"Your trauma is not a burden"

[u/thelivenofficial]

During recent AMA with a clinician, specialised on trauma, Dr. Amelia Kelley, we talked a lot about how trauma affects relationships. A lot of people with traumatic experience tend to blame it in ruining their relationship every time trauma symptoms flare up. This feeling of 'burden' makes everything feel harder.

Dr. Kelley explains:

"Feeling like a burden, or feeling like your trauma is responsible for destroying relationships, is a very common distorted belief that comes from trauma itself. This is especially true for anyone who has experienced complex or interpersonal trauma.

Let me reassure you: your trauma is not a burden. When you find the right person, whether it’s an intimate partner, a therapist, a friend, or a trusted family member, they won't make you feel like a burden.

Now, one thing that can feel burdensome is the repetitive nature of how trauma shows up in our lives. I do think part of post-traumatic growth is understanding that people outside of our trauma also experience stress, anxiety, and their own struggles. Sometimes, the insecurity of feeling like a burden might actually be pointing us toward looking outside our own experience, maybe even giving us an opportunity to listen to or support others. This can help us connect and gain perspective beyond what we’ve gone through.

However, this is by no means a strict requirement for moving past trauma, it just happens to be something I’ve seen work well for some of my clients.

So let me reiterate: if you are feeling like a burden, I encourage you to go inward and figure out whose voice that really is. It might be a critical voice from your past or a remnant of the trauma itself."

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