In this episode Julie and Ginger talk about the 3Es of trauma. SAMHSA, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration of the US government, coined the term “the 3Es” and this has become core to the definition of trauma. The 3Es is a very basic concept but, while it is very basic, it isn’t simple. To determine if something is traumatizing, we can’t judge based on whether we think the event should be traumatizing. It is very individualized.

SAMHSA says, “Individual trauma results from an event, series of events or set of circumstances, that is experienced by an individual as physically or emotionally harmful or life-threatening, and that has a lasting adverse effect on the individual’s functioning and mental, physical, social, emotional, or spiritual wellbeing.”

The 3Es are: Event, Experience, and Effect.

Events happen and that doesn’t mean it is traumatizing. Not everyone present at the event is traumatized. It depends on how you experience the event and how it affects your life. It is truly individualized.

Listen in as Julie and Ginger talk about what makes an event more likely to be traumatizing and how this can be mitigated.

Remember – Your trauma is not my trauma! And, no one gets to pick their trauma. It is truly the nervous system’s response.