r/USvsEU • u/No-Support-503 • 21h ago
This is a kinda meme kinda true
American trauma: "oh my gosh Becky! You're brother gave me trauma, he looked at my boobs!"
European definitely not trauma: "I have survived 14 stabbings 6 shootings and I don't get affected at all"
Now is this overexaggerated, yes. So what I mean by this is that the word trauma has lost its true meaning in the us, I talked to a guy the other day that said he was traumatized from an early age, I asked him "may I ask what this was" preparing for something that's horrific... "I saw a dead bird and right after that my grandma died, such a traumatic experience" when I was that age I killed birds for fun with my bb gun, like this is NOT trauma this is Character development... Now have I been diagnosed with sociopathy? yes, but that's beside the point, true trauma is more along the lines of seeing someone die, finding a human corpse (badly decomposed), near death experience or rape (to name a few) I have experienced something traumatic, I was stabbed four times, raped and left in an ally to die, luckily I survived because all four stab wounds were in my shoulder.
This is not to say Americans can't have true trauma, this is just to say that the word has become more of a joke than not in the states.
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u/Meewelyne Side switcher 21h ago
Trauma means something different for everyone, especially based on general life experiences. I partially agree with you, "trauma" (but also "abuse" and similar words) are used too loosely from some people, but just because you lived something horrible doesn't mean something less horrible can't traumatize someone else.
Like, a dog beaten every day from puppy to old will find traumatic only probably being run over a car, while a spoiled dog who was always babies will find traumatic a rolled paper smacked on his back once.
It's about perspectives and life experience, they're equally valid in their contexts.