While Type A trauma is the absence of necessary things, Type B trauma occurs when bad things happen in your life—things that should not happen. This type of trauma is usually much easier to recognize and diagnose than Type A because it is usually a specific incident or repeated incident that can be associated with a time and place in our memory (since Type A refers to things that never happened, you cannot usually associate it with one specific incident).

Examples of this type of trauma can include physical or sexual abuse, emotional abuse (such as name-calling), the death of a loved one (which can also lead to Type A trauma), the loss of a job or property, witnessing a crime, witnessing or being involved in a tragic accident, severe illness, war, and a host of other things that we all hope would not happen to anyone we love.

 

Healing from this type of trauma is often a bit faster than its countertype, but it is still a process. A key to healing from this type of trauma lies in uncovering God’s truth and recognizing His presence in each one of these situations. This involves understanding that it wasn’t your fault (unless it was, of course—and that involves deep repentance and selfforgiveness). It also involves seeing God’s hand working in the midst of it—protecting, guiding, and carrying. It involves seeing God’s emotion in the midst of it all, and also being true to yourself about your own emotions, as well as finding the right expression of those emotions.