is invoked in diagnostic manuals, self-help books, and even casual conversation. The dominant narrative around trauma today often privileges a view of trauma as a "thing"-a technical problem with distinct behavioral, neurobiological, or cognitive symptoms that exists apart from the lived experience of the person.
I argue that this trend, despite its intentions, is not only theoretically narrow but also may threaten to alienate survivors from the core meaning and humanity of their experience. In advocating for a richer and more nuanced understanding, I draw on psychoanalytic and relational theory to restore the existential and symbolic dimensions of trauma, foregrounding the therapeutic relationship and the imperative of meaning-making.
Modern science has achieved much in mapping the neurobiological "correlates" of trauma, as seen in countless brain imaging and psychophysiological studies. We can now point to altered amygdala function, disruptions in memory encoding, and changes in autonomic regulation. Yet, as even advocates of this research admit, these findings are, almost by definition, unsurprising. It would indeed be extraordinary to find enduring psychological experience without measurable biological correlates.
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