how to write a college essay about trauma

College Essays and Trauma: Students Are Being Pushed to Write About Their Worst Experiences

Last spring, I interviewed for a job providing essay support with a company that works with high schoolers on their college applications. Services like this are expensive: According to a 2019 article in US News , comprehensive college consulting packages can range from $850 to $10,000. Because of the price point, these services are often reserved for students from economically privileged backgrounds. “These students are really at a disadvantage these days,” my interviewer confided. “What would you tell students who haven’t experienced trauma when working on their essays?”

I was immediately struck by the linking of privilege with disadvantage. I was uncomfortable with the one-for-one association of income bracket and adversity as if having money protected high schoolers from anything bad ever happening to them and that coming from a lower-income family automatically meant students were traumatized. Most of all, I was shocked by the emphasis being placed on trauma in college application counseling.

Trauma should not be a deciding factor in college admissions. Students should not need traumatic experiences in their past in order to be competitive applicants, nor should they feel forced to disclose anything that they may have gone through. Pain should not be the avenue through which students must represent themselves. And students who do not feel they have experienced much adversity or hardship should be grateful, not bitter, and write about any of the other things that make them who they are. But as the volume of applications that students send out continues to rise , applicants are desperate to stand out.

What do colleges actually hope to learn about a student through their essay? According to the CollegeBoard , they want “a unique perspective, strong writing, and an authentic voice.” Harvard Business Review says the Common App essay is “your chance to show schools who you are, what makes you tick, and why you stand out from the crowd.”

At its best, the college application is an opportunity for a student to go from being a set of data points to a human being. The essay can demonstrate a student’s writing ability, style, and flair. It can prompt a teenager to reflect on their values, on the moments and experiences in their lives that have shaped them, and on their understanding of their own selves. I am, primarily, a personal essayist. I believe deeply in the power of an essay to function as art and to reflect something much bigger than ourselves. I could even be convinced that a 650-word limit might be a productive constraint in essay writing. The personal essay could be good for students if students actually felt any topic was available to them, if they felt they really could write about their passion for pickleball or fan fiction instead of thinking that milking adversity could equal bonus points in their application file.

At its worst, college essays force high school students to search through their personal experiences for a trauma they think they can sell. Meanwhile, as former foster youth Emi Nietfeld wrote in Teen Vogue , young people who have faced immense adversity struggle to capture their experiences neatly in a few hundred words. When students compare themselves to their classmates, especially when applying for the kinds of colleges and universities that take a limited number of students from a specific high school, they are practicing ranking themselves against their peers in a form of trauma Olympics. They are not learning to be empathetic to the people around them or to recognize that they can never know the entirety of what people are carrying with them.

The Supreme Court's decision to overturn race-based affirmative action puts an even harsher burden on applicants' essays. Colleges can’t consider the systems of inequity that may affect students of color, but individual students can include their experience as a marginalized person in the essay . Many college admissions boards are still mostly white , and students of color may have to find ways to communicate their identity while also answering the essay prompts. This narrows what applicants think is worth writing about or what makes them worth receiving the education they dream of.

This summer I worked with a group of 16- to 18-year-olds in a creative writing class. For many of them, it was their first experience in a class like this. One afternoon, a student started writing about something they hadn’t thought about in years and ended up in tears over their laptop. We built a space where these students felt safe and supported to explore their trauma in writing and it often came out in incredibly moving 10- or 15-page essays. The projects were open-ended, so the story they needed to tell dictated how long the piece would be. Our students didn’t need to pretend their experiences had a neat conclusion. They could be honest. They could reflect and process, and then they could share a piece of writing with a community that cared about them.

The college essay allows for none of this when students feel required to write about adversity. Some students have already asked for a kinder application process , citing the damage the process as a whole does to their mental health. If students have trauma they need to work through, and if writing can help them do so, they should have space to safely, deeply, and thoroughly write about what they need to say without turning it into a self-sales pitch. The college essay should be a space for exploration and reflection where students can present what they care about and what makes them who they are.

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Dumping Your Heart Out: “Trauma Dumping” in College Application Essays

Exploring the advantages and pitfalls of writing the common application personal statement about traumatic experiences., reading time: 8 minute s, by  ayesha talukder , sophie zhou, issue 1 , volume 114.

Summer: a time of abundant sunshine, ice cream, and … college applications. Rising seniors pass the days constructing school lists, applying to scholarships, and studying to take the SAT one last time. However, there’s one part of the college application process that’s particularly stressful: essays. The number of essays a student will write will vary based on which schools one is applying to, but it’s common to write up to 20 essays . Arguably the best-known essay that students write is the personal statement, which is submitted through the Common Application portal. This portal is used by over 900 colleges and universities and has seven prompts that students can choose from, each of them meant to bring out a side of the applicant not showcased in other parts of their application.

One approach to writing the Common App essay has been dubbed “trauma dumping,” where students center their essay on personal traumatic events. This term has since evolved to include essays focused on any intense hardships that the student experienced (whether they resulted in psychological trauma or not), otherwise known as “sob stories.” For the purposes of this article, “trauma” will be used to refer to any hardship that had a long-lasting impact on the student. This essay-writing approach has been popularized by viral social media stories, where trauma essays are portrayed as the “make-or-break” factor in college applications; a well-known example is Abigail Mack, who went viral on TikTok after sharing her “ letter-S” essay about the loss of a parent. Mack was accepted to Harvard University.

Some students feel pressure to use trauma in their essays to make them stand out. Maggie Huang (‘23) is currently majoring in pharmacy at St. John’s University. “I think a lot of people treat [the college essay] as a major important thing in their life, like they have to sell themselves really badly and be like ‘I went through so much, I deserve to be here.’ [...] You're only 17, 18, so there’s not that much else you can talk about unless you did something really, really revolutionary,” Huang said. The pressure to stand out can be especially intense at a school like Stuyvesant, where there are countless high achievers and accomplished students. “When you hear about all the things your friends [...] are doing, [your own accomplishments] don’t seem impressive enough. I [felt] really very painfully average when compared to the rest of Stuy,” Huang added. 

By the time college application season arrives, essays are often viewed as the only thing on a student’s application that they still have control over. “Your grades are already your grades, your SATs are already your SATs, you’ve joined whatever clubs and pubs you’re going to join, so [the essay] feels like the last chance, the last thing that’s still up for grabs,” Assistant Principal of English Eric Grossman said. Because of this, students often feel pressured to make up for the weaker points in their application by crafting a powerful essay.

Thus, trauma often becomes tempting as a way to stand out. “A lot of Stuy kids are immigrants, first generation, etc… or have had something bad happen (I mean, COVID was literally handed on a silver platter to us). Maybe it’s just me, but it feels easier to just write about that because it’s so much easier to make yourself seem inspirational and deserving of being in a school for having made it through that kind of experience,” Huang said. 

English teacher Mark Henderson agreed that including trauma in an essay is often presented as a means of earning a spot at a prestigious institution. “The whole college application process is really unfair to students and that aspect of it feels really gross to me. Students feel as though they are being asked to share things that are really hard to share with strangers in order to like, you know, win something—basically to win an acceptance to a college and all of that,” Henderson said.

However, others, such as Bill Ni (‘19), a graduate from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and current software engineer at Amazon, believe that there isn’t any pressure to include trauma in college essays. “I don’t think there’s any pressure to use trauma … [However,] I still feel that it’s presented as an option, but it’s not something you have to, like, 100 percent use.” 

Ultimately, though, deciding whether to write a “trauma essay” should come down to the student’s own level of comfort with revealing a vulnerable experience in their life. This can be more difficult than students may initially assume. “If you’re writing about something traumatic in your past, exploring that topic in a piece can be traumatic in itself because you may, depending on what it is, be reliving it,” Ni said.

Ingenious Prep Associate Director of Counselor Enrollment and Communications Zak Harris agrees that it is crucial for students to think carefully about whether they are fully prepared to share their trauma. “If you’re going to go down this path, you have to be 110 percent behind yourself to some degree,” Harris said. Thus, it may be easier for students who have already worked through their trauma to mention it in their essays: “With students who are doing clubs and organizations, volunteering, [or] working for a nonprofit that connects to some of the issues that they’ve had, I think that’s where it’s a little bit different, because their day-to-day experience is sort of using that trauma [...] So that might be a little bit better than someone who is, I think, still navigating and figuring it out,” Harris added. 

Students should be aware that “trauma essays” can be controversial and aren’t well received by everyone. Some people caution against them because “trauma essays” can become too focused on the traumatic event itself and not on the student’s cultivated strengths. At Stuyvesant, senior English teachers dedicate an entire unit to helping students with their college application essays, often providing individualized feedback. “[My English teacher] said actively to avoid trauma dumping, because it’s so overdone and it doesn’t tell the college anything about you specifically,” Huang said. After hearing this advice, Huang switched gears with her essay. “Originally, it was about like a family situation and then it pivoted to my acceptance of my identity of being Asian-American in America, which is still kind of not completely trauma-free, but at least it wasn’t as bad as before,” Huang said.

Additionally, there is also the risk of admissions officers having biases against certain traumas, especially those relating to mental illness. “There are many colleges that have lawsuits going on against them right now connected to mental health issues and their slow reactivity to things that current students have been going through,” Harris noted. “Sometimes what happens in admissions is that if there's any risk, then I think there's going to be a pocket of people that will say, ‘Well, don't do it, because it's risky.’” However, this is slowly changing as mental health issues become more openly discussed and the stigma around them decreases. “I think we are in a generation and a time where mental health struggles and issues are widely talked about in a way that 10, 15, 20 years ago, they were not talked about as much, which I think actually is helping admissions officers become more comfortable or even more open to reading about these things in essays,” Harris added.

One way students can communicate relevant traumas to admissions officers outside of their essays is to ask their recommenders to include that information in their letters. “It's quite often, I find, when I'm writing recommendations, that [the letters] could be a really useful place for somebody else to sort of explain and put [traumatic events] into context, in the context of recommending them,” Henderson suggested.

If a student does decide that they want to write about trauma in their essay, they should be cautious of how they frame it. Students should make it clear that their goal is not to seek sympathy from the admissions officer, but to demonstrate how they’ve grown from their trauma. “The admissions officer [shouldn’t be] just focusing on what happened, but taking that into consideration [...] what's happening next, or what's happening now. How are they using this, you know, to better themselves or better other people?” Harris explained. 

English teacher Katherine Fletcher shared an example of when incorporating trauma in an essay can work to a student’s advantage. “I read a very effective college essay last year about this student’s struggle to overcome her challenge with obsessive compulsive disorder [...] and how she wants to sort of live a functional life in spite of those challenges.” By concentrating on growth rather than struggles, the student was able to impress Fletcher and leave a lasting impact.

However, students should consider avoiding including traumas in their essays because traumatic moments don’t always demonstrate the best aspects of one’s personality. “If I was applying to college or any other part of my life, I would not want to feel obligated to be judged on my worst moments,” Henderson said. “I would want to be judged on the moments I'm proudest of.” 

Grossman similarly believes that less intense topics can be just as powerful (if not more) than ones that address trauma. “One college essay I read that I really, really liked was my son’s. He wrote about [...] European castles and kind of like fantasized about what his life would be like if he could buy this one,” Grossman said. “I think the essay didn’t try to bare his soul [...] I don’t think that for the most part a college essay is for baring your soul. There isn’t enough room anyways—nobody’s soul is 600 words.” 

At the end of the day, there is no one person to listen to when it comes to essay topics but yourself. After all, the criteria used by admissions officers to judge essays isn’t clear-cut, and depends heavily on the individual admissions officer who reads the essay. “None of us have ever let anyone into college. So none of us will truly know that secret, like ‘Here’s the one essay that will get you in,’” Henderson said.

Ultimately, it’s important for students to remember to stay kind to themselves throughout the grueling process of writing their college application essays, whether or not they choose to write about their trauma. The approach to writing about trauma often recommended in college applications—that is, demonstrating one’s growth from it—might not always align with the healthiest approach for the student’s healing process, and that’s okay. After all, the personal statement is essentially supposed to hold a mirror to the applicant’s truest self, so whatever the student decides to put on the page should unequivocally be their choice and reflect the parts of themselves that they are most comfortable sharing. Whether that includes trauma or not, the admissions officer should come away from the essay feeling as if they have seen the applicant in the clearest and most authentic way possible.

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The rise of the "trauma essay" in college applications

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College Essays and the Trauma Sweetspot

Recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure. Reflect on a time when you questioned or challenged a belief or idea. Discuss a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others. If all else fails, explore a background, identity, interest, or talent so profound that not doing so would leave our idea of you fundamentally incomplete.

Exactly the sort of small talk you want to make with strangers.

American college essays — frequently structured around prompts like the above — ask us to interrogate who we are, who we want to be, and what the most formative experiences of our then-short lives are. To tell a story, to reveal ourselves and our identity in its entirety to the curious gaze of admissions officers — all in a succinct 650 words.

