Sharing – Maybe You’re Not an Introvert. Maybe It’s a Trauma Response.
Hmm.
Maybe your introversion is hardwired, or perhaps you were a traumatized child who didn’t learn the “hidden curriculum” of skills you’d need to feel comfortable socializing.
This interests me as someone who recognizes everything I had to learn later in my adult life because I spent much of my childhood trying to survive, and as someone who identifies as an introvert. I do not doubt that some of my social anxiety and awkwardness, especially in early adulthood, was due to trying to learn how to navigate social interactions later than my peers did.
On the other hand, I still experience the same anxiety now as I did 30 years ago. Is that the trauma still playing out, or am I an introvert?
Does it matter? Probably not. I will not suddenly become an extrovert if I recognize this possibility. However, it is interesting to consider the healing process and how it can change parts of our personality. I think it’s also interesting to consider when we consider the autism spectrum, which, for many, can be defined by difficulty with interpersonal interactions and proper emotional reactions.
Which also sounds like a traumatized child who dissociates. I am one of those. I’m familiar with what that looks like, but I grew up before we started widely recognizing the full range of autism. I don’t claim to be on the autism spectrum, but I am indeed capable of being socially awkward and having no evident emotional reaction to an expected emotional situation.
The question is, would someone treating me as a young person have decided I was an introvert and possibly on the autism spectrum, or would they recognize the possible trauma I was experiencing? I’m not a medical expert by any stretch of the imagination, but I know for a fact that we miss the signs of childhood trauma often. I would not mind if we took a second look at some young people with a trauma-informed lens.
