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happysappy said:
I am just wondering how much of our prior life effects are due to psych disorders we now have. I am thinking it could be a high percent but I know some may just be medical too, and some are temporary too. Plus some we don't know why.


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I am thinking we have to distinguish 'trauma' (which is in the title of the post) from 'our prior life evens' (which you wrote in above quote).

I think it also depends on the psych disorder-- obviously personality disorders are going to be caused by earlier events-- some traumatic, some not. I'll use myself as an example. At some point, I met the criteria for borderline personality disorder. I'm not sure if I still do, but I really don't care at this point, cause that's not what's important. Anyway, literature I have read states that individuals dx'ed with BPD (jup to 85 percent) have suffered sexual or physical abuse. What is the cause for the other 15 percent? Personally, I have never suffered any type of emotional, physical, or sexual abuse. There was definitely some emotinal neglect, and there was definitely some neglect on certain issues such as hygiene, medical appointments, etc. Was I ever left without food, toys, clothes, or shelter? No. So, would the neglect I experienced (which I haven't gone into detail about) count as trauma, or just negative past events that have shaped my personality? My therapist says that lots of little negative past events can add up to small traumas.

Most disorders arise as a combination of biological and environmental conditions. I would definitely say that my anxiety disorders came from a combination of both. However, I wouldn't classify anything that happened at home, which led to my anxiety disorders, to be a trauma.

Sometimes I feel as though my mental disorders, themselves, are some form of trauma. I have a very difficult time when memories come up of me being at my worst, in terms of psychological functioning. I have been thinking that would be interesting to study-- experiences with psychological illness being traumas in themselves.