Last Thursday, The Crimson published “ Rewriting Our Admissions Essays, ” an intimate reflection by six Crimson editors on the personal statements that got them into Harvard. Our takeaway from this exercise is that our current essay-generating ethos — the topics we choose or are made to choose, the style and emphasis we apply — is imperfect at best, when not actively harmful.

The American admissions process rightly grants students broad latitude to write about whatever they choose, with prompts that emphasize personal experience, adversity, discovery, and identity — features often distort student narratives and pressure students to present themselves in light of their most difficult experiences.

When it comes to writing, freedom is good — great even! The personal statement can be a powerful vehicle to convey an aspect of one’s identity, and students who feel inclined to do so should take advantage of the opportunity to write deeply and candidly about their lives; the variety of prompts, including the possibility to craft your own, facilitate that. We have no doubt that some of our peers had already pondered, or even lived in the shadow of, the difficult questions posed by the most recurrent essay prompts; and we know the essay to be a fundamental part of the holistic, inclusive admissions system we so fervently cherish . Writing one’s college essay, while stressful, can ultimately prove cathartic to some and revealing to others, a helpful exercise in introspection amid a much too busy reality.

Yet we would be blind not to notice the deep, dark nooks where the system that demands such introspection tends to lead us.

Both the college essay format — short but riveting, revealing but uplifting, insightful but not so self-centered that it will upset any potential admissions counselor — and the prompts that guide it push students towards an ethic of maximum emotional impact. With falling acceptance rates and a desperate need to stand out from tens of thousands of applicants, students frequently feel the need to supply the sort of attention-grabbing drama that might just push them through.

But joyful, restful days don’t make for great stories; there are few, if any, plot points in a stable, warm relationship with a living, healthy relative. Trauma, on the other hand — homophobic or racist encounters that leave one shaken, alcoholic parents, death, loss and scarring pain — makes for a good story. A Harvard-worthy story, even.

For students who have experienced genuine adversity, this pressure to package adversity into a palatable narrative can be toxic. The essay risks commodifying hardship, rendering genuinely soul-molding experiences like suffering recurrent homelessness or having orphaned grandparents into shiny narrative baubles to melt down into a Harvard degree. It can make applicants, accepted or not, feel like their admissions outcomes are tied to their most vulnerable experiences. The worst thing that ever happened to you was simply not enough, or alternatively, it was more than enough, and now you get to struggle with traumatized-imposter syndrome.

Moreover, students often feel compelled to end their essays about deep trauma with a statement of victory — a proclamation that they have overcome their problems and are “fit for admission.” Very few have figured life out by age 18. Trauma often sticks with people far longer, and this implicit obligation may make students feel like they “failed” if the pain of their trauma resurfaces during college. Not every bruise heals and not all damage can be undone — but no one wants to read a sob story without a redemption arc.

A similar dynamic is at play in terms of the intensity of the chosen experience: Students feeling for ridges of scars to tear up into prose must be careful to avoid cuts too deep or too shallow. Their trauma mustn’t appear too severe: No college, certainly not Harvard, wants to admit people who could trigger legal liabilities after a bad mental health episode . That is the essay’s twisted pain paradox — students’ trauma must be compelling but not too serious, shocking but not off-putting. Colleges seek the chic not-like-other-students sort of hurt; they want the fun, quirky pain that leaves the main character with a new refreshing perspective at the end of a lackluster indie film. Genuine wounds — the sort that don’t heal overnight or ever, the kind that don’t lead to an uplifting conclusion that ties in beautifully with your interest in Anthropology — are but lawsuits in the waiting .

For students who have not experienced such trauma, the personal essay can trap accuracy in a tug of war with appealing falsities. The desire to appear as a heroic problem-solver can incentivize students to exaggerate or misrepresent details to compete with the compelling stories of others.

We emphatically reject these unspoken premises. Students from marginalized communities don’t owe college admissions offices an inspirational story of nicely packaged drama. They should not bear a disproportionate burden in proving their worthiness.

Why, then, do these pressures exist? How can we account for the multitude of challenging experiences people have without reductionist commodification? How do you value the sharing of deeply personal struggles without incentivizing every acceptance-hungry applicant to offer an adjective-ridden, six-paragraph attempt at psychoanalyzing their terrible childhood?

We don’t have a quick fix, but we must seek a system that preserves openness and mitigates perverse pressures. Other admissions systems around the world, such as the United Kingdom’s UCAS personal statement, tend to emphasize intellectual interest in tandem with personal experience. The Rhodes Scholarship, citing an excessive focus on the “heroic self” in the essays it receives, recently overhauled its prompts to focus more broadly on the themes “self/others/world.” We should pay attention to the nature of the essays that these prompts inspire and see, in time, if their models are worth replicating.

In the meantime, students should understand that neither their hurt nor their college essay defines them — and there are many ways to stand out to admissions officers. If it feels right to write about deeply difficult experiences, do so with the knowledge that they have far more to contribute to a college campus than adversity and hardship.

The issue is not what people can or should write about in their personal statements. Rather, it’s how what admissions officers expect of their applicants distorts the essays they receive, and how the structure of American college admissions can push toward garment-rending oversharing. We must strive for an admissions culture in which students feel truly free to express their identity — to tell a story they want to share, not one their admissions officers want them to. A system where students can feel comfortable that any specific essay topic — devastating or cheerful — will not place them slightly ahead or behind in the mad, mad race toward that cherished acceptance letter.

This staff editorial solely represents the majority view of The Crimson Editorial Board. It is the product of discussions at regular Editorial Board meetings. In order to ensure the impartiality of our journalism, Crimson editors who choose to opine and vote at these meetings are not involved in the reporting of articles on similar topics.

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Articles & Advice > College Admission > Blog

How to Approach Tragedy and Loss in Your College Essay

You may feel compelled to write about a difficult subject for your college essay. Here are some tips to write about hard topics with respect and impact.

by Keaghan Turner, PhD Partner, Turner+Turner College Consulting

Last Updated: Mar 16, 2023

Originally Posted: Aug 5, 2019

Tragedy and loss are not easy subjects to broach in writing at all, let alone very public writing that someone else will read or hear spoken. Writing about tragedy and loss certainly won’t be for everyone, so make sure you give it some real thought before you try to dive in and put your jumbled, high-emotion thoughts to page. But if a difficult topic is the one that compels you to write a great admission essay, then it can be done—as long as it’s done the right way. Before we explore the key elements to writing about traumatic experiences the right way, here’s some perspective through a personal story of loss.

The struggles with writing about loss

One spring, there was a rash of suicide attempts at a local high school in my community. Two of them were successful; others were not. The first time I wrote about this loss was for a memorial service. This is the second time. It’ll never be “easy” to write about, just as what happened will never make sense to anyone who knew the victims. How can we use words for trauma and grief in order to make sense of what doesn’t make sense?

One student, in a mature spirit of activism, wrote an open letter to the school district office, which was posted and reposted all over social media until there was a school assembly featuring officials, professionals, and faith leaders open to the whole community. The Parent Teacher Organization gave out green ribbons to raise awareness about depression and other mental illnesses . Most immediately for the teens in my town, the words appeared via social media posts. That was how the students wrote about their loss in the weeks following the first (then six weeks later, the second) tragedy. Some students will write about it for their college essays, and they’ll need help. It’ll be important to them to do a good job, to honor the memories of their friends who passed away, to get it “right.”

To say the least, people had mixed feelings about these posts and reposts; about what should be discussed and how; and how to protect the grieving families from more suffering. It’s a small community, and these were shockingly sad events. The fact is, these tragedies have already fundamentally redefined the high school experience of the students in my town. The ripples might be subtle or pronounced, but they exist. Peers will mark time using these losses (midterms happened  before , prom happened  after ), and the experience will not be forgotten; it’s now part of their life stories.

Related:  Mental Health: What Is It and How You Can Find Help

How to tackle writing about tragedy the right way

Difficult topics can ( and should) be broached in admission essays because they are a part of life that can’t be ignored and often play a huge part in defining who we are as people. What I told those students about handling loss with their words is summed up below, and it also applies to writers tackling any kind of special need, medical condition, or family struggle in their college essay.

Be honest and straightforward

You don’t need to have been super close to a tragedy to be affected by it or to write about it effectively. But don’t pretend you were affected in a way you weren’t; you’ll come across as phony. If you’re moved to write about a painful event, there’s a genuine reason behind that impulse. That reason is good enough; figure out what it is. That being said, powerful life events require quick-hitting, direct sentences. Be like Hemingway, my professors used to say—keep your sentences short; they have more punch that way. You don’t need lots of flowery or figurative language to convey that your subject is a big deal—but at the same time, do make sure you’re showing, not telling, in your writing . Connecting emotionally is about expressing that time through actions and events, not just thoughts and feelings.

Find your message with the right words

Superfluous language gets in the way of gravity. Be ready to prune drafts until you feel you’ve found the right semantic fit for the intention behind your words. Your essay also needs a theme, a call, a purpose. The point isn’t simply to narrate a sad story in order to show the reader how sad it is (e.g., your essay’s message is not that teen suicide is tragic); rather, the point is to connect the sad story to the essay prompt you've chosen to address. The event itself essentially takes a backseat to the points you want to make about what it  means .

Be respectful

This is really the one ultimate rule, and if you do this, the other stuff can be worked out. In the context of the college essay, respect usually involves approaching your subject matter somewhat anonymously. Names aren’t necessary. If you’re engaging a serious, painful topic—and it involves others—be careful to write as circumspectly and thoughtfully as you can. When in doubt, ask someone whose judgment you trust (like a teacher or parent) to check it out for you.

Seek help for you or others

Is it easy to write about hard realities? Not at all—not in any context, not for anyone. But if you’re brave enough to try, you may find it to be transformative and therapeutic to articulate your experience as you process your grief and begin to heal. And the most important thing to remember is to take those emotions and experiences and use them to help others in the future before other tragedies strike. Writing about these situations can often shed light and inspire others to help people in need, which in the end is more crucial than anything else. If you have been affected by tragedy or are worried about a friend who is struggling, help is available. Contact the  National Suicide Prevention Lifeline  800-273-8255 or a trusted adult.

For more advice on college essays, check out our Application Essay Clinic , or if you’re in need of mental health advice, check out the tag “mental health.”

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About Keaghan Turner, PhD

Keaghan Turner, PhD, is Assistant Professor of Digital Writing and Humanistic Studies at Coastal Carolina University . She has taught writing and literature at small liberal arts colleges and state flagship universities for the past 20 years. As a managing partner of Turner+Turner College Consulting, LLC, Dr. Turner also counsels high school students on all aspects of their college admission portfolios, leads writing workshops, and generally tries to encourage students to believe in the power of their own writing voices. You can contact Dr. Turner on Instagram @consultingprofessors or by email at  [email protected] . 

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Writing and Responding to Trauma in a Time of Pandemic

This module give writers tools to compose personal healing narratives, to frame their personal inquiries within a larger research context, and to position themselves within the larger community response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Through this public teaching initiative, we ask “How can we transform the trauma we experience in the current COVID-19 pandemic into a reflective moment that inspires resilience?”

Living through the current pandemic is not only about the medical and financial fall-out of COV-SARS-2 and COVID-19 illness, but also about the lasting trauma that has been felt by individuals as they, their families, and communities struggle during this historical time. Storytelling is a means of healing from trauma. This module give writers tools to compose personal healing narratives, to frame their personal inquiries within a larger research context, and to position themselves within the larger community response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In doing so, we draw upon research on trauma theory, research on expressive writing and healing, and research on responding to writing. Through this public teaching initiative, we ask “ How can we transform the trauma we experience in the current COVID-19 pandemic into a reflective moment that inspires resilience ?”

• 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.
•  Any serious physical injury, such as a widespread burn or a blow to the head. —traumatic adj.

All the modules in this series are based on the following four principles of trauma-informed care and teaching:

Connectedness–valuing of relationships

Protection–ensuring safety and trustworthiness

Respect–promoting choice and collaboration

Hope–Resilience and Change

(Adapted from Hummer, Crosland, & Dollard, 2009)

Writing and Responding to Trauma in a Time of Pandemic includes the following components:

• The  personal entry point  with personal written and oral healing narratives
• The  inquiry entry point  for writers who want to pursue self-generated research inquiries related to Covid-19
• The  community entry point , which supports writers as they position themselves within larger community responses to Covid-19
• A comprehensive online bibliography on trauma, writing, and response

This module was created as part of Northeastern University’s College of Social Science and Humanities Pandemic Public Teaching Initiative. The Pandemic Teaching Initiative, which is supported by the CSSH Office of the Dean, the Northeastern Humanities Center, the Ethics Institute, the SPPUA and the NULab, seeks to create a library of publicly accessible modules that explore topics related to pandemics and their disruptions and impacts.

All of the prompts will generate material that will be shareable, if participants wish, during an open, online event series.

