As a clinical psychologist, I’ve seen lots of people who have experienced trauma. Sometimes the trauma happened a long time ago, and sometimes it was much more recent. But I quickly learned that not everyone who goes through trauma gets traumatized.
I guess that’s why Joel Paris’s (2023) book, Myths of Trauma, made so much sense. Paris points out that trauma has always been a part of human life. He reminds us that most people who experience trauma don’t suffer long-term effects.
And the figures are amazing. One study found that 70.4% of people across 24 countries recalled at least one lifetime trauma (Kessler, 2017). An earlier study reported a figure of 89.6% (Breslau et al., 1998).
So, trauma is very common. And recovering from trauma is really common too.
The problem is that society has become saturated with trauma (Rowland, 2025). This “trauma creep” risks trivializing the dreadful things that some people go through. And even worse, Paris tells us that when people see themselves as victims, their problems often become chronic.
I work hard as a clinical psychologist at not assuming I know what’s bothering people. Instead, I practice patient-perspective care (Carey, 2017). That means I make sure my work is guided by the perspectives of the people I’m helping. If they don’t think something is a problem, I don’t try to persuade them that it is. Or, if they do think something is a problem then I take that seriously even if it doesn’t seem like a big deal to me.
This way of working has helped when people talk about trauma. I invite them to teach me what it is about the trauma that still bothers them. If it doesn’t bother them anymore, we focus on the things that are problems for them.
Because I work like this, I’ve never felt the need to say I use trauma-informed care. According to the Center for Disease Prevention (2022), there are 6 principles of trauma-informed care. This type of care emphasizes: safety; trustworthiness and transparency; peer support; collaboration and mutuality; empowerment, voice, and choice; and respect for diversity.
I don’t disagree with any of these principles. In fact, that’s why I don’t think trauma-informed care should be a special form of care. It should be the norm. These 6 principles should just be care. Everyone, no matter what problem they have, should experience this kind of care. This is the care of patient-perspective care.
By letting the patient’s perspective guide the care provided, all those 6 areas are considered without making assumptions about what might be best for the people wanting help.
In caring services, it’s easy to find examples of an “I know what’s best for you” attitude. I have experienced this myself when I have been on the patient side of caring. Perhaps you have too. Patient-perspective care is the opposite.
In patient-perspective care, we accept we don’t know what’s best for others. Instead, we learn from them about what’s troubling them and what might help. We also believe that people can sort their problems out in ways that work for them. Sometimes they need support to do that, but whether support is genuinely supportive can only be decided by them.
The main question for me is, to what extent are people living the life they want? Caring services should be about helping people get to the place where they can answer “a lot”! For that to happen, people who work in caring services must acknowledge that the same event is experienced differently by different people. More importantly, they must reflect this in the care they provide.
Trauma doesn’t always traumatize.