ABSTRACT

The concept of trauma and the language surrounding traumatic events and treatment of traumatic symptomatology have become a part of everyday conversation in both scholarly works and popular media accounts. This familiarity is relatively new; trauma language, images, treatments, and writings are now a mainstay in newsprint, TV news programs, social media, online news outlets, and electronic media. With this familiarity comes a sense of “colloquial” understanding about trauma, where social norms about trauma are conveyed alongside the information that is disseminated. In this chapter, we look at the social construction of trauma, including the historical underpinnings of the current terminology about trauma and traumatic events, how the impact of traumatic events upon individuals is assessed, and the role of social norms and expectations in responses to traumatic events.