We have attempted to limit traumatic content in the main text of this module, but the examples used in the following modules may be disturbing for some individuals. Examples include sexual violence, racism, COVID-19 illness, and death.

This session offers an overview of expressive writing and storytelling as a means of healing. This session follows four steps:

• Identify the basic research supporting expressive writing
• Identify narrative strategies and discuss examples of types of healing narratives to help you better understand the narrative techniques and strategies you will learn.
• Complete informal writing prompts that offer you the opportunity to begin applying these strategies to your own writing.
• Use informal writing prompts to build towards a full-length healing narrative and recognize elements of effective feedback.
• Reading: Chip Scanlan, “What is Narrative, Anyway?,” Poynter

This session offers an overview of expressive writing, which is writing that pairs emotions with events and action with reflection.  It also offers some of the research into writing about trauma as a means of healing, as well as examples of published written and oral healing narratives. This basic grounding in the literature of expressive writing and healing will support the specific narrative entry points for writers that appear in subsequent modules.

Expressive writing is a specific type of narrative writing that combines experiences with reflection and insight. Often, we’re more familiar with straight journaling or chronicling events in a diary, but it is the interplay between emotions and events and the ability to distinguish feelings from the past and the present in expressive writing that distinguishes it.

Expressive Writing

• Does more than simply record events
• Does more than simply vent feelings
• Includes action  and  reflection
• Includes descriptive and/or figurative language

As defined by Louise DeSalvo,  Writing as a Way of Healing ,  2000, Chapter 2.

• Video: The Expressive Writing Method
• Video: What Does Expressive Writing Look Like
• Reading: Oliver Glassa, Mark Dreusickea, John Evansa, Elizabeth Becharda, and Ruth Q. Wolever, “Expressive Writing to Improve Resilience to Trauma: A clinical Feasibility Trial,” Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice
• Reading: James W. Pennebaker, “Expressive Writing in Psychological Science,” Perspectives on  Psychological Science
• Reading: Kimberly Mack, “Johnny Rotten, My Mom, and Me,”  Longreads
• Reading: Tracy Strauss, “Writing Trauma: Notes of Transcendence,” The Ploughshares Blog 
• Reading: Ann Wallace, “A Life Less Terrifying: The Revisionary Lens of Illness,” Intima
• Podcast: My Brain Explosion
• Questions to Consider:
• Once you’ve read the essays and articles and watched the two videos that accompany this session, think about how expressive writing is different from other types of writing you may have done (journaling, expository writing, etc.) What do you see as the biggest opportunities and challenges of this type of writing?

In this session, you will learn about three specific types of wounded body/healing narratives as classified by Louise DeSalvo: the chaos narrative, the restitution narrative, and the quest narrative.  The suggested readings offer elements of these types of  healing narratives. In addition, the Strauss piece offers a useful frame for how to pair emotion with reflection/insight in expressive writing, which you will be able to apply to your own writing in the next session.

• Reading: Alison Rosalie Brookes, “Love and Death in the time of Quarantine,” Health Story Collaborative
• Reading: Nina Collins, “Graduations,” Intima
• Reading: Tracy Strauss, “Writing Trauma: Notes of Transcendence, #4—The Situation and the Story,” The Ploughshares Blog
• Reading: Jennifer Stitt, “Will COVID-19 Strengthen our Bonds?,” Guernica
• Reading: Adina Talve-Goodman, “I Must Have Been That Man,” Bellevue Literary Review
• Reading:  Jesmyn Ward, “On Witness and Respair: A Personal Tragedy Followed By a Pandemic,” Vanity Fair
• Types of Healing Narratives/Wounded Body Narratives   Tip : Often, healing narratives have elements of more than one of these frameworks—for example, particular passages in a quest narrative may take on the immediacy and visceral feel of a chaos narrative. You will likely identify elements from more than one of these frameworks in the published essays in this session.
• Once you’ve looked at the chart above and the accompanying essays, think about which types of healing narratives (chaos, restitution, and quest) you would characterize them. Which essay or essays resonate the most with you, and what narrative elements/strategies account for that–can you point to specific moments in the text?

In this session, you can apply what you’ve learned about different types of healing narratives and from the sample published essays to formative writing activities.  Please choose as many of these short, informal writing exercises as you would like, keeping in mind the fundamentals of expressive writing, i.e., linking emotions with events. Start with 15 minutes on a prompt and see how far you get.

Activities :

• As Ann Wallace asks in “ A Life Less Terrifying,” write a journal entry  about a time when you were denied some kind of essential or fundamental human need—love, compassion, respect, dignity, shelter, the possibilities are many.  If you’d like, you can focus this within the context of COVID-19 and your experiences living through it.
• Thinking about a time you were denied a fundamental need, now try  writing a letter  to someone as a means of telling this story. Think about the differences in your story that arise when you address this towards an intended reader.
• Draw a map of a meaningful  landscape from your COVID-19 experience (e.g., where you’ve spent the most time) including as many details as possible. Think about 2-3 specific memories/events that have taken place in that space, and make a list of as many sensory details as possible–what sounds, smells, touch, images, etc. do you associate with this place and these memories? Use this sensory list to start writing about your experiences during COVID-19.
• What family story or generational tale do you wish had a different ending? What would it look like? Alternatively, what COVID-19 story would you re-write if you could?

 Looking for additional short prompts specific to COVID-19? Check out  The Pandemic Project,  directed by James Pennebaker.

Optional revision activity:

Have a response to a writing prompt you want to deepen? Consider using Strauss’s   Situation and Story essay  for the following activity: Make a two-column chart where you identify the actions/plot points in your narrative (the situation) and a column where you reflect on the emotions of the event (the story). This will help highlight places where the pairing of emotions with events and action with reflection could be developed.

We’ve discussed the different kinds of wounded body narratives classifications (the chaos narrative, the restitution narrative, and the quest narrative), and have read a variety of healing narratives that deal with trauma, loss, illness, etc. To draft your own healing narrative, take these three frameworks and the formative writing you’ve done in Session 1.3 surrounding this denial of a fundamental need as a foundation for a longer essay where you explore a seminal event or trauma in your own life. If you would like to focus this writing on events related to COVID-19 you may, but you are not limited to that. As you write, think about the qualities of healing narratives DeSalvo mentions, and the characteristics/criteria for successful healing narratives included in this session. Above all, healing narratives pair emotions/feelings with events.

Once you’ve drafted your healing narrative using the prompt above, we recommend getting feedback on it so you can continue to deepen and order the draft.

Getting feedback on your healing narrative:

You might find that you want to share your narrative with someone you trust or even present your narrative in a public forum. Before you share your work, however, you want to think about the feedback you may receive. If you simply ask a friend to give you feedback on your narrative, they may give you bad advice. For example, they may only tell you about grammatical errors or, worse yet, debate the content of your narrative.

Because most readers are not familiar with healing narratives, it’s useful to give them some guidance on how to respond to your writing.  Two tips are helpful here:

1. Content-based response.   Based on the research and work of Louise DeSalvo, ask readers to focus on the following characteristics of effective healing narratives.

Elements of a Healing Narrative

• Renders our experience concretely, authentically, explicitly, and with a richness of detail
• Links feelings to events, including feelings from the past versus feelings in the present
• Is a balanced narrative that uses negative words but also includes the positive and that continues to evolve
• Reveals the insights we’ve achieved from painful experiences
• Tells a complete, complex, coherent story that can stand alone and can take multiple forms

Louise DeSalvo,  Writing as a Way of Healing: How Telling Stories Transforms Our Lives , pgs. 57-61

2. Intensity of response.  Rather than having readers give you  critical response   or  diagnosis ,   readers might offer  supportive response  to help you build on what you are already doing well.

While individuals find it therapeutic to write stories or narratives about their personal experiences related to COVID-19, other individuals find it helpful to learn more about the disease and its implications. Inquiry-based writing is a powerful way of harnessing the potential of research to answer the questions that most interest you.

This session will offer participants who want to process the implications of the pandemic through research. Activities in this session guide writers through the research process. These activities help writers refine the skills necessary to bring self-generated research inquiries into the public sphere, whether for education, awareness, or call to action. This session follows four steps:

• Identify what inquiry is and types of inquiry-based writing.
• Generate and evaluate inquiry questions.
• Find and evaluate scholarly and popular sources on COVID-19.
• Translate health/science information accurately and responsibly into an essay, report, or presentation.
• Reading: “The Color of Coronavirus: Covid-19 Deaths by Race and Ethnicity in the U.S.,” Apm Research Lab Staff
• Reading: Michael Ollove and Christine Vestal, “COVID-19 Is Crushing Black Communities. Some States Are Paying Attention,” PEW

Like the first session on personal/narrative writing, inquiry-based writing starts with your values, your experiences, and your goals and interests, and that is what you will focus on in this module. This session will cover the basic considerations of inquiry-based writing, before we move into generating questions and drafting your own research inquires.

Inquiry  is the process of asking questions to solve a problem. In education, inquiry-based learning is a way for students to generate research questions for further study and, thus, model the work of professional researchers. In this way, teachers become guides for students, rather than assigning research topics.

Inquiry-based writing  instruction has been shown to provide more meaningful learning for students and keep students engaged. In inquiry-based writing, students   can draw on personal connections in their writing and research (Eodice, Geller & Lerner, 2019; Geller, Eodice, & Lerner, 2016). When combined with clear expectations for writing and the opportunity for supportive feedback from a peer, such activities lead to deeper learning and personal development (Anderson et al., 2016).

Inquiry-based writing can be a potentially positive way to address trauma because it gets writers to focus on action. It is a way to build resilience.

• Reading: Louise Aronson, “Story as Evidence, Evidence as Story,” A Piece of My Mind
• Reading: “Responsible Science: Ensuring the Integrity of the Research Process,” National Library of Medicine
• Reading: Carl Zimmer, “How You Should Read Coronavirus Studies, or Any Science Paper,” The New York Times

Inquiry-based research is driven by the ongoing relationship between asking questions, seeking information, and refining the questions based on what you find. In this session, you will find resources and activities to help you frame your questions. From there, you can work on activities related to data gathering and data analysis.

Inquiry-based research typically includes four phases: (1) orientation, (2) conceptualization, (3) investigation, and (4) conclusion. Discussion happens throughout the process

Session 2.2: Phase 1: Orientation 

1. Orientation. Inquiry-based research starts with orienting yourself toward a topic. In other words, you want to find a topic to write about.

Orientation questions:

Using some of the COVID-19 healing narratives you composed in Module 1, or using your personal experiences living through the pandemic thus far, consider if there are potential research topics you can extract from these personal narratives.

• What are some COVID-19 topics that interest you?
• Why are you interested in those topics?
• Why are they relevant to your personal and/or professional experiences?
• What is your ultimate goal? Do you want to write an op-ed, give a public talk, write a research article, or something else?

At this early stage in the research process, we ask about your ultimate goal. That’s because no professional researcher waits until the end to think about writing. In fact, what we want to write often shapes how we go about conducting research, including how much research we do and what kinds of sources we use. For example, if we want to write an op-ed, we might only need 5-8 good sources. On the other hand, if we want to write a research article, we might need 20 or more sources.

Discussion : Often it is helpful at the beginning of a project to discuss your ideas with someone else. Talking to someone else can help you identify what really interests you. You can even brainstorm new ideas with a friend.

After orienting yourself to a topic, take a step back. When working on trauma-informed inquiry, we recommend some introspection before proceeding with your research. Professional researchers call the process of examining our own values, goals, and beliefs in relation to our research and teaching “ reflexivity .”

Besides being helpful in understanding your values, goals, and beliefs in relation to your research, self-reflexive exercises can also help you think about the impact of your search on readers.

Self-reflexive questions:

• Why do I find this topic personally interesting?
• How does my identity impact my research interest and the ways I might answer my research questions?
• What potential harm might I do to myself by conducting this research? Are there triggers that I should consider before starting?
• What do I hope will come of my research? What will I do if I do not get the response that I hope for?
• Who might be helped by my research? Who might be harmed by my research?

Who do I want to read my research? Why them? What do I hope will be their reaction?

Session 2.2: Phase 2: Conceptualization

Conceptualization . Conceptualization is a complicated way of saying “asking questions” and generating some ideas (or hypotheses) about what you might find through your research. The trick to making inquiry-based research “good” is in asking good questions.  A good research question is personally meaningful, accessible, and answerable.

Asking questions activities

Using the research topics you generated in  (1) Orientation ,  begin to generate some research questions.

When you begin to generate research questions, don’t worry about good grammar or logic. Instead, try to think of as many questions as you can. Here are some to get you started:

• What topic is it that you want to learn?
• What is known about this topic?
• Who does this topic affect?
• What are some of the issues of conflict surrounding this topic?
• What are some aspects of your topic that are unknown right now?
• What might be some outcomes or uses of your inquiry?
• Using the fake news/fact-checking sites and the resources on how to find scholarly sources, briefly, how is the topic being discussed in popular and academic circles right now?

