Is carrying trauma the norm for humans?

[TheAlchemist]

We are now understanding better than ever what massive effects even minor trauma in childhood and adolescence has on how a human operates in the world. We are understanding this especially in the west, where it seems now that most people have some kind of mental dysfunction or insecurities etc. 

That is all good knowledge, but I am just left wondering about the past thousands of years and other parts of the globe where violence, rape and killing has been so prevalent and much more intense than what most experience in a western democracy. 

My interest is in how much of what we think of as "human nature" is actually the result of traumatized people doing their best to cope with their pain and hurting/dominating/oppressing others because of the pain. Often we kind of assume that humans by their nature are somehow greedy and that killing and violence is just "natural" for humans. But what if a lot of it has to do with trauma and people acting from that trauma, which we are just now beginning to understand? Wouldn't this be extremely important for us to understand?

If our fundamental view of human nature is skewed, and humans actually are not so violent by nature, but do so because of trauma; that would have major implications for how we think about almost everything in society and community life.

 

Edited September 23, 2023 by TheAlchemist

[itsadistraction]

Great question. Brings to mind the limits of psychology since, as you correctly point out, what's consider normal human behaviour is based on a consensus of average humans. And you are questioning whether the average human is actually sick. So it's the right question to ask if you want to become healthy yourself.

My thoughts on this, based on reading similar topics is that, yes we have a long way to go for the average human to be actually reaching their highest potential. As Leo says, we are living in the dark ages. Humans are capable of so so so much more, maybe infinitely more, so it follows we are very far from our highest potentials. 

[Leo Gura]

Most people in the world don't even have time to think about or call it truama. It's just life and they gotta get to work to feed their children, not sit there psycho-analyzing themselves and feeling sorry for themselves.

Edited September 23, 2023 by Leo Gura

[Yimpa]

Now I understand why my current therapist never uses the word “trauma” in our sessions. Even if I’ve tried my damndest to convince her that I have it with logic and reason.

It’s only a matter of time when you’ll be ready to transcend human trauma.