HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — Have you ever met someone and instantly hit it off because you both were able to bond over similar life traumas? Well, one local therapist explains that this could be very unhealthy for both parties. We are continuing our mental health series at FOX54, and this this Wellness Wednesday our focus is on a topic called trauma bonding.
FOX54 spoke with the community to hear their perspectives on the topic of trauma bonding first. "I would think it would be like we can bond over, like, some of the traumas like they've been through, like losing someone or going through something very tough," explained Javon Irons. "Like, say, they both went through trade offs, they would be reminded of that experience," UAH student Elias Sysyn said.
Noell Bozeman said she is also a local therapist and adds another perspective. "Another really common way that I would say is a little bit more common is trauma. Bonding is like it's something you see in like abusive relationships a lot, where the person will be super loving and affectionate and then take all of that away and kind of keep that like push and pull going."
Huntsville Psychotherapist and Psychotherapy & Counseling Services Owner Monretta Vega shares that trauma bonding can often be the result of something called trauma dumping. "We are able to say, you went through that. so did i. let's be friends. ah, let's connect, because of the trauma we experience. but they usually start when we are trauma dumping on an individual. and by trauma dumping we like to say we're releasing. but they can also put us in a negative space as well."
Vega continued that another thing to note is that trauma bonding is not healthy. "Because we're bonding off of a trauma and we want to heal from our traumas. and so if we are bonding from our traumas, it puts us in a place where we're not really able to effectively wholeheartedly heal."
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