Every human personality grows from individual “seed potential” that includes physical, psychological, and spiritual components. In addition to physiological stages of birth, early childhood, adolescence, and adulthood, every human transit a life-long stream of events, situations, and circumstances that influence their physical, psychological, mental, and spiritual development. Our individuality comes from the unique way every person encounters and responds to these stimuli, both inward and outward. Picture a Mobius Strip where outward stimuli appear on the surface and, over time, are inwardly absorbed to eventually manifest outwardly again. Every stimulus, whether helpful or injurious, adds to the developmental and maturation process.
Trauma is often described as a deeply distressing or disturbing experience. Medically it is characterized as a physical event, synonymous with injury or wounding. It can also be a non-visible wound that is sustained as a result of an inward perception of an event, situation, or circumstance. Perhaps no physical wound may be visible, but the net “inward” effect to the “victim” is every bit as disturbing, and may very likely result in “external” manifestations of altered behavior, belief, or self-esteem.
Medical science is limited in its capacity to accurately diagnose or effectively analyze either the specific causes of these “inward” perceptions of disturbance, or to effectively prescribe relief. The current phenomenon of “post-traumatic stress disorder” (PTSD) is a good example.