Blog

Dr. Adrian Hickmon, Ph.D., Clinical Architect of Capstone Wellness

The research shows that most fully matured adults with addictions have experienced trauma. It’s something we treat every day at Capstone — a Christian trauma treatment center that’s served thousands of young men with a wide range of struggles, addictions and hurts.

The word “trauma” has gone through a long process in our understanding of it and our defining it. Originally, during World War 1, soldiers would often have what was called “shell shock.” Then the term describing what the soldiers went through in war became trauma, and the shell shock condition was termed PTSD, post-traumatic stress disorder. For many years, the only cause of PTSD was considered extreme violence in war. But therapists and psychiatrists like Bessel van der Kolk, MD, who worked with veterans with PTSD as well as patients who were victims of sexual abuse and domestic violence, began to see the same PTSD symptoms in these other populations.

Other words for “trauma” include hurts, fears, betrayals, rejections, significant losses, etc. Trauma lies on a continuum. Capstone categorizes trauma into three groups, Big T, Little T and Chronic T, to match the trauma to its place on the continuum. 

Big T Trauma

There are three categories of trauma: Big T, Little T and Chronic T. Big T traumas include death of a loved one, sexual abuse, physical abuse, a loved one’s cancer diagnosis, parents’ divorce (even if it is a merited divorce), relinquishment, infidelity (to the non-offending spouse), abandonment, infertility, miscarriages and other significant losses. You might compare a Big T Trauma to a samurai sword wound, meaning if you were being attacked by a person with a samurai sword, you would definitely respect the situation because it would be life-threatening. You would also give respect to another person who experienced a Big T. In other words, none of us hears about a family member, friend or even an unknown person going through a Big T Trauma and responds with, “Oh, that’s no big deal.” We all know it was a big deal, and we respect it as such.

Little T Trauma

Little T traumas are not only subtler, they are much more common to the young men that we work with at Capstone. Little T’s are more comparable to a toothpick wound: rejection by a girlfriend, betrayal by a friend, humiliation by a coach or teacher, harsh criticism by a parent, a personal failure or error, especially in front of an audience, or a mistake that is used to label you. For instance, missing the shot in a basketball game in the final second that would have won the game. Or walking into class late with your pants unzipped so everyone sees it, and no one ever lets you forget it. I’m sure right now that you are thinking, “Yeah, of course, everybody goes through stuff like that. It’s no big deal. Get over it!” You are right that everybody goes through Little T’s, many times, but you are wrong that it is no big deal. Keep reading for a few paragraphs, and I will explain why.

Chronic T Trauma

The third category is Chronic T Trauma. Where Big T’s are like samurai swords and Little T’s like toothpicks, Chronic T’s are like living in smog. Chronic T’s can be the most damaging of all the traumas. While a Chronic T environment can include Big T and Little T events, a Chronic T is a 24/7 environment. Examples include after mom’s diagnosis of breast cancer and treatment that “almost got it all,” the daily fear that it will spread. Or mom and dad have an argument, and somebody throws out the word divorce, so the children begin to walk on eggshells trying not to rock the boat. Or a basketball coach who berates his players thinking that beating them down will make them stronger, so a player is facing it 24/7 – bracing for it before it happens, enduring it while it’s happening and functioning with the memory of it afterward. One woman described her childhood like this: “My dad blew up with anger about one time each year, and I spent the other 364 days wondering, is today the day?”

Here’s why knowing and understanding this brief section on trauma is important for you to be able to make good decisions in triaging your son’s situation:

1. Every young man that has ever been to Capstone since we opened in 2001 has had Little T’s, and many had Chronic T’s.
2. Trauma of some kind – Big, Little or Chronic – perhaps neglect, abandonment, deprivation, makes up a large portion, if not the largest portion, of the Core, and remember, the Core drives the Eruptions.
3. Trauma wires the neurobiology to be anxious, depressed, isolated, hypervigilant, in pain or numb and makes a person neurobiologically vulnerable to compulsive and addictive behaviors – alcohol/drugs, pornography, sexual acting out, video-gaming, social media and technology, excessive eating or deprivation of food, and other self-destructive behaviors.
4. While these traumas can destroy, they can also be healed and transformed. The healing process is long and difficult, but transformative in a positive way.

Capstone is one of the top rated Christian trauma treatment centers. We’ve worked with thousands of families from across the U.S. and beyond. Located at the foothills of the Arkansas Ozarks, we work with young men ages 14-26 struggling with a wide range of hurts, struggles, compulsions, addictions and other self-destructive behaviors. Professional excellence in a Christ-centered environment is what makes us unique and effective. Learn more about our approach to treatment here.