After you generate a list of potential research questions, ask yourself:

• How passionate do I feel about this topic? Who am I accountable to in doing this research? Am I doing this research for myself or someone else?
• Can I narrow my topic by age, time, geography, or some other way?  What keywords are central to my research? For example, can I change generic words like “people” to specific words like “infants” or “senior citizens”?
• What sources might I be interested in reviewing to answer my question? What do I expect to find?

With the questions above as a frame, write a brief paragraph in which you narrow the focus and specify your inquiry issue/topic.

Session 2.2: Phase 3: Investigation

(3)  Investigation . Now that you have a working research question, it’s time to start finding research. Adding research to your writing is a way to provide more context for your discussion and build your ethos as a writer. And it’s a great way to learn. “Sources” can include everything from newspapers and online forums to peer-reviewed scientific articles. Academic research, such as scientific articles, are published in “journals,” such as  The New England Journal of Medicine

Collecting Sources

While a Google search will certainly generate a lot of information, it may not be the best information to answer your research question. Google searches take you to all kinds of websites, ranging from reputable research sources to idiosyncratic blogs. Google Scholar is a bit better but can often produce results that are difficult to filter and sort.  Professional researchers use academic databases to locate “peer-reviewed” research.

The Northeastern University librarians have put together a video series on how to find academic sources. For example,  in this series, they discuss how to use a search engine called Scholar OneSearch to find academic research articles. In this series, they explain  how to improve your search strategies  and find ebooks. 

Beyond academic sources, government sources are really valuable in finding public health information (Note: government websites always end in .gov). In fact, many professional researchers regularly use websites like the Centers for Disease Control website to find information about disease rates. In addition to federal websites, states often have local information available on their websites. For example,  this website has Massachusetts-specific information

Before the COVID19 pandemic, many academic articles were behind a “firewall,” meaning you had to pay to get access to the article. However, many academic journals have now provided free access to COVID-19 research in an attempt to help the public learn more about the disease.

Analyzing sources . How do you know whether a source is reliable or not? In general,  academic sources are better than non-academic sources when you are conducting research.  Professional researchers evaluate the quality of sources by looking at a few key markers:

• Type of source
• Author expertise
• Publication date
• Publication venue
• Research quality

The Northeastern library has excellent guides on how to  evaluate sources, including data and statistics

Fake News and Fact-Checking Covid Sites

You can find a lot of incorrect information on COVID-19 on the internet. Below are some resources to help assess your sources.

Facts in the Time of Covid-19

Fake or Real? How to Self-Check the News and Get the Facts

False, Misleading, Clickbait-y, and/or Satirical “News” Sources

How To Avoid Misinformation About Covid-19

Poynter International Covid-19 Fact Checking Site

 WHO Covid-19 Myth Busters

Investigation activities:

Now that you have collected some sources on your topic, it’s time to review them critically before writing up your research. What kinds of sources has your search yielded? What information is provided in those sources? What information do you still need?

For each source, ask the following questions:

• What is this source–for example, a blog, scientific study, op-ed, or government report? Is it relevant? What genre is it? Is this source based on opinion or facts?
• Who is the author? What expertise do they possess?
• When was the article published? Does it contain timely information?
• Where was the source published? Is that a reputable journal or impartial news source? If it is a scholarly source, does the journal have an impact factor–that is, an indicator that other researchers cite research from the journal? Has the article been cited? Was it peer reviewed?
• How was the research conducted? Where was the research conducted?

After reflecting on the results of your research and what that research has yielded, you may decide to go back and do some more research. Try finding new sources if you cannot answer the questions above. Also, it’s not uncommon to find gaps in your research at this stage. You may need to go do more research, if you haven’t found exactly what you need to answer your research question.

• Question to Consider:

At this point in a research project, it’s very helpful to talk to someone about your research. By explaining what you are researching and what you have found, you are synthesizing your research findings into chunks of information. That chunking will help you both process what you have learned and help you consider what else you might want to know.

Session 2.2: Phase 4: Conclusion 

(4)  Conclusion . After you have found and analyzed sources to answer your research question, you need to figure out what to say. Professional researchers sometimes call this a “story,” and many professional researchers talk about the “story” of their research. A good research project reads like a story–there is a question, a search for answers, and …. ANSWERS!

So, how do you tell a good story with all the information you have found?

One way is to use a storyboard. There is no one right way to make a storyboard. It can be as simple as bullet points, a traditional outline, or a series of images. A storyboard or outline also helps you figure out where you need research in your story. After all, no one wants to read a series of research summaries. Readers want a presentation, essay, or report that is punctuated with research findings.

Once you figure out where you want to add research in your presentation, essay, or report, you need to decide how you will use that research. There are three main ways that writers include research: summary, paraphrase, and direct quotation.

How to Summarize

Summarizing involves a specific process of converting what you have read into a much shorter version. The process can generally be handled in four steps:

• Identify the main claim and write it in your own words. Often, you will find it easiest to write this if you read the abstract, introduction, and conclusion of an article. The main claim is usually most developed in these sections. If someone were to ask you, “What is this about?” this statement would be your answer.
• Explain the main arguments that support this claim. You can omit aspects that are not central to supporting the claim, such as specific details or examples.
• Include necessary context. Sometimes a small amount of context, such as the circumstances of the research, can be helpful to understanding the claim or conclusions.
• Avoid personal opinion or interpretation of the original. This point holds true for students working on summary assignments for school but may be “bent” in professional writing, depending on the purpose and audience. (Irish, 2015, p. 209-210)

Make sure that if you are summarizing, paraphrasing, or quoting someone else’s ideas or words that you  cite your source . Usually a citation includes an in-text reference and an entry in a References page. The Northeastern University guide to citing sources is a good resource for learning the different ways of using sources.

Conclusion activities:

Now that you have found good sources that help you answer your research question, it’s useful to take a step back before writing up your findings. At this moment, you are “close” to your work, which means that you may not see gaps or strengths in your research process. Talking to a friend can help you get some perspective. The following questions can also help you self-assess your work:

• What are the main themes, ideas, or findings that I find most compelling from my research?
• What assertions can I support with the sources I have found? Do multiple sources support those assertions?
• Have I answered my research question? If not, do I need to change my original research question?
• How do I feel about this research? Have I learned something? How has that new knowledge changed me?
• What might happen based on my research? What might be a positive effect? A negative effect?

In this session, you will take the results of your initial inquiry activities and research analysis from the first two sessions and produce a piece of accessible research writing.

Now that you know how to ask a research question, conduct research, and analyze your findings such that you can make a storyboard or outline, it’s time to finish drafting your presentation, report, or essay.

While many writers compose narratives chronologically, research writers tend to compose their texts in chunks. They might write a short introduction to frame the main idea of their report or presentation, but then move to the center of the report or presentation to work on a key idea. By using a storyboard or outline, you can easily move around in your report or essay to different sections and not lose the overall coherence of your work. This nonlinear composing process also helps with fatigue when working with complex research.

Getting feedback on your inquiry-based writing:

While inquiry-based writing can take many forms, there are some key elements in all research writing. So, while you may or may not have a friend who can evaluate the technical content of your inquiry-based writing, you can still have a friend give you some feedback on the following:

• What is the research question?
• Why is that an interesting research question? If you can’t tell, offer some suggestions.
• What data did the writer collect to answer that question(s)?
• Do you feel that the writer has enough data to answer their research question? Why or why not? Do you feel that the researcher has the right kind of data to answer their research question? Why or why not?
• What is the biggest surprise in the findings? What seems to be the most important finding?
• What remains unclear to you after reading the draft?

Session overview : Now that you have a firm grounding in your self-generated research projects, the community entry point activities that follow in this module help you position yourselves within larger community responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. Community-based  prompts are for writers who want to advocate for a particular position and work with members of their own communities. These activities also provide a foundation for the skills, such as interviewing.

In this session, we offer participants two ways of using writing for community-based projects: op-eds and oral histories. Op-ed advice is targeted for participants who want to take their self-generated research inquiries and use their findings as means to advocate for particular positions, interventions, or recommendations. Oral history advice is for participants who want a more intimate way of using writing to advocate for community awareness by capturing the stories of community members. Activities in this session guide writers through the writing process for both of these activities. This session follows three steps:

• Identify common types of community-based writing.
• Generate op-ed pitches and trauma-informed interview questions to support public-facing narratives and oral histories.
• Draft an op-ed or  transcribe an oral history interview.
• Reading: Tasha Golden, “Where Your Writing Can Go: Storytelling as Advocacy,” The Ploughshares Blog

Community-based writing values the perspectives of individuals outside the academy. That means, community members’ ideas guide the research and final product. For example, op-eds are often meant to give voice to individuals who are not professional journalists but who may have particular expertise in a topic or lived experiences that offer readers valuable perspectives. Other community-based writing projects, such as oral history projects, are meant to document people in specific locations at specific times in history.

In this session, you will gain exposure to these common types of community-based writing, including strategies for developing your ideas as well as reading published examples.

• Reading: Reann Gibson, “Communities of Color Hit Hardest by Heat Waves,” The Boston Globe
• Reading: David Lat, “Op-Ed: People ask me if I’ve recovered from COVID-19. That’s not an Easy Question to Answer,” Los Angeles Times
• Sabrina Strings, “It’s Not Obesity. It’s Slavery,” The New York Times
• Reading: “Writing OpEds That Make A Difference,” Indivisible
• Reading: Kristine Maloney, “Op-ed Writing Tips to Consider During the COVID-19 Pandemic,” Inside Higher Ed
• The Op-Ed Project, “Op-Ed Writing Tips and Tricks”
• Reading: “Covid-19 Oral History Plague,” Journal of the Plague Year
• Reading: Jo Healey, “Reporting on Coronavirus: Handling Sensitive Remote Interviews,” Dart Center
• Reading: Jina Moore, “Covering Trauma, A Training Guide”
• Reading: Jina Moore, “Five Ideas on Meaningful Consent in Trauma Journalism”
• Video: Trauma-Informed Interviewing: Techniques from a Clinician’s Toolkit

In this session, you will apply the strategies from the previous section to your own writing process, clarifying your stance and audience through drafting a pitch for op-ed projects and generating interview questions for oral histories and similar narrative projects.

Use the following questions to help draft your brief pitch and begin framing your draft:

Preparing for the Op-Ed

1. Why write an op-ed? Clarify your purpose:

a. Inform (make aware of)

b. Educate (going a little deeper)

c. Persuade

e. Advocate/offer call to action

2. Basic questions to draft a pitch:

a. What’s your issue? What is the “hook” or current event that frames this piece?

b. Why right now?

c. What’s your unique perspective/recommendation within this issue? What is the counter view to this?

d. Why should  you  be the one to write it? (credentials, relevant life experiences, etc.)

e. Where should you pitch it? (local or national publication)

3. The argument: How are you making your case?

a. Anecdotal evidence–the personal, contextual details that engage the reader (potentially from Module 1)

b. Research–the evidence to support your recommendation or position (from Module 2)

c. Testimony–the words of others to help you make your case (from oral histories)

4. The writing:

a. Be as concise as possible (typically around 750 words)

b. Use active voice

c. Avoid clichés

d. Use specific examples

e. Have a consistent voice

f. Know your audience

Preparing to interview community members for oral histories 

1. What are the goals and purpose for collecting these oral histories? 

a. “To provide a historic record of what has happened and its multiple impact on individuals and within communities.

b. To share the results of these findings with professionals who make humanitarian interventions in the aftermath, and to record the success and failures of those programs if resources permit.

c. To support those who give testimony in creating narratives that through their very expressivity and creativity can help rebuild communities and reconstruct identity in the wake of the catastrophe.” (Albarelli et al., 2020, p. 13)

2. Define the frame of the project:

a. Place. Currently, most interviews should be conducted remotely.

b. Time. You must decide if you will interview someone while an event is happening, immediately after an event, or after some period of time has passed since the event.

c. People. The people you interview are called “narrators.”

d. Technology. Decide what  technology you will use to conduct the interview.

e. Legal issues. Read the claim rights, if you are using professional software for interviewing.

3. Select the focus of the interviews:

a. Will you focus on a specific moment in time or an expanse of time?

b. Will you use the same questions for each narrator, same themes but varied questions, or freeform format?

c. How long will you interview a narrator?

d. Will you be seeking a second interview?

e. Will you give narrators the opportunity to listen to their interviews?

4. Develop a plan for listening and publishing interviews

a. How will you listen for accuracy of meaning?

b. How will you address awkward passages or inaudible passages in the interviews? Will you remove filler words like “uh” and “um” from the transcripts?

c. Will you trace themes across interviews and provide an analysis or build compelling profiles of individual narrators?

d. Will you select the most interesting quotes or allow the interview to be published in its entirety?

e. What will you do about interviews that did not go well?

f. How will you understand the way your perspectives might shape how you interpret the interview?

g. How might the interviews be used for unintended purposes? How might you safeguard against that happening?

