The X-Factor of Emotional Trauma: Why You Can’t Relate or Compare Life-Altering Events

A person’s response to an emotionally traumatic event is complex.

This complexity contributes to the challenges of leading or working with someone who has experienced a life-altering situation.

While no formula exists to calculate a person’s response to a traumatic event, some factors come into play.

The first is how close one is to the life-altering event. 

Even though we may be very close friends or even siblings, losing your job does not impact me nearly as much as me losing mine.

The second factor is how predictable the event was.

Events we can see coming impact us less than those that take us by surprise.

These two factors make sense. 

So why then do two co-workers in the same department, doing the same job, respond so differently to being told they are part of a reduction in force? Or why do two siblings react so differently to the loss of a parent?

The video below explains the X-factor of emotional trauma and why you can never predict or compare life-altering events with someone, no matter how similar.

This is why we caution leaders to avoid phrases like, “I understand,” or “when this happened to me, I….”

Video editing by Guy Casablanca

Anthony Casablanca

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