Oct 13 2008
Trauma Cycle
Perhaps better known as a grief process, the trauma cycle is a person’s way of coping with a life-changing event. Although we often associate the word “trauma” with a negative, these events can also be positive: for example, a new job, moving to a new home, a wedding, or the birth of a child.
What all of these events have in common is dramatic change in a person’s life. They also often share the same reactions following the event: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance.
It is not necessary for an individual to experience all five stages of a trauma cycle, nor will one necessarily experience them in the most common order.
What is necessary is that a person who experiences a life-changing event is given opportunity to also experience the cycle of coping, and allowed to grieve for a loss (even when the loss was desired, such as leaving an old job for a better one).
