Do you ever feel (or care for someone who feels) lost, isolated, different, stuck and misunderstood?
Have you ever heard anyone talk about trauma in a way that is positive… and instills HOPE?
Through stories and connections planITgirl helps people who have been impacted by trauma to understand what trauma is, and how it may be impacting them…or someone they know.
SO…what is trauma?
planITgirl defines trauma as Inner (Internal) Trauma, or IT.
When you mash up the Merriam-Webster Dictionary definitions of “internal” and “trauma” together, IT (Inner Trauma) becomes:
a disordered psychic or behavioral state resulting from severe mental or emotional stress or physical injury relating or belonging to or existing within the mind.
Easy Peasy…right?!?!
AND, what causes trauma?
Trauma can be physical (like being in a car crash) or emotional (like someone threatening to hurt you).
Other examples of traumatic experiences include:
- War
- Physical or sexual abuse
- Living through a natural disaster, like a hurricane or a wildfire…
- or, living in a “health disaster”…aka, a pandemic…
The Impact
…what is the impact of trauma in Canada?
Taking into consideration that the impact of trauma is invisible (and often complex) it (the impact) can be challenging to track and measure.
As a result, finding current statistics (on the impact) is (currently) limited.
However, there was a study done in Canada in 2008 which concluded that an estimated 76% of Canadians report having experienced a traumatic event during their lifetime.
SO…based on this estimation,
in our pursuit of finding a statistic that would measure the current impact of trauma
(in Canada), we can take the current estimated population of Canada.
38,000,000 and divide it by 76%,
AND, get the estimated number of people impacted by trauma living in Canada TODAY:
28,900,000 Canadians
AGAIN, easy peasy right?!?!…
*TODAY, this is our normal.
*important note…considering the many factors impacting mental health in our current pandemic, it is highly possible that this percentage estimate is on the LOW side.