Trauma’s Triumph, Trauma’s Traps

Carl Vennerstrom argues in Public Discourse that the increasing cultural focus on trauma-informed care may conflict with the actual healing goals of therapy. He suggests that a growing preference for this approach reflects a political inclination toward victimhood rather than the clinical objective of restoring a patient to health.

Vennerstrom notes that while conversation is the most common clinical remedy, therapy also includes methods such as dream interpretation, hypnosis, breathing exercises, lifestyle changes, and the controlled use of psychedelics. He observes that modern society increasingly uses these therapeutic settings to process inner lives, a trend he links to a broader interest in discovering and addressing trauma in both clinical and non-clinical environments.