5. Develop a plan for storing the interview files

a. Who owns the rights to the interviews?

b. Where can the audio or video files be stored safely so as to ensure the confidentiality of you and the narrators?

c. If you need to access the audio or video files in the future, can you do that easily?

d. If you plan on destroying unused material, how can you ensure that the information has actually been destroyed or erased?

Interviewing Community Members: Interviewing Tips

Interviewing community members who have undergone traumatic experiences requires patience, empathy, and resilience.  Interviewing requires that we become witnesses to events. When those events are catastrophic or traumatic events, then we are emotionally and physically implicated in those events. Moreover, because of the difficult nature of interviewing community members who have undergone traumatic experiences, it is critical to set-out the framework for your interview before you begin asking questions.

When contacting potential community members: 

• Explain the purpose of the interview and ensure that you explain the interview is voluntary. You may never coerce someone into an interview.
• Explain how the interview will happen–for example, do you plan on recording the interview? Respect narrators wishes if they do not want to be recorded or videotaped. All narrators may stop an interview at any time, if they wish.
• Explain who you are. (See self-reflexivity in Module 2)
• Explain how the interview material will be used. Will the interview be made public or kept private?
• Explain how you will ensure the safety and privacy of participants being interviewed. Will narrators’ real names be used or will they be given pseudonyms?
• Confirm the day, time, length, and format of the interview in advance.
• Explain any compensation or other benefits from the interview.
• Provide your contact information.

Good oral history interviewers (Adapted from Aras et al., p. 15):

• Rely on respectful language and acknowledge the pain that narrators may have suffered. Acknowledge grief but do not use phrases like, “I know how you feel.” Such phrases can seem like trivializing other people’s pain.
• Use warm-up questions to make narrators feel comfortable at the beginning of the interview. A warm-up question, such as asking narrators for their preferred names and pronouns, shows narrators that you are willing to allow them to shape the interview content.
• Allow narrators to answer questions in the ways that feel most comfortable to them. Open-ended questions–questions with no right or wrong answers–are best.
• Base questions on what narrators have already said. This allows interviewers to continue the conversation across multiple questions. For example, ask about a similar incident or ask narrators for their assessment of an event. You can also prompt additional information simply by asking, “Could you tell me more?”
• Allow narrators time if they need to cry or take a break.
• Summarize and confirm what narrators have said through a technique called “sayback.” When using sayback, the interviewer says something like, “So, as I hear you saying……” This technique allows the narrator to correct a faulty misinterpretation on the part of the interviewer.
• Allow narrators to describe events, expectations, and emotions in their own terms. Do not correct narrators.
• Use objects and texts, such as dairies, to help prompt insights from narrators. If you wish to use such materials, you should always invite participants  before  the interview to bring such items to the interview.
• At the end of an interview, a good interviewer also thanks narrators and asks them for any information that they might wish to share. If an interviewer is worried about a narrator, they might follow-up with a call to check on them.

Listening to Trauma

In the 1960s, the CUNY system developed a program called SEEK to expand university admissions. Notice in this  interview with Marvina White how the interviewer listens and respects Marvina’s recounting of trauma. And in this  inquiry-based article , notice how Sean Molloy, the interviewer, retains that same respect.

Important characteristics of an interviewer are:

• Attention : “This is primarily conveyed through questions that often include a phrase or thought of the narrator at the beginning, and often an atmosphere of silence that is filled with expectation and interest.”
• Connection : “The ability to create an environment of neutral and supportive listening in which any experience, no matter how graphic or harrowing, can be conveyed and absorbed, without resulting in creating excess emotion within the fieldwork situation.”

Constructive listening and interpretation : “The activity of listening, usually silently, must be punctuated by the activity of intelligent questions which crystallize the connections made, most importantly, by the narrator but also by an attentive oral historian who can reflect additional connections and encourage the process of interpretation.” (Albarelli et al., 2020, p. 26-27)

• At this point, you will want to draft some interview questions and ask a friend to help you think through possible answers. Often you will find that you have too many questions! For an oral history, it is better to let narrators spend time working through a story or a few stories, rather than briefly answering a number of questions.
• Interviewing Activity:  Using the interview tips, identify two people whom you would like to interview. Interview each person for 30-45 minutes.

In this session, you will expand your op-ed pitch or your interview questions and compose a full draft of your community project. This is where the personal narrative exploration you did in Session 1, the research and analysis you worked on in Session 2, and the scaffolded activities you did in the first two sessions of Session 3 come together to support a community-based COVID-19 project.

Op-ed:  Using the writing tips and strategies in Session 3.2, write an approximately 750-word op-ed that includes a news hook for your reader, a clear position and counter position, and specific anecdotal and research-based evidence to both engage the reader and support that position. Remember that you are likely writing about a community issue for a public audience, so accessible, clear language and attention to your specific intended audience–local newspaper? National media outlet?–are important. Individual publications most often offer specific submission guidance on whether they want pitched ideas or full drafts, but in either case, it is best to have a full draft prepared in case an editor responds with interest.

Oral history:  After the interview, listen to the interview again and try to transcribe the audio as accurately as possible. If you do not have time to transcribe the entire interview, try transcribing pieces of the interview that you find most compelling.  If you find the audio too fuzzy at times, you can add ellipses to the interview transcript to note that the audio was inaudible. For example, “I called my mother at the nursing home to see …[inaudible]… The nurse told me that my mom had been transferred to another room.”

Getting feedback on your community-based writing

Op-ed : Before you send your op-ed out for possible publication, you will likely want some feedback. Consider your intended audience. Remember that you can write for local community outlets as well as more general publications, and see how your writing resonates with an intended reader or readers. Some feedback that may be helpful include questions like these: Are the argument and counter argument clear and easy for readers to pinpoint? Does the reader feel connected to the topic through anecdotal experiences? Is the argument supported with facts? Is the scope of the research and content working, or do your readers need more details to arrive at your point with you?

Oral history : While it is always most ethical to allow narrators to review interview transcripts before those transcripts are made public, you need to set expectations. Interviews are not polished speeches. What makes an interview powerful is the rhythm of everyday language, the persona of the speaker, and the bond with the interviewer. So, while it is fine to allow narrators to correct factually incorrect information and revisit passages that need further elaboration, you want to avoid revising the interview transcript into a speech. You also will want to allow narrators to delete any information they feel puts them at risk. Sensitive comments that are made based on trauma are fine; comments that jeopardize the well-being of narrators or others named in the interview are not.

Writing and Responding to Trauma in a Time of Pandemic Bibliography

Professor of English

Mya Poe’s research focuses on writing assessment and writing development with particular attention to justice and fairness. For more than 20 years she has advocated for eliminating writing assessment practices that result in unnecessary structural ba…

Laurie Edwards

Teaching professor and online pedagogy coordinator in english.

Laurie Edwards primarily teaches Advanced Writing for the Health Professions and Writing to Heal, with particular interest in online/hybrid pedagogy, diversity and inclusion in the writing classroom, and narrative medicine. She is a nonfiction writer…

“The essays I ended up submitting were more reflective of my character than my earlier drafts because they were rooted in the joy that defines me as much as anything else,” Lin Lin, a Chalkbeat Student Voices fellow, writes. (Whitney Hayward/Portland Press Herald/Getty Images)

There’s more than one way to write a college essay

I resented the expectation that i lead with my trauma. but trauma is not the only thing that defines me, and it’s not the only reason i deserve to go to college..

“You’re smart, you’re Asian, you’re queer and nonbinary, and you were raised by a single mom. Colleges will love you.” That’s the message I heard from friends even years before applying to college. In high school, advisers chimed in, too; they made it seem like it was a cool thing to be from a marginalized background.

When it came time to do my college applications, I think they assumed that I’d write about the challenges I faced growing up in an immigrant family with limited means, with minority racial, gender, and sexual identities. I knew that I could tell a phenomenal story about all the struggles I had overcome. I was, after all, applying to college through QuestBridge , a national nonprofit that connects low-income youth with colleges and opportunities. My peers initially encouraged me to use the hardships to my advantage. Tell them how you adapted and thrived through it all, even the pandemic , they urged me.

I drafted an essay, then I discarded it and tried again. And again. One was about growing up in a neighborhood that is slowly being gentrified. Another was about living in a world that perceives me as an Asian woman and the violent consequences that come with it. Another still was about coping with my weight. None of them felt right. I knew some of what I went through was tough, and some saw my ability to persevere as remarkable. But is that all I had to offer? Is that all I am worth?

It felt like an exercise in proving my worth to college admissions officers.

And what, exactly, was I trying to prove? That despite the disadvantages I faced, I am still at the same academic level as those who didn’t face such adversity? That I can handle college because I grew up handling so much?

I resented the expectation that I lead with my trauma.

When I focus only on the worst things that ever happened to me and on the challenges and pain that come with my racial, gender, and sexual identity, it feels toxic and takes away from my humanity. Trauma is not the only thing that defines me, and it’s not the only reason I deserve to go to college.

I drafted an essay, then I discarded it and tried again. And again.

Of course, if other applicants want to open up about their hardships, they should tell their stories. I would never want to take this away from them. It’s just that I refuse to believe that it’s the only way to write a college essay.

Conflicted, I reached out to a fellow community organizer Van Sam, of VietLead . They were a great help. While overcoming challenges is character-building, Van reminded me that I have many other things to contribute. They urged me to question what actually makes up my identity.

Here’s what I came up with:

I am funny with a contagious laugh. I am loud. I like talking to people and always want everyone to feel included. I love urban green spaces and spending time outdoors, especially running or hiking. I’m addicted to romantic comedies and Chipotle. I’m someone who is growing constantly.

So what did I end up writing about? My love of nature, how much I adore analyzing the world around me and reveling in that same world. I also wrote about being non-binary through the lens of my liberation. Specifically, I wrote about buying my first chest binder. “When I put it on, it was euphoric,” I wrote. I compared the experience to eating candy without consequences. I compared it to flying.

The essays I submitted were more reflective of my character than my earlier drafts because they were rooted in the joy that defines me as much as anything else.

I felt good about what I had turned in, but as early decision day approached, I was overcome with doubt. I thought of all of the reasons they would reject me. I hadn’t submitted my SAT or ACT scores, which were optional. I worried that my essay wasn’t good enough and that I couldn’t compare to other high-achieving students who did more than I did in high school.

I tried to calm my nerves. I prayed to my ancestors. My hands were stained with the reddish color of the incense I’d been burning. My fingers were the color of sangria. It wouldn’t come off, no matter how much soap I used.

When I finally worked up the nerve to go log on, the “Dear Lin” letter waiting for me began: “Congratulations!” I had been accepted to Dartmouth and, thanks to QuestBridge, I would receive a full scholarship.

In the days since, I’ve spent time scrolling through Dartmouth’s website . I’ve decided I want to double-major in government and sociology. I want to join campus clubs and take part in Greek life. I want to study abroad. I want to learn how to swim and how to ride a bike and how to drive a car. Maybe I’ll get a tattoo of a rabbit and a tiger after saving up money. There’s so much joy ahead. I’m going to lead with that.

Lin Lin is a senior at Central High School in Philadelphia, the president of the citywide student newspaper the Bullhorn News , and a Chalkbeat Student Voices fellow . They will be attending Dartmouth in the fall.

The ‘T’ Word: Resisting Expectations To Share Trauma In College Essays

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When I applied to college in 2010, the message from high school counselors was clear: my college essay should emphasize my ability to overcome struggle. My identities were the admissions trifecta — Black, living in inner-city Detroit, and high-achieving — and discussing the trials and trauma I endured would help me get into selective institutions.

After graduating from college, I began my tenure as an admissions officer. Within months on the job, I saw how the personal statements of Black and other racially minoritized groups differed from those of white applicants. Why did prompts inviting applicants to creatively describe themselves invoke such different narratives? Black students highlighted their resilience through detailed stories of survival, while their counterparts wrote casual essays about service abroad and sporting championships. Black students discussed their pain; white students discussed their passions. These differences exposed the dissimilar messages that students received about how to represent their lived experiences, and the role institutions play in soliciting stories of trauma and struggle from applicants. 

Why did prompts inviting applicants to creatively describe themselves invoke such different narratives?

The preliminary findings from my doctoral research reveal that there’s more to the story. The growing discourse about college admission essays suggests that most Black students write about struggle or trauma. In interviews, Black undergraduate students expressed a keen awareness of this expectation. More importantly, many said they believed that this expectation was a racialized one. In analyzing hours of interview data, Black students attending both predominantly white institutions (PWIs) and historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) revealed that various social actors such as counselors, teachers, college access organizations, and private admissions counselors encouraged them to write about their trauma as opposed to light-hearted topics. For those who did not feel that immediate pressure in their high schools, the media profiles of exceptional Black students who overcame harrowing odds to gain acceptance into selective institutions placed undue pressure and constraints on how Black students believed they could authentically tell their stories.

