Judith Herman's Trauma And Recovery

Trauma and Recovery Reflection In studying trauma in children, there are different types of traumas that are discussed. In Judith Herman’s book Trauma and Recovery the two major types of trauma she discusses is Complex Trauma and PTSD. Herman described that “to study psychological trauma means bearing witness to horrible events” (7). This is relevant when she discusses the importance of the therapist’s role when it comes to helping a person who experienced traumatic experience recover. Herman continues in her book differentiates Complex Trauma and PTSD since the two disorders are often confused since the criteria for both traumas are slightly different. Herman starts off by setting a basis of what a traumatic experience is. Herman mentions

In terms of emotions, the child may be on the “baseline of unease, intermediate states of anxiety or extreme panic, fury and despair” (108). This may be because of an unsteady attachment in childhood due to the fact that most child abuse happen in a family-like environment. Herman mentions that the emotional and behavioral impact of chronic child abuse go hand in hand. People who experience chronic child abuse or neglect believe that the only way to end the emotional state that they are in is through self injury (109). The earlier on in childhood the abuse or neglect was, the more repetitive and severe the self harm is (109). The stereotypes that people have against self harm are not necessarily true. The reason behind why some people who experienced chronic child abuse self harm is because they want to release the feeling of emotional pain that they cannot bear because they see it as “a form of self-preservation” ironically, the people who do self harm are not pleased with their behavior and are often “ashamed and disgusted” by it

The impacts continue on until the child becomes an adult and it reappears in their relationship or work habits as an adult. The people who have experienced such child abuse create relationships in order for them to feel protected. They also seek relationships because they want to be cared for and are afraid of abandonment (Herman 111). Sadly, people who are survivors of Chronic Child abuse are more prone to be victimized as well as allow themselves to be hurt because they have a skewed belief that they deserve nothing better (Herman 111). A child who have experienced Chronic Child Abuse often times have more difficulty transitioning into adulthood because of their abnormal state of consciousness and disturbance in their normal bodily functions caused by their altered personality, emotion, and behavior (133). This was really heartbreaking for me because as someone who wants to do child therapy, knowing that these children do not feel as if they can release their emotional pain and that they deserved such treatment was shocking. However, this helped me see the importance of therapy all the more and why Herman emphasizes on building a safe and healthy relationship between the therapist and the patient.
Dr. Judith Herman’s book Trauma and Recovery allows for the reader and future therapist to understand the difference between PTSD and C-PTSD. The diagnosis of both traumas may seem to fall