The variation in trauma presentation and outcomes present various diagnostic and interventional challenges. In the family setting, trauma presents various trajectories as trauma may be experienced by an indirect victim. This paper assessed various incidences of trauma in my nuclear and extended family. Trauma incidences included school bullying, motor vehicle accident, emotional trauma, bereavement, and traumatic war experiences.
The coping strategies varied with the age of the trauma victim and the family involvement. Coping strategies included self-controlling, avoidance, seeking social support and religion, distancing, confrontive coping, and planful problem-solving. Among the children, outcomes of the trauma included mood changes while most adults engaged in alcohol use. The role of counseling was appreciated in most cases as it yielded some relief for the victims. The late recognition of trauma in children yields the need for research in this area.
Trauma varies in etiology, severity, and nature in all settings. Physical and emotional trauma are the most common types of traumas we encounter during our lifetime. A family is usually considered the basic social unit in most cultures. Trauma in the family setting has individual and group outcomes. Trauma evokes a myriad of responses at the personal and family levels. Various coping strategies are adopted by the victims to try and overcome traumatic experiences. My extended family is a patrilineal and cohesive one with various codes of social conduct.
The codes of conduct are in tandem with the social codes in my community. The family members have suffered some degree of trauma at least once in their lifetime. The subjective severity of their trauma, coping strategies, and circumstances have varied with each incidence of trauma. This paper describes six family members who underwent significant trauma in the past and describes their coping strategies as well as special circumstances surrounding these traumas.
Family Trauma Case #1
Ryan is my fourteen-year-old nephew who lives with my mother. He is currently in middle school. His parents live in the countryside. Ryan moved to the city at age seven when my sister (her mother) desired that he studies in an urban-based setting to get adequate ‘exposure.’ Ryan was admitted to a nearby middle school two years ago but has been silent of school issues ever since. In his first year of schooling, his teachers appraised him for his good academic performance but noted a lack of involvement in extracurricular activities.
In the second year in that school, my mother was called by Ryan’s teacher to report on his occasional absence from school. One year ago, Ryan hinted at a dislike for a group of his classmates but her grandmother advised him to take it easy on his classmates. During this incident when his grandmother was to report to school to explain Ryan’s recent behavior, it was realized that ran has endured various episodes of bullying from the aforementioned group of his classmates. School bullying is a common occurrence in middle schools among adolescents and children. the victim usually experiences different outcomes (Oseldman, 2017).
Ryan’s traumatic incidences have been recurrent. The outcomes have been witnessed in the academic outcomes and the recent moods changes. At home, Ryan had been withdrawn of late and appeared stressed before he was sent to call his grandmother to school. According to Ngo et al. (2021), bullying has been associated with reduced quality of life, social withdrawal, and increased risk of depression in urban settings.
Ryan had been missing school to stay at home without the knowledge of his grandmother. Staying at home and missing school were the main coping strategies used to avoid the school bullies. According to Armitage (2021), the outcomes of bullying are always negative and can include education, mental, and adulthood consequences (Haraldstad et al., 2019). Mental outcomes seen in Ryan represent the most severe forms of outcomes. By avoiding the assailant of this trauma, the victims tend to find relief from the outcomes.
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