Less Recognized Forms of Trauma and How They Can Affect Your Mental Health

If you experience a stressful event, you may develop trauma. According to the American Psychological Association (APA), trauma is an emotional response to a physically and/or emotionally harmful event. This event can happen to you or you witness it happening to another person or group of people. 

When you’re traumatised, you’re likely to feel a range of emotions. You may feel shocked, scared, angry, or overwhelmed. It’s also possible to feel numb and have a hard time processing what has happened or is happening. You can feel these emotions as the event is happening, immediately afterward, and in the long term. 

Different types of trauma

Some events or experiences are commonly understood to be traumatising. These include: 

• Physical abuse

• Intimate partner violence

• Sexual abuse

In this article, we’ll talk about the experiences that are less recognised as traumatic. We’ll also look at some ways in which these situations we’re exposed to mainly because of our different identities impact our mental health.

Cissexism and genderism

If you’re gender non-conforming, you probably know what’s it’s like to live in a society that dictates our behaviour based on the gender they were assigned at birth.  Cissexism is the belief that everyone is the gender they were assigned at birth, cisgender, and should act accordingly. Genderism is the belief that gender is binary. These beliefs result in the oppression or discrimination of anyone who defies them in any way. Cissexism and genderism, which can be subtle or obvious, result in transphobia. 

If you’re transgender, you may be among those who have been rejected by families, lost work, or been denied housing. These extreme forms of transphobia are some of the ways a cissexist society punishes those who don’t conform to societal and gender norms. Subtle forms of transphobia also exist. These include intentionally misgendering someone or refusing to acknowledge their pronouns.  

Transphobia can impact your mental health, as this 2018 study showed. Living in a society that constantly denies you your identity or punishes you for existing is exhausting. When you also have to stand up against transphobia, through activism or by just choosing to openly exist, this can cause or worsen your mental health conditions. Some of these conditions include:

• post-traumatic stress disorder

• depression

• anxiety

Also, you don’t need to be transgender or nonbinary for you to bear the brunt of cissexism. If you’re cisgender and you don’t conform in any way to your gender, you’re likely to face the consequences of not adhering to your gender’s prescribed roles or not neatly fitting into what each of the two genders is supposed to look like.

Racism

Due to racism, African-Americans have a greater risk of getting hypertension than other racial groups. This is according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Racism can be overt like physical violence or discriminatory job practices. It can be subtle like racist jokes and other microaggressions. All forms of racism feed into each other. All of them can make a person of color feel unsafe.  

Racism tends to impact the lifestyle of people of color who are often forced to be on guard. This is a stressful way to live. Since racism can also make accessing mental health services difficult, this can leave you in a toxic cycle that only worsens your mental health.

This study showed that living in a society where you’re treated like you’re inferior, not good enough or less intelligent because of your race can also impact your sleep schedule. According to AAP, even young children, who can also directly experience racism, are not spared from its adverse effects. Bearing witness to it can be as damaging to them as it is those who experience it firsthand. 

Besides these systemic forms of oppression, there are other experiences that also impact your mental health. Here are some examples. 

Bullying

Bullying happens when someone intentionally and repeatedly behaves in a way that can harm you or cause discomfort. A bully can be an aggressive child or school mate or an intimidating workmate or manager. They can also be a controlling romantic partner, a condescending family member or relative. A bully tends to use their popularity, position or resources to intimidate you. 

Physical and verbal bullying are the most obvious forms of bullying. Some forms of bullying are covert and can also happen behind your back. Some examples of these include:

• Rumors being spread about you

• Someone encouraging others to exclude you from an event or social or professional space

• Someone mimicking you to make fun of you in public

• Someone making condescending eye contact, facial expression or gestures at you or 

• Someone repeatedly behaving in ways that interfere with your wellbeing or success at work, etc 

Bullying also occurs online or through the use of digital devices. You can be directly attacked or have false information spread about you. You can be excluded from certain online spaces. Your private information can be exposed and spread online. Someone can also impersonate you usually with the intent to post inflammatory comments. 

The effects of all these forms of cyberbullying are just as serious as with offline bullying. Bullying can cause feelings of rejection or low self-esteem. You may also end up blaming yourself for the bully’s actions. You start to wonder if you wouldn’t be bullied if you looked or carried yourself in a certain way. These thoughts can change how you feel about yourself. It’s possible to develop depression, anxiety and various social problems as a result of bullying. 

Parental divorce or separation

Divorce can be hard, whether you’re the one divorcing or the child involved. This is the case even if the union was marred by abuse or not. The parental, financial and legal consequences of a divorce can cause a lot of stress for the parties involved. If children are involved, trying to make things work post the divorce can add to the stress.    

This research showed that children whose parents have divorced are also likely to struggle with adjusting to this new life. They may have problems at school. They may also engage in disruptive behaviours such as fights, risky sexual behaviours, and substance use. 

 

Frequently moving houses

 No matter how old you are, moving houses is stressful. If you’re introverted or have mental health conditions that affect how you relate with the world around you, frequently moving can be a nightmare. 

“We know that children who move frequently are more likely to perform poorly in school and have more behavioral problems,” said Shigehiro Oishi, PhD, of the University of Virginia. Shigehiro led this study that showed that moving a lot during childhood negatively impacted one’s adulthood. 

 The study found that people who frequently moved during childhood experienced “lower life satisfaction and psychological well-being.” These people also had fewer quality social relationships in their adulthood.

Take-away

If you have experienced any of the trauma types we talked about, please consider seeing a therapist. This may help you manage the impact of those experiences on you. 

You can also find and build supportive networks with those who share your identity or have experienced the same trauma. Sharing experiences and being able to talk openly about how they affect you can help you work through your feelings. This can also help you manage the mental health conditions that may have been caused or worsened by the experiences.