Nevertheless, nearly half of my interview participants reject the expectation. One undergraduate student attending an east coast PWI said, “I think many, especially our white peers, feel like Black students, especially at a top-tier school, had this kind of story. And, I think it’s okay to be a regular person. I don’t need to tell you my whole story. I am here, and that’s enough.” 

An HBCU student interviewed for my dissertation also felt pressured to write a struggle narrative. “I think sometimes you're writing for what you think somebody wants to know. And I  almost did, I almost wrote about some weird struggle that I've had.” Instead, this student reflected on her experience attending Barack Obama’s inauguration and her desire to study journalism. 

Aya walking up the stairs at the Senate House during graduation from the University of Cambridge in England.

When applying to college, Black students consider the white gaze or how white society perceives them beyond their four-year institutions. They enter the college admissions process carrying messages that link their lived experiences as Black people to racial discrimination, racial tropes, and stereotypes. The students interviewed in my research shared their commitments to authenticity, exposing the ways racism attempts to reduce Black students to a single story and how labels are imposed upon the stories they share in their college essays. My research — informed by my lived experiences, tenure in college admissions and college guidance, and data collection — examines how Black students navigate through a tangled web of paradoxes when applying to PWIs and HBCUs. As we enter the next admissions cycle, this work reveals opportunities for post-secondary institutions to embrace the heterogeneity of the stories and experiences that Black students and other historically underrepresented students bring to college campuses and to do so without exploitation, tokenization, and perpetuation of racial stereotypes.

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Trauma-Informed Writing Pedagogy: Ways to Support Student Writers Affected by Trauma and Traumatic Stress

NCTE 05.21.21 Professional Concerns

This is an excerpt from Melissa Tayles’s article in the March 2020 issue of Teaching English in the Two-Year College. 

This article argues that two principles of a trauma-informed writing pedagogy grounded in clinical scholarship—instructor as buffering role model and psychologically safer classroom spaces—can support students affected by trauma and traumatic stress. Moreover, when these principles are embedded in course structures using concepts central to universal design, they can support all community college writing students facing adversity.

As community college writing instructors, we see glimpses of our students’ personal lives as we guide them through the writing process and hold regular one-on-one conferences. We listen as some of our students disclose distressing accounts of overwhelming stress, abuse, suicide, neglect, poverty, racism, homelessness, and war. We also listen as students detail how they have overcome such adversities with resilience and perseverance in order to attend college and pursue their academic goals while struggling and succeeding to manage the demands of being adult learners, employees, caregivers, and parents.

Certainly, not all community college students are affected by these stressors and adversities, but the COVID-19 pandemic and recent efforts to address the systemic racism in our society have affected a majority of our students.

As a result, trauma, which was once a topic discussed only in isolated pockets of our culture and viewed as consisting only of individual and extraordinary experiences, is now addressed more openly in terms of collective experiences as the world attempts to cope with the challenges of living through the economic, physical, and emotional ramifications of the pandemic and persistent racial inequities.

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, writing instructors were seeking pedagogical resources—such as those found in a trauma-informed writing pedagogy (TIWP)—to allow them to channel their compassion and empathy in a productive and professional manner.

Daniel Gutierrez and Andrea Gutierrez confirmed the need for essential trauma awareness by noting that “students come from all walks of life and bring with them a wide array of personal experiences, some of which may be rooted in traumatic experiences before entering college or experiencing trauma during their college experience” (11).

Both collective and individual traumas that affect our students continue to motivate college writing instructors to build a trauma-informed lens and discover a TIWP that will help us support students so they may thrive in academic settings.

Anecdotally, community college writing instructors assume that trauma is prevalent among their students based on students’ confessions and disclosures. Research on the prevalence of exposure to potentially traumatic experiences in undergraduate populations confirms these suspicions as the majority of studies find that more than half of study participants report exposure to at least one potentially traumatic experience across a lifetime (Anders et al.).

More specifically, Anders et al. found that 99 percent of participants had experienced at least one traumatic event in their lifetime and that 70 percent had experienced a traumatic event within a two-month period during the study (453). Most distressing for community college instructors is this study’s finding that community college students reported higher percentages of exposure to potentially traumatic events, worse health outcomes as a result of the traumatic events, and lower life satisfaction in response to these exposures to trauma.

As noted by Anders et al., “the biggest difference was in terms of being psychologically or emotionally mistreated (74% of the community college sample and 54% of the university sample)” (453). This study confirms the anecdotal evidence and compels us to recognize the pressing need to adopt a TIWP to accommodate the ways in which trauma affects our students.

Read the full article, “Trauma-Informed Writing Pedagogy: Ways to Support Student Writers Affected by Trauma and Traumatic Stress.”  

Melissa Tayles is a full-time English faculty member at Metropolitan Community College in Omaha, Nebraska, and a doctoral student in composition and rhetoric at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.

It is the policy of NCTE in all publications, including the Literacy & NCTE blog, to provide a forum for the open discussion of ideas concerning the content and the teaching of English and the language arts. Publicity accorded to any particular point of view does not imply endorsement by the Executive Committee, the Board of Directors, the staff, or the membership at large, except in announcements of policy, where such endorsement is clearly specified.

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No pain, no gain: the trauma essay in college applications.

Your story’s not tragic enough.

Your story’s not inspiring enough.

Your story’s not honest enough.

Your story needs to embody the underdog. You need to overcome adversity through a heroic struggle. That’s what colleges want, and that’s what you need to give.

Over the years, the college essay has evolved. This part of the college application was intended to allow the applicant to reveal their personality, but it now places a growing emphasis on the obstacles conquered and traumas survived.

But the problem doesn’t stem from students wanting to write about traumatic experiences. It’s rooted in the structure of the essay questions that not only encourage but practically expect applicants to overshare disturbing incidents.

The 2023-24 Common App essay asks you to recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback or failure. Reflect on a time when you questioned or challenged a belief or idea. Discuss an event or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself.

Exactly the things you would want to talk to strangers about.

It’s understandable that colleges are interested in the disadvantages of their students – it’s vital to a holistic evaluation, after all. However, this interest, and the awareness of it, has created a race to the bottom as students try to convince admissions committees that they’ve suffered more than the next applicant to stand out.

But students shouldn’t feel pressured to reveal their traumas in their college essays.

For those who’ve experienced genuine adversity, the demand to reveal private, shameful or even humiliating details about the past is highly toxic. It forces them to search through their worst experiences and relieve their traumas through writing, which can reopen emotional wounds and trigger panic attacks .

This shouldn’t be the case. Traumatic experiences are private and should remain private. Teenagers shouldn’t feel the need to share them just to attend college.

Moreover, the expectation for students to have a resilience story pushes them to don the mask of triumph even if their traumas are ongoing battles. They are incentivized to lie to themselves, distorting memories of traumas and pretending that they’re okay when, in reality, they may be far from it.

It’s degrading.

This demand to twist students’ worst times into a facade of a hero’s journey is humiliating. And it’s only made worse by the fact that they’re sending their darkest, most intimate moments for the scrutiny of strangers. Entrusting such personal stories to unknown admissions officers only adds another layer of discomfort and vulnerability in the application process.

In an interview with the Harvard Gazette , Emi Nietfeld, author of the memoir “Acceptance,” which retells her journey from a dysfunctional childhood to Harvard, writes that the college essay required her to “cash in on [her] sorrows.”

“I felt that the experience of having to take my life story and twist it into this narrative that would be considered acceptable [to colleges] was so dehumanizing that it left me wondering who I was,” Nietfeld said.

The unsettling truth is that the college essay commodifies peoples’ pain. Life-changing experiences become currency to be traded for college admission. The focus is no longer on you but on the price of your worst suffering.

This culture and mindset can entrap applicants with the belief that their admission outcomes are tied to the exposure of their most vulnerable moments. Then, the question becomes: are your challenges enough?

If you’re rejected, that simply means the worst thing to ever happen to you wasn’t.

Yet, the pressure of the essay extends beyond just those with trauma. For students without such experiences, the personal essay can romanticize the idea of suffering. Moments like the loss of a family member, a mental health breakdown or homelessness are reduced to “something good for your college essay.” This glorification erodes empathy, turning real struggles into nothing more than fodder for the college admission game, nothing more than exploitable trauma stories, nothing more than commodified chapters of adversity.

The story of Elijah Megginson highlights this romanticization. In his personal narrative , he writes about the constant reminders from his friends, family and counselors that his underprivileged upbringing would be his ticket to college. He was told: “You’re smart and you’re from the hood, you’re from the projects, colleges will love you.”

His father’s absence in his life. All the times his life was threatened. Struggles with dealing with anxiety and PTSD. To others, these experiences were nothing more than application points for college.

Furthermore, for those without trauma, there’s an incentive to spin their own tragic stories to compete in the race to the bottom. A student dealt an unlucky hand who managed to reach the same level of achievement as someone dealt a favorable hand is obviously the better applicant. The college essay becomes the perfect medium for competitive victimhood as students increasingly try to paint themselves as the underdog in the pursuit of that coveted admissions letter.

However, applicants are still young, and most of them don’t have traumatic experiences to tell. They’ve lived a relatively stable life, untouched by tragic hardships. But this lack of suffering causes many to feel like they’re at a disadvantage in the race to the bottom.

To feel that their life simply isn’t exciting enough. They don’t have those moments that steal the attention of the admissions officer’s lazy eyes. They don’t have those moments that spark a fire in the reader’s heart. They don’t have those moments that cause those who determine their future to root for them.

They are being punished for living a normal life.

But they still have to compete, still have to not fall behind the others in the game of one-downmanship, still have to fight for their admissions letter the only way they know works: oversell or even falsify details.

If they don’t have a trauma story, they’ll weave their own.

While the pressure to conform to the traumatic standards of college applications isn’t explicitly stated, it is undeniably felt due to the surrounding culture where students are expected to do anything in the pursuit of admission. This toxic culture, however, is a reaction to the existing system. The expectation that colleges want a movie-like story born out of traumatic experiences leads many to give them just that. Without altering the system, it’s impossible to transform the culture.

To put an end to the race to the bottom, colleges need to overhaul their prompts to be more abstract. A shift in expectations and questions will naturally yield different responses. The University of Chicago’s style of essay questions provides a viable model that should be adopted.

“Exponents and square roots, pencils and erasers, beta decay and electron capture. Name two things that undo each other and explain why both are necessary.”

Nowhere in the prompt does it ask students to unload their traumas. Nowhere does it ask students to reveal intimate details. Nowhere does it pressure students into a predetermined narrative.

These more speculative prompts give applicants the freedom to interpret the questions through the lens of their individuality. It invites personalized exploration of the topic, encouraging a more authentic expression of the unique personality, perspectives and character that define each applicant. These more creative essays provide a better glimpse into the person behind the pen.

But these prompts don’t prohibit students from delving into their traumas. If applicants feel comfortable and see it as crucial to portraying who they are, they can still choose to do so. However, unlike the current prompts, these abstract ones alleviate the toxic expectations imposed by the questions focused on trauma narratives, providing more freedom of expression.

This way, students can share willingly, not out of a sense of obligation.

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the fresh rizzler of bellaire • Feb 6, 2024 at 2:30 pm

thank you for writing this article. i feel like im being punished for not being low income when applying for colleges, and this helped alot

Jason Chen • Jan 22, 2024 at 12:05 pm

10 likes and no comments? let me fix that rq

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Your chance of acceptance, your chancing factors, extracurriculars, should i discuss my mental health struggles in my college essay.

Hi all, I've struggled with mental health issues in the past, and I'm considering writing about my experiences in my college essay. I want to show how I've grown and overcome challenges, but I'm worried that discussing my mental health might hurt my chances of admission. What do you think? Should I write about it or choose a different topic?

Hi there! It's great that you're thinking about your college essay and how to best represent yourself. Addressing mental health struggles can be a powerful way to demonstrate growth and resilience, but it's important to approach the topic thoughtfully.

First, consider whether your mental health journey is central to your identity and has significantly shaped your life. If it has, then it may be worth discussing in your essay. However, if there are other experiences or aspects of your life that better define you, you might want to focus on those instead.

If you do decide to write about mental health, make sure to emphasize your growth, coping strategies, and the support systems that have helped you overcome challenges, rather than describing your challenge in detail. This way, you'll be showcasing your resilience and ability to thrive in college.

Ultimately, the choice is yours, and you should write about what feels most authentic to you. Good luck!

About CollegeVine’s Expert FAQ

CollegeVine’s Q&A seeks to offer informed perspectives on commonly asked admissions questions. Every answer is refined and validated by our team of admissions experts to ensure it resonates with trusted knowledge in the field.

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5 Ways to Make College Essays About Tragedy More Memorable

By Eric Eng

Difficult and personal topics of tragedy and loss aren’t easy for many people to talk about, let alone write about for others to read. This makes college essays about tragedy challenging for many applicants.

To be sure, a college essay on the death of a parent or death in a family can have a positive impact on a student’s application. The gravity of these subjects makes them impactful, full of emotions, and very captivating for admissions officers. However, a college essay about losing a loved one will only work if they’re done right. Since so many students experience tragedy and loss at some point in their lives, these topics can come across as generic.

Writing About Tragedy in the College Application Essay: Should It Be Done?

When preparing to write a meaningful, personal, and impactful college application essay, something tragic that’s happened in your life might seem like a fitting topic. It’s revealing, emotional, and raw. Well, you’ll hear a variety of different opinions when you ask whether or not painful college essays are a good idea.

Critics of sad college essays say that these subjects can come across as generic since many applicants struggle with similar experiences or issues. Tragedy is a universal phenomenon that humans experience, after all. However, another group will say that these stories are so personal and important that you’re doing yourself a disservice by not writing about them. Sad college essays are a great way to share a life struggle and what you learned from it.

So, what’s the real answer? Should you write a college essay about death or any tragedies? At AdmissionSight , we’ve helped hundreds of students write their winning college application essays, and this is a common topic that we’re asked about. Through our experience, we can confidently say that tragedy and loss are appropriate subjects for your college essay if – and only if – they’re approached carefully and with a clear sense of purpose.

The purpose of college essays about tragedy isn’t to garner sympathy, and a college essay about death or any essay about a tragic event won’t earn you any. If you choose to focus your essay on a tragic event, make sure that you can explain how the tragedy has affected you as a person and what you wish to do with that experience and learnings.

The Right Way to Write About Tragedy in College Application

If you’ve experienced tragedy or loss and wish to address it in your college application essay, you’ll need to approach the topic differently than you would other subjects. These sensitive topics require more tact and care than others. But, when done correctly, they can have a heartfelt impact and make your college application essay truly stand out. Here, we’ll explore some tips on how to write a college essay about losing a loved one or any tragedy.

1. Be open and honest.

When writing college essays about tragedy, some people may feel the need to alter the truth for various reasons. Some worry that being too blunt and open about their experiences might seem too forward, revealing, or uncomfortably raw.

On the other hand, others might feel the need to portray themselves as being more directly affected by the tragedy than they actually were. The ultimate goal is to focus on the aspect of the tragedy that had a lasting impact on you. What challenges have you overcome? How have you changed and grown as a result of the tragedy?

You shouldn’t feel the need to dress your story up or strip it down. Don’t write like you were impacted in ways that you weren’t. This can come across as insincere, and you’d be surprised how easy this is to detect in writing – especially when touching upon such serious topics. You also don’t have to be affected firsthand by a tragic event to have been impacted by it. If something truly affected you, it’ll come through in your writing no matter what happened.

2. Use the right language.

When addressing heavy topics in your college application essay, finding the right balance between authenticity and quality writing can be challenging. The success of your essay depends both on your chosen topic and how well you articulate it.

When writing about tragedy and loss, it’s important to express yourself sincerely while conveying genuine emotions and feelings. This means choosing words that reflect your true experiences and emotions, avoiding clichés, and being honest without being overly dramatic.

Use descriptive language to illustrate your experiences and emotions. Instead of simply stating how you felt, describe specific moments and details that convey your feelings. For example, instead of saying, “I was sad,” you might describe a particular moment that highlights your sorrow.

3. Connect it to the prompt.

Although colleges have essay prompts that are more personal in nature, it’s rare to find a prompt that’s related directly to college essays about tragedy. In general, universities won’t ask students to recount these personal events on their applications. They simply would now want applicants to write sad college essays. However, that doesn’t mean you won’t find plenty of open-ended prompts where these subjects can be appropriate.

In fact, it is common for universities to include questions that ask students to talk about formative experiences in their lives. No matter what kind of prompt you choose, just make sure your story fits the prompt.

For example, let’s say a college application essay prompt is asking you to talk about how you developed an interest in your field of study; perhaps you’re pursuing a degree in the medical field because you had a close friend who died of cancer. Their passing had such an impact on you that you decided to dedicate your life to helping those suffering from the same illness.

While the experience of loss and tragedy adds a powerful element to the response, it’s not the whole answer. It still needs to be connected to the original question. Don’t get so caught up in writing about the event that you forget to respond to the prompt.

4. Focus on yourself.

When you recount a tragic event or loss in your life, it’s often described as something that happened to you. Especially when dealing with losing a loved one, an applicant’s instinct is to focus on the individual rather than themselves. However, when writing college essays about tragedy, students must remember to talk about themselves. It might sound selfish and inappropriate, given the gravity of the event. 

However, admissions officers are interested in learning more about you through your essay. After, it is you who is applying for admission. If you spend the whole time talking about somebody else, you lose the chance to show the admission officers why you need to be accepted and what makes you a good fit for the said school.

How did the tragedy or loss affect you? How did you feel throughout the grieving process? Have you changed permanently since the experience? How is it impacting what you’re doing today? Has it altered your direction or goals in life? These are all pertinent questions that – if applicable to the prompt – should be included in your response.

You want to give admissions officers a glimpse into who you are as a person. That’s why it’s important to focus a good portion of your college essay about death and how this experience impacted you directly.

5. Be respectful.

One of the most important tips on how to approach tragedy and loss in a college essay is with a high level of respect. Some students are hesitant to write about these topics because of how personal and revealing they are. While your name will obviously be on the application, you don’t (and shouldn’t) need to include the names of other people involved in your story.

You can always use fake names to make the response flow better or leave out names altogether. Either way, you’ll want to remain as discreet and anonymous as possible. This isn’t only respectful to others involved, but it also demonstrates tact to admissions officers.

Don’t worry. You’re not going to lose any points for not being specific. Colleges are used to reading these stories. It’s common practice to omit some personal details. Besides, as we mentioned before, the most important part of your story is how you were affected by the process.

Sample College Essays About Tragedy and Loss

Now that we’ve explored some tips for writing college essays about tragedy more effectively for your application, it’s time to look at an actual example. Although the aforementioned tips are incredibly helpful, seeing an example of sad college essays is very informative. Read through this essay carefully and, considering the tips we mentioned, guess what we like so much about it. We’ll explain it in detail in the next section.

Written for the Common App college application essay “Tell us your story” prompt. This essay could work for prompts 1 and 7 for the Common App.

“They covered the precious mahogany coffin with a brown amalgam of rocks, decomposed organisms, and weeds. It was my turn to take the shovel, but I felt too ashamed to dutifully send her off when I had not properly said goodbye. I refused to throw dirt on her. I refused to let go of my grandmother, to accept a death I had not seen coming, to believe that an illness could not only interrupt but steal a beloved life.

When my parents finally revealed to me that my grandmother had been battling liver cancer, I was twelve and I was angry–mostly with myself. They had wanted to protect me–only six years old at the time–from the complex and morose concept of death. However, when the end inevitably arrived, I wasn’t trying to comprehend what dying was; I was trying to understand how I had been able to abandon my sick grandmother in favor of playing with friends and watching TV. Hurt that my parents had deceived me and resentful of my own oblivion, I committed myself to prevent such blindness from resurfacing.

I became desperately devoted to my education because I saw knowledge as the key to freeing myself from the chains of ignorance. While learning about cancer in school, I promised myself that I would memorize every fact and absorb every detail in textbooks and online medical journals. And as I began to consider my future, I realized that what I learned in school would allow me to silence that which had silenced my grandmother. However, I was focused not on learning itself but on good grades and high test scores. I started to believe that academic perfection would be the only way to redeem myself in her eyes–to make up for what I had not done as a granddaughter.

However, a simple walk on a hiking trail behind my house made me open my own eyes to the truth. Over the years, everything–even honoring my grandmother–had become second to school and grades. As my shoes humbly tapped against the earth, the towering trees blackened by the forest fire a few years ago, the faintly colorful pebbles embedded in the sidewalk, and the wispy white clouds hanging in the sky reminded me of my small though nonetheless significant part in a larger whole that is humankind and this Earth. Before I could resolve my guilt, I had to broaden my perspective of the world as well as my responsibilities to my fellow humans.

Volunteering at a cancer treatment center has helped me discover my path. When I see patients trapped in not only the hospital but also a moment in time by their diseases, I talk to them. For six hours a day, three times a week, Ivana is surrounded by IV stands, empty walls, and busy nurses that quietly yet constantly remind her of her breast cancer. Her face is pale and tired, yet kind–not unlike my grandmother’s. I need only to smile and say hello to see her brighten up as life returns to her face. Upon our first meeting, she opened up about her two sons, her hometown, and her knitting group–no mention of her disease. Without even standing up, the three of us—Ivana, me, and my grandmother–had taken a walk together.

Cancer, as powerful and invincible as it may seem, is a mere fraction of a person’s life. It’s easy to forget when one’s mind and body are so weak and vulnerable. I want to be there as an oncologist to remind them to take a walk once in a while, to remember that there’s so much more to life than a disease. While I physically treat their cancer, I want to lend patients emotional support and mental strength to escape the interruption and continue living. Through my work, I can accept the shovel without burying my grandmother’s memory.”

What we like about this essay

We do not often come across college essays about tragedy and loss that hit all the right points. Generally, these essays are too cliche despite their serious contents. Here, we’ll outline some things we loved about this essay and why we chose it as an example of a great college essay about death:

• The writer is able to broach a serious topic such as death, cancer, and the loss of a loved one with positivity and a sense of hope.
• The essay focuses on how the applicant was impacted by the experience more than it does the actual experience itself.
• It includes all of the details needed to convey the message without exceeding the word limit or becoming too focused on the specifics.
• The applicant talks specifically about how their tragic experiences impacted them personally while explaining how they’ll move forward in the future after this change.
• The essay describes how the tragedy and loss affect what they want to study in college, helping admission officers make a connection between this event and the applicant’s plans for university.
• There are enough details and personality without being too revealing to make it uncomfortable or awkward for the reader.

Ultimately, always remember this when trying to write a college essay about losing a loved one: the essay should avoid listing challenges or tragedies without reflecting on how these events have shaped who the student is today. One of the hardest parts of being a college admissions guide is telling someone that their family tragedy alone won’t secure their admission.

Writing sad college essays without hindsight and foresight will never work. However, it can be compelling if the student explains what they learned from such a harrowing experience. Everyone faces challenges, but it’s how these challenges shape a person that truly matters.

Need help getting into top-tier colleges?

Essays are an integral part of the college admission process. In order to secure a spot at the university of your dreams, you need to nail this portion of the application. Fortunately, there’s a professional college admissions coach who can help you perfect your essays.

AdmissionSight is the leading college admissions specialist with years of experience successfully helping students like you gain admittance to their chosen universities. Our essay editing services can help you stand out amongst the crowd of applicants, even at top-tier universities.

Contact AdmissionSight to learn more about the services we offer and how we can help you.

Want to assess your chances of admission? Take our FREE chances calculator today!

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94 Psychological Trauma Essay Topic Ideas & Examples

🏆 best psychological trauma topic ideas & essay examples, ⭐ simple & easy psychological trauma essay titles, 📑 good research topics about psychological trauma, ❓ psychological trauma research questions.

• Psychological Trauma: Treatment Planning Their mother, Tanya is the sole breadwinner in the family who works in one of the Information Technologies firm while their father is a local driver with one of the truck companies in the city.
• Psychodrama in Treating Trauma and Addiction In all cases, it is problematic for the individual to reconcile with the anxiety they feel and to cope with the problems with trust.
• Childhood Trauma Long-Term Psychological Outcomes Moreover, ethical considerations are to be implemented during study conduction, which will limit certain challenger correlated with the lack of focus on privacy, confidentiality, and consent.
• Psychiatry: PTSD Following Refugee Trauma The psychiatrists finally recognized PTSD in the first version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders after the mass occurrence of similar symptoms in Vietnam veterans.
• Physical and Psychological Trauma in Women Therefore, giving these women the power to control their reproductive organs and stopping barbaric cultural practices will greatly reduce the rate of physical and psychological trauma among women.
• Victims of Disasters: Psychological Traumas It was noted in various individuals that experienced the same situation as Victim A that when interviewed by television crews while at the emergency center such individuals were actually seen as recovering slower from PTSD […]
• Trauma and Its Psychological and Behavioral Manifestations Van der Kolk states that in most cases, the reliving and re-experiencing of the trauma affect the survivor’s emotional response and determines how well he or she copes with the symptoms.
• Psychological Trauma Care in Military Veterans He is hesitant to open up to anyone and spends time in the company of his marine friends. The clinician must be direct and candid when talking to the patient about the risks of their […]
• Psychological Trauma: Physical and Behavioral Symptoms The complaints and reactions of a 22-year-old client with a history of sexual abuse give a good illustration of the physical symptoms of trauma.
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder – Psychology Post-traumatic stress disorder is thought to be as a result of either corporeal disturbance or emotional disturbance, or more often a mishmash of both.
• Somatic Intervention in Trauma Psychotherapy Different parts of the world, as neuroscientists argue, have varying ways of training the mind and hence significantly different levels of the ability to control the functions of the brain.
• Abnormal Psychology: Posttraumatic Stress Disorder In addition, some of this research indicates that the differences in the degree of the disorder are due to the varying nature of the trauma experienced by that individual.
• Exploring Psychological Trauma and Its Effects
• Psychological Trauma, Stress, and Social Support
• Healing Childhood Psychological Trauma and Improving Body Image Through Cosmetic Surgery
• Psychological Trauma and Behavioral Sciences
• Tattoos and Psychological Trauma
• Immediate Management of Acute Psychological Trauma in Conflict Zones
• Psychological Trauma and Court Cases
• The Psychological Trauma in Children and Adolescents
• Signs and Symptoms of Psychological and Emotional Trauma
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• The Psychological Trauma Caused by Night Terrors in Childhood
• Peripersonal Space and Bodily Self-Consciousness: Implications for Psychological Trauma-Related Disorders
• Predictive Processing and the Varieties of Psychological Trauma
• Emotional and Psychological Trauma: What Is It and How to Heal?
• Psychological Trauma and Memories
• Is Psychological Trauma Considered an Injury in Court?
• Psychological Trauma as a Transdiagnostic Risk Factor for Mental Disorder
• Why Men and Women May Respond Differently to Psychological Trauma
• Psychological Trauma and Access to Primary Healthcare for People From Refugee and Asylum-Seeker Backgrounds
• The History of Psychological Trauma
• Psychological Trauma in Different Mechanisms of Traumatic Injury
• Most Common Symptoms of Psychological Trauma
• Psychological Trauma and Its Surprising Link to Depression
• How Psychological Trauma Is Linked to Chronic Pain
• Post-traumatic Stress Disorder: The Neurobiological Impact of Psychological Trauma
• Effects of Psychological Trauma on the Brain
• Psychological Trauma and Mental Health Care
• Torturing and Repeated Psychological Trauma
• Psychological Trauma and Recovery
• Understanding the Impact of Psychological Trauma
• Psychological Trauma Surrounding Children During War
• How to Cope With Psychological Trauma
• The Association Between Previous Psychological Trauma and Mental Health Among Gastric Cancer Patients
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• Role of Psychological Trauma in the Cause and Treatment of Anxiety and Depressive Disorders
• How Psychological Trauma Impacts the Body
• Psychological Trauma: A Historical Perspective
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• Psychological Trauma in EMS Patients
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• Can We Salvage the Concept of Psychological Trauma?
• Psychological Trauma and the Developing Brain
• Group Interventions for Treatment of Psychological Trauma
• Psychological Trauma and Physical Health
• Background Feelings of Belonging and Psychological Trauma
• Psychological Trauma Symptoms and Warning Signs
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• Can Military Basic Training Cause Psychological Trauma?
• How Is Psychological Trauma Diagnosed?
• What Are the Side Effects of Psychological Trauma?
• Can Psychological Trauma Cause Back Pain?
• Has Anyone Experienced Psychological Trauma Because of COVID-19?
• What Is the Difference Between Psychological Trauma and Emotional Trauma?
• Can Repetitive Psychological Trauma Cause Mental Fatigue?
• How Long Can Psychological Trauma Last?
• What Happens to the Brain After Psychological Trauma?
• How Can a Victim Recover From the Psychological Trauma Experienced When Being Bullied?
• Could Slavery Have Caused Psychological Trauma in Generations of Black Americans?
• How Effective Is Rogerian Therapy in the Treatment of Psychological Trauma?
• Why Is the Psychological Trauma of Slavery Ignored?
• Can Psychological Trauma Cause Nerve Damage?
• What Is the Worst Kind of Psychological Trauma?
• Is Aphantasia Caused by Some Sort of Psychological Trauma?
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• What Are the Effects of Psychological Trauma on the Body?
• How Is EMDR Therapy Used to Heal Psychological Trauma?
• Can Psychological Trauma Cause Physical Symptoms?
• What Is the Connection Between Migraines and Psychological Trauma?
• Do Psychological Traumas Change a Person’s Interests?
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• What Are the Symptoms of Psychological Trauma?
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• What Is the Most Prevalent Type of Psychological Trauma?
• Can Psychological Trauma Lead to Schizophrenia?
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Guest Essay

When I Applied to College, I Didn’t Want to ‘Sell My Pain’

By Elijah Megginson

Mr. Megginson is a high school senior in Brooklyn.

In school, most kids are told that they have the potential to do great things in life. They’re told the sky’s the limit. As I started to be recognized as a promising student, around eighth grade, I was told, “You’re smart and you’re from the hood, you’re from the projects, colleges will love you.”

When I heard this, I was confused. I always looked at being from the hood as a bad thing. It was something I was quite ashamed of when I was younger. So for my teachers and advisers to make it seem like it was a cool thing made me feel good inside, until I fully realized what they were talking about.

In my life, I’ve had a lot of unfortunate experiences. So when it came time for me to write my personal statement for college applications, I knew that I could sell a story about all the struggles I had overcome. Each draft I wrote had a different topic. The first was about growing up without my dad being involved, the second was about the many times my life was violently threatened, the third was about coping with anxiety and PTSD, and the rest followed the same theme.

Every time I wrote, and then discarded and then redrafted, I didn’t feel good. It felt as if I were trying to gain pity. I knew what I went through was tough and to overcome those challenges was remarkable, but was that all I had to offer?

Conflicted, I asked around to see what others had written. I spoke to my old middle school algebra teacher, Nathaniel Sinckler. When he was applying to Morehouse, he remembered, he “felt pressured to write about something I could oversell.” He knew enough to write about hardships he had faced, he said, but although “I didn’t have enough, I didn’t go without.”

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Childhood Trauma - Free Essay Samples And Topic Ideas

Childhood Trauma refers to distressing or harmful experiences that happen to children, which may have long-lasting effects on their emotional and physical well-being. Essays could delve into the types of childhood trauma, its short and long-term impacts, intervention strategies, and how support systems can mitigate its adverse effects. We’ve gathered an extensive assortment of free essay samples on the topic of Childhood Trauma you can find at Papersowl. You can use our samples for inspiration to write your own essay, research paper, or just to explore a new topic for yourself.

Effects of Childhood Trauma on Children Development

Anyone can experience trauma at any time. The trauma can be caused by nature, human beings or by oneself. People endure much when they experience trauma and their ability to handle it can determine the level of the effect of the trauma and their long-term well-being. Reportedly, children are incredibly susceptible to trauma because their brain and coping skills are still developing. Thus, they often grapple with long terms effects of uncontrolled trauma. While childhood trauma may vary regarding pervasiveness […]

Effects of Childhood Trauma on Development and Adulthood

It is no secret that experiencing childhood trauma can have many negative effects on an individual’s life both in childhood and adulthood. Trauma can include events such as physical or sexual abuse, surviving a serious car accident, witnessing a violent event, and more. As trauma is defined in the dictionary as a deeply distressing or disturbing experience, it is no surprise that a disturbing event during childhood can have negative effects throughout an individual’s lifetime. However, this paper will dive […]

Foster Care System Pros and Cons

"Foster care as a whole has become a broken and corrupt system that can no longer keep kids safe under its care. Everyday children are being placed in foster homes facing different forms of abuse, unloving parents, and even death. The system has only progressively gotten worse leaving behind children traumatized to a point where no amount of love or therapy can fix them. To inaugurate, the biggest issue with foster care is the inadequate placement of children in the […]

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Childhood Sexual Abuse – Preceding Hypersexualized Behavior

Hypersexual behavior is differentiated from paraphilia, or sexually deviant behavior, based on the criteria that hypersexual behaviors still fall within socially normal sexual activities (Kafka, 2010). Paraphilia refers to activities that do not fall within reasonably expected behavior, such as sexual interest in children or non-living entities (DSM-V, 2013). Both are defined as intense and frequent sexual behaviors that bring distress or other unintended negative consequences. This report looks at childhood sexual abuse, commonly referred to as CSA, in terms […]

Traumatic Childhood Memories

Most people are well aware of the concept of repression before ever stepping foot into a psychology class. The notion that a memory can be recalled after years of ignorance is a commonplace assumption, bringing with it the further assumption that it is a well-proven theory with the backing of researchers of psychology. Upon closer scrutiny, both the definition of and support for repression are seen as they truly are—complicated and controversial. The theory of repression originated with Jean-Martin Charcot […]

The Consequences of Homelessness – a Childhood on the Streets

“A therapeutic intervention with homeless children (2) often confronts us with wounds our words cannot dress nor reach. These young subjects seem prey to reenactments of a horror they cannot testify to” (Schweidson & Janeiro 113). According to Marcal, a stable environment and involved parenting are essential regarding ability to provide a healthy growing environment for a child (350). It is unfortunate then, that Bassuk et al. state that 2.5 million, or one in every 30 children in America are […]

Multiple Iimitations in Childhood

The researchers mentioned multiple limitations. While all the children in the study showed improved classroom compliance after implementation of the child play sessions, these changes were limited in a few of the children due to inconsistent compliance issues. Also, the changes made between the baseline and treatment phases was difficult to distinguish because this was a nonclinical sample and some of the children at baseline had only minor compliance issues. Future research should include post-intervention follow-up measures to provide an […]

Resilience through Childhood Trauma Shadows: Understanding and Healing

Within the intricate tapestry of human experience, the canvas of childhood unfurls as a pivotal chapter—a realm where innocence dances with curiosity, shaping the contours of the individuals we're destined to become. Yet, for some, this idyllic canvas is stained with the inky shadows of childhood trauma, casting a pall over the vibrant hues of youth and echoing through the corridors of time. Childhood trauma, a spectral presence, manifests in myriad forms. It is not merely the jagged edges of […]

Reimagining Childhood Trauma: a Psychologist’s Perspective

Childhood trauma, a labyrinthine phenomenon, often evokes conventional responses from psychologists. However, as practitioners, it is incumbent upon us to explore unconventional perspectives that may shed new light on this intricate subject. Traditionally, childhood trauma has been viewed through a lens of pathology, emphasizing its detrimental effects on mental health. While this perspective is undeniably valuable, it overlooks the resilience and adaptive capacities inherent in human nature. Instead of focusing solely on the scars left by trauma, let us consider […]

Childhood Trauma Unveiled: the Resilience and Redemption of Beth Thomas

Beth Thomas, a name that may not ring a bell for many, carries a story of resilience, transformation, and the power of compassion. Born in 1960, Beth's early life was marked by unimaginable challenges that would have left most broken. However, her journey from a traumatic childhood to a life of purpose is nothing short of remarkable. Growing up in Oklahoma, Beth Thomas experienced a childhood marred by abuse and neglect. Her parents, overwhelmed by their own struggles, failed to […]

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How To Write an Essay About Childhood Trauma

Introduction to the complexity of childhood trauma.

Writing an essay about childhood trauma involves addressing a deeply sensitive and complex subject that has profound psychological and social implications. In your introduction, begin by defining childhood trauma, which can include experiences of abuse, neglect, witnessing violence, or enduring severe hardship. Emphasize the lasting impact these experiences can have on an individual’s development, mental health, and overall well-being. This introductory section should provide a foundation for exploring the various dimensions of childhood trauma, including its causes, symptoms, and long-term effects. It should sensitively set the stage for an in-depth analysis of this critical issue.

Examining the Causes and Manifestations of Childhood Trauma

In the body of your essay, delve into the various causes of childhood trauma. This can range from personal experiences such as physical or emotional abuse, to broader societal issues like war, poverty, or discrimination. Discuss the immediate and long-term psychological effects of trauma on children, which can manifest as anxiety, depression, behavioral issues, or difficulties in forming relationships. It’s important to base your analysis on research and studies in psychology and child development. The purpose of this section is to provide a comprehensive understanding of how childhood trauma occurs and its immediate impact on a child's life.

Long-Term Effects and Coping Mechanisms

Focus on the long-term effects of childhood trauma and the coping mechanisms individuals might develop. Explore how early traumatic experiences can shape personality, affect emotional regulation, and influence patterns of behavior into adulthood. Discuss the concept of resilience and the factors that contribute to positive outcomes in spite of traumatic experiences. This part of the essay should also consider the various therapeutic approaches used to support individuals with a history of childhood trauma, emphasizing the potential for healing and growth. Highlight the importance of early intervention and continued support for those affected by childhood trauma.

Concluding Thoughts on Addressing Childhood Trauma

Conclude your essay by summarizing the key points about the complexities and impacts of childhood trauma. Reflect on the importance of awareness, education, and societal support in addressing and preventing childhood trauma. Emphasize the role of communities, educators, healthcare professionals, and policymakers in creating environments that support the mental and emotional well-being of children. Your conclusion should not only provide closure to your essay but also encourage further thought and action on this crucial issue, underscoring the collective responsibility to protect and nurture the well-being of children.

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Writing Trauma

Writing about trauma allows us to process and give voice to our most challenging experiences, fostering healing and personal growth through creative expression. In this class, we’ll engage in writing prompts, live…

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