The Existential Psychology of Trauma

What Contemporary Psychology can Learn From Kierkegaard

Daniel Lehewych, M.A
The Apeiron Blog
Published in
5 min readJul 5, 2021

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Photo by Hello I'm Nik on Unsplash

You will be hard-pressed to find someone who has not experienced some form of trauma or tragedy in their lives. Whether it is directly experienced by oneself, or by a loved one, those who have not fallen prey to the worst that Being has to offer are in the minority.

Two Ways of Interpreting Trauma and the Domino Effect

Traumatic events are accompanied by our interpretations of them, and our interpretations are not always consistent with one another. Specifically, we tend to interpret our past wounds in two generic ways: one which despairs over the trauma, and another which uses trauma as a springboard for personal growth.

Let’s give an example: I’ve personally been the victim of an indiscriminate physical assault. On some occasions, I have interpreted this event as one worth lamenting over. “This is how people are and I can’t take it.” I’d be lying if I said such a thought has never occurred to me — and I’d be doubly lying if I said such thoughts have, at times, made it hard for me to get out of bed in the morning.

But on other occasions, I’ve utilized this event — both in my thoughts and in my actions — to begin training in combat sports, which has been a profoundly empowering and cathartic endeavor. My training in combat sports has undoubtedly bolstered my personal growth and mitigated the degree to which despairing thoughts arise with respect to being assaulted.

In both economics and psychology, the Matthew effect is a salient concept that is directly applicable to the difference between despairing and empowerment. Usually, the Matthew effect is applied to the growth or decline of the wealth of individuals or groups of individuals (entities.)

In essence, the Matthew effect is the truism that, as you gain wealth you become more likely to gain more wealth, whereas if you lose wealth you become more likely to lose more wealth. For instance, when someone loses a job, they might begin to also lose good habits that had nothing to do with their job, like exercising or budgeting, making them more likely to lose out on more future opportunities. By contrast, when someone is given a raise at…

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