the older i get the more i start hating that "traumadumping" is seen as a toxic behaviour when its actually a blatant sign that that person is struggling.
like idk about you but if my friend or aquaintance starts textwalling me on discord about their family abusing them as a child or something, my first thought isnt "ugh this is so inconsiderate of them. toxic" its "oh no i think my friend is having emotional flashbacks :(" regardless of if i have the energy to engage with them about it at the time.
this isnt even getting into how minorities are often treated as though theyre "traumadumping" just for talking about their lived experiences in a deeply bigoted society. specifically thinking of disabled people at the moment but i feel its also applicable to most other oppressed groups.
ive had some reblogs now that have brought up that its only really traumadumping if its a stranger, and while i agree that there are situations in which sharing exact details of your trauma is inappropriate, i do want to kind of reiterate that that still indicates that the person doing that is not doing well, which is what i was really trying to get at here. people who are in a good place mentally dont typically feel the need to unprompted tell a stranger about their trauma.
Thinking of that person who was treated as traumadumping at work for telling her boss about how she was threatened during her commute.
phenoct
