Exposure to descriptions of traumatic events narrows one's concept of trauma.

Abstract

The concept of "trauma" was originally used by psychiatrists to describe horrific events such as rape and torture that characteristically provoke extreme emotional distress. Both colloquially and clinically, the concept of psychological trauma has broadened considerably. Although many clinical scientists have expressed concern about the broadening of the concept of trauma, it remains unclear how this concept expansion occurs. We present two experiments in which American adults (N = 276 and N = 267) sequentially classified descriptions of events (e.g., "broke a leg in a bicycle accident") as either "trauma" or "not trauma." In the first experiment, we manipulated the frequency of severe events (i.e., severe events became less and less common). In the second experiment, we manipulated the range of events (i.e., participants viewed only severe or only nonsevere events). Together, the findings suggest that an individual's frame of reference for the severity of events plays a role in narrowing or broadening the concept of trauma. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).