For instance, when someone describes going to school as “traumatic,” they often simply refer to it as a negative experience. This is not to say that everyone who went to school never had a traumatic experience; however, some individuals appear to overuse the term. Another example could be considering being lightly pushed into a locker as “traumatic.”
No, but I do think there are varying levels of trauma. I had a coworker that was traumatized by a former abusive partner who frequently chewed gum - I greatly enjoy chewing gum but avoided doing it around them because it deeply effected them… they never offered details about their traumatic experience and I never pushed them on it.
Extremely minor seeming actions can produce trauma, trauma can even be internally manufactured - perseveration, a common habit in autism, can produce trauma simply by the person imaging what might happen in a way convincing to them way and that leads to a reasonable position. Just because someone’s trauma is focused on an action someone else did doesn’t necessarily mean that other person is responsible for that trauma… rape and assault are awful and obviously lead directly to trauma but normal acceptable actions like grounding may traumatize a child - that doesn’t mean we should tar and feather that child’s parents but nor does it mean their trauma isn’t real.
Trauma is about how you react to a situation and what emotional baggage you carry away from it - it’s a very personal thing and we should respect other people’s trauma within reason. It’s not our job to judge trauma valid or invalid but to be kind to one another and considerate of what people are going through because, honestly, some people have deep scars and we don’t need to cut them any deeper.