“The feeling that something terrible is about to happen never leaves me for long.” These are the words of Danny McGarvey towards the conclusion of this important book. They articulate what it is like for him psychologically living his life following a traumatic childhood. This description will be viscerally known by those who have experienced trauma and offers an incisive shorthand depiction for those who work clinically with the traumatised.
McGarvey does something intriguing in Trauma Industrial Complex: How Oversharing Became a Product in a Digital World – he astutely critiques the culture of trauma storytelling in the context of a reflexive telling of his own trauma story. He is a man with extensive experience in publicly telling his story of a traumatic childhood and readily admits that his trauma storytelling has resulted in a life of prosperity and renown he could never have imagined for himself.
He is an insider; both benefactor of and psychologically burdened by his trauma storytelling. It is from this unique perspective he offers a critique that is raw, insightful and provocative. McGarvey is raising a large red flag concerning the culture and ethics of contemporary trauma storytelling. He describes how trauma storytelling has become a valuable commodity in media and, importantly, in the hands of charity and advocacy organisations and activists.
McGarvey is concerned about the wider societal impact of such a commodification of trauma, but his substantive concern is for the individual at the heart of this commodification. He is not advocating silence; he is all too aware of the destructive and corrosive impact of silence, but he is raising an issue pertinent to the times we are living in. His concern about the impact of public trauma storytelling on the individual is nuanced, articulate and insightful.
READ MORE
McGarvey raises an important ethical issue: what happens to the trauma storyteller who does not have sufficient psychological distance from their trauma and is not adequately prepared or cared for post disclosure? He has learned from personal experience that public trauma storytelling does not necessarily bring clarity, or healing, or closure. He also knows from personal experience that once one tells their story publicly the storyteller loses control of the story. This is especially the case in our digital age.
He describes a pernicious psychological harm in public trauma storytelling: getting public validation and then getting trapped by that story. That trauma story becomes defining and deadening, becoming a prison where no other stories are permitted. This is especially the case when the person with “lived experience” becomes a kind of talking mascot in the hands of the media and charity sector and the tendency to be defined by trauma is copper-fastened.
According to McGarvey, in this situation the trauma story becomes an endpoint in itself, where the individual gets locked and lost in their personal story where no other possibilities are available. He is calling out the role played by the media and the charity sector in this situation, and critically the ethical obligations such organisations have concerning the individual who is telling their trauma story in order to “advocate” for a particular cause. McGarvey is on delicate, sensitive and nuanced ground. His insider perspective equips him with a legitimacy to thread this ground with tenacity, bravery and assuredness. His tenacity doesn’t end here.
McGarvey tackles an issue that lies close to the heart of many left-leaning progressives: the culture he describes as the “affirm-only” approach where the so-called “lived-experience” of the individual is sacrosanct. The lived experience is beyond question, taking on a quasi-religious quality, almost replacing an unquestioning regard for religious doctrine with an unquestioning regard for personal experience told in the public square.
It is as though the pendulum has swung in the opposite direction; from an era when the vulnerable and traumatised were shamed and silenced to an era where there is an unquestioning regard for individual lived experience. This seems particularly pronounced when that story is one involving trauma. Once again McGarvey is not shy of complexity: he readily admits to being a beneficiary of such an “affirm-only” culture and at the same time being a canary in the coal mine.
McGarvey is walking a tightrope full of knots in Trauma Industrial Complex. He manages to unravel some of these knots in this incisive critique of the culture of trauma storytelling. His insider perspective, self-awareness and social-justice consciousness combine to uniquely position him to offer a valuable critique of our contemporary trauma storