The Nature of Shared Traumatic Experiences: When, How, and How Often Do We Share Trauma With Others?

Abstract

Across two studies, we investigated when, how, and how often people share traumatic events (N = 1008). In Study 1, most participants (78.5%) perceived their most stressful/traumatic event as shared primarily due to knowing others were present during the event (physical sharing), knowing/believing others had experienced or could experience a similar event (relational sharing), discussing the event with others (verbal sharing), or having the same emotions about the event as others (emotional sharing). In Study 2, we assessed the frequency and characteristics of these forms of sharing along with attitudinal sharing (same attitudes/beliefs/opinions about the event) and perpetrator sharing (perpetrator involved in the event). Nearly all participants (98.6%-99.4%) shared their most stressful/traumatic event with others in some way. Our findings demonstrate that people commonly share a range of traumatic events in various unique ways. This framework can inform and guide research addressing the impacts of these diverging forms of sharing.