The Word "Trauma" Didn’t Exist Until the ‘80s—And People Lost Their Minds
If you heard my episode with Jessica Michelle Singleton, you might remember me saying that the word "trauma" didn’t exist until the 1980s. I did not say trauma itself didn’t exist, but apparently, that distinction got lost in translation. The reactions poured in, some assuming I was dismissing trauma entirely, while others demanded historical receipts. So, let’s talk about it—because the way we talk about trauma today is still relatively new, and that matters.
Before PTSD Had a Name
Trauma has always existed, obviously. People have been experiencing life-altering distress since humans first realized saber-toothed tigers were a problem. But the way we understand and talk about trauma has evolved dramatically. Before PTSD was officially recognized in 1980, the language we had for trauma was fragmented and inconsistent.
Think about it: soldiers in World War I were said to have "shell shock." By World War II, it was called "combat fatigue." And for civilians? The impact of trauma was often labeled something vague and dismissive—hysteria, nerves, weakness. The medical community had no unifying diagnosis that acknowledged the deep, lasting effects of trauma across different experiences, whether from war, abuse, or disaster.
That changed with the third edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-III), when PTSD was formally recognized in 1980. This wasn’t just a bureaucratic update—it was a seismic shift in mental health. Naming PTSD validated the idea that trauma wasn’t just about war veterans; it applied to survivors of all kinds of horrors. And from there, the cultural floodgates opened.
Why the 1980s?
So why did this shift happen in the ‘80s? A few key reasons:
Vietnam War Fallout: Unlike previous wars, the Vietnam War was brought into people’s living rooms through television. The visceral imagery—body bags, burning villages, anti-war protests—forced Americans to confront the long-term psychological toll of combat. It became impossible to ignore that soldiers weren’t just struggling physically; they were carrying invisible wounds.
The Rise of Trauma in Media & Pop Culture: Around the same time PTSD entered the DSM, mainstream media started reflecting it back at us. Movies and TV shows began centering trauma in ways that shaped cultural conversations. The war wasn’t just something that happened on the battlefield—it followed people home, reshaping families, communities, and the national psyche.
The Shift in Psychological Research: The ‘80s weren’t just a cultural shift; they marked a major turning point in psychology. Research into trauma expanded beyond war veterans to include survivors of sexual violence, childhood abuse, and disasters. We began seeing studies on how trauma affects the brain, paving the way for our current understanding of PTSD, complex PTSD, and trauma responses like dissociation and hypervigilance.
From Clinical Term to Buzzword
Fast forward to today, and trauma is everywhere. It’s on TikTok, in therapy-speak, in everyday conversations. We joke about it—"that funny story I always tell is actually trauma lol"—but we also use it as a framework to understand ourselves. Trauma has gone from a medical term to a pop-culture shorthand for why people are the way they are.
There’s good and bad in this. On one hand, it’s great that more people recognize trauma’s impact. We have language for things that used to go unnamed. We know now that trauma isn’t just about soldiers and war—it’s about survivors of all kinds. On the other hand, overuse can dilute its meaning. Not everything painful is trauma. Not every bad experience requires a diagnosis.
And not every bad experience needs to be made into something. I’m talking about the tortured artist. “Trauma” is often used as a catalyst for how to make good art. “Use your trauma in your work”, they say. “It makes you a better artist”, they say. The "broken bird" effect is alive and well! Self-deprecation is a popular comedic tool for a reason. But how did we go from not having a word for it to loving and living for people’s trauma?
While the term “trauma” might be overused, I’m glad we have the language for it. It helps people understand their brains and the ways they can be dramatically altered due to factors beyond their control. I’d rather live in a world where we can all bond over our generational trauma than a world where it just "doesn’t exist."
So, Did Trauma Exist Before the ‘80s?
Of course it did. But the way we name things matters. Before we had the term PTSD, people suffered in silence or were misdiagnosed. Before trauma became part of our cultural lexicon, it was easier to dismiss the real impact of abuse, violence, and systemic oppression.
Jump to today: Let’s list the traumatic, life-changing events we collectively have gone through as a society—mass shootings, 9/11, more war, a global pandemic, genocide, a general attack on our rights…also not to mention the country being built on the backs of slaves. We live on stolen land, etc. etc. Just wanted to fit that all in there. HAHAHAHA REMEMBER WHEN NONE OF THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN CALLED TRAUMA?!
“I love it here!” She said sarcastically. exhale
This awareness of PTSD and trauma responses in our psyche, while joked about, is a good thing for the development of psychological treatments and mental health. I don’t think it’s bad to poke fun at "trauma" because, as the saying goes…laughter is the best medicine. While I fully believe that therapy and medication are actually the best medicine to help regulate most people’s mental health, laughter can still be healing. And I obviously love it, so analyze that.