Hearing Trauma Through Another

A requirement of "Dramatizing the Data" is listening and taking notes from people in the Chattanooga community. Each person we interviewed had experienced some type of trauma whether it was childhood abuse, relationship abuse, sex work, drug abuse, neglect, violence, or death, each person came with their own personal encounter with trauma. As a psychology major, I have heard this word "trauma" so much I began to become desensitized to what it really means, until it was spoken with tremendous strength from our interviewees. When people think of trauma, some may associate it with "shell shock" or a bad car accident, but what our class has shown me is trauma is more than that. Trauma is life-changing, relationship-breaking, and a type of everlasting pain substances, sex, or money cannot heal. Trauma may be the reason someone goes down a fatal path but it may also be the reason for a type of resilience that cannot be destroyed once it is created. Hearing stories of trauma through another person strengthened my empathy and understanding of things I could not begin to imagine. Hearing stories of how another has overcome trauma is inspiring and brings to light all the things beautiful in the world. Positivity, self-confidence, spirituality, human connection, and recovery support groups are all methods of healing taken by our interviewees to reclaim their lives after trauma. Through their powerful storytelling, our interviewees gave us their experience of how the were able to overcome unimaginable circumstances.