An EMDR Therapist Explains Implicit vs. Explicit Trauma

As an EMDR trauma therapist, one of the most frequently asked questions I hear is, “What is really is trauma?” Understandably, one of the most confusing or misunderstood concepts that people struggle with is the idea that their past experiences could have a traumatic impact on them. 

 

It can be hard to wrap your mind around the idea that your present problems are heavily influenced by your past. It can also be validating to know that there is a name for your experience, the effect that it has had, and a way to address the wounds that have yet to heal. 

 

What’s more, clients usually begin trauma therapy by stating, “I know other people have had it worse.” And there’s truth to this statement. We can always find people who’ve had it worse. But that doesn’t mean we haven’t had experiences that negatively influence our current lives. We owe it to ourselves and others to heal from the past experiences that keep us stuck.

 

But we must first uncover what these experiences are. Whether traumatic or not, we need to identify the past experiences that influence our current pain points. Not every negative life event is trauma. But some events are more easily understood as trauma than others. This brings us to the need to identify implicit vs. explicit trauma, otherwise known as big ’T’ or small ’t’ trauma. 

What is trauma?

 

The American Psychological Association’s Dictionary of Psychology defines trauma as “any disturbing experience that results in significant fear, helplessness, dissociation, confusion, or other disruptive feelings intense enough to have a long-lasting negative effect on a person’s attitudes, behavior, and other aspects of functioning. Traumatic events include those caused by human behavior (e.g., rape, war, industrial accidents) as well as by nature (e.g., earthquakes) and often challenge an individual’s view of the world as a just, safe, and predictable place.”

 

The operative term here is “any” disturbing experience. Any kind of experience can be a traumatic experience. Experiences need not be overt, explicit, or jaw-dropping to be traumatic. They can fly under our radar. As children, these experiences can even go unnoticed by our parents. In trauma therapy, we often address presenting explicit trauma and uncover unidentified implicit trauma in need of being processed. 

 

No book, blog post, video, or class will be sufficient enough to encapsulate everything there is to know about trauma. Trauma is complex and personal – even when it is shared or collective in nature. That’s because the internal and external impact that trauma has on someone is incredibly unique to the individual. Trauma is very, very messy.

 

What is explicit trauma?

 

Explicit trauma refers to explicit memories of trauma. Explicit trauma, known as big ’T’ trauma is typically much more identifiable than implicit trauma. Explicit memories of trauma may have a more internal experience of recall as these experiences have been encoded in our minds.

 

Most people have a general idea of what implicit trauma entails: war, physical violence, sexual abuse, or a horrific accident. Such experiences undoubtedly impact our bodies and minds in significant and obvious ways. Explicitly traumatic experiences are frequently understood to cause traumatic responses that should be addressed in therapy. 

 

Why is this? These types of traumatic events are more easily identifiable because we are taught about them. They are the most recognized forms of trauma that we witness in books, television, and the media. They are, understandably, recognized reasons for seeking trauma therapy. In fact, most people who seek trauma therapy are aware of the explicit trauma they’ve experienced. People are often very unaware of the implicit trauma that has kept them stuck and has had a lasting impact on their wellbeing. 

 

 

What is implicit trauma?

 

Implicit trauma refers to implicit memories of trauma. Implicit trauma, known as small ’t’ trauma is typically less identifiable than explicit trauma. Implicit memories of trauma may be less easily recalled via memory and may be more encoded in our nervous systems and bodies. 

 

The role of implicit trauma does not negate the profound pain that explicit trauma brings. It is, however, imperative that we understand that implicit trauma can also be profoundly painful. And it is pervasive. Whether traumatic memories are explicit or implicit, both forms of trauma exist and both forms are worth being addressed in trauma therapy. 

 

Implicit trauma includes events that may have resulted in profound fear, loneliness, emotional pain, and helplessness. These types of events may include being dismissed, unheard, unseen, or rejected by caregivers. They can also include the experience of being mocked, ridiculed, gaslighted, or bullied. And adults do not always realize the traumatic effect that childhood neglect, poverty, and emotional abuse may have had on them. 

 

Trauma therapists are used to clients dismissing their own traumatic experiences, particularly when the trauma is implicit. When asked if we’ve experienced anything traumatic, people often initially deny the idea stating that our lives have been “better than what a lot of people have gone through.” When we dig deeper, we often see traumatic responses of denial, suppression, repression, dismissiveness, and defensiveness. Sometimes it’s hard to identify and hard to admit.

What is EMDR therapy for trauma?

 

Even if fully informed about trauma, insight alone isn’t sufficient enough to heal from trauma. There may be much to explore around your personal experience. Some of your experiences may have resulted in a trauma response, whether implicit or explicit. 

 

This is where Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing, or EMDR, comes in.

The American Psychological Association (APA) describes EMDR as “A structured therapy that encourages the patient to briefly focus on the trauma memory while simultaneously experiencing bilateral stimulation (typically eye movements), which is associated with a reduction in the vividness and emotion associated with the trauma memories.” 

 

The theory behind EMDR therapy is that all of the information about traumatic experiences – your thoughts, feelings, sensations, emotions – may not have been adequately processed and are essentially trapped problematically in the brain, because your brain never properly processed them. The triggers you experience unlock these unprocessed memories and are what cause symptoms of anxiety, depression, or PTSD.

 

An EMDR therapist will help you utilize eye movements, like in REM sleep, to help your brain processes traumatic material on a deeper level. The implementation of rapid eye movements helps your brain resume it’s natural healing process. Simply put, the EMDR process helps your brain heal from trauma. 

 

By accessing the traumatic memory while engaging in the rapid eye movements, both sides of your brain are working to process the material. It is believed this process helps reprocess the memory so it is stored properly, thus effectively processing through the trauma in a productive way.

 

You can learn more about EMDR therapy for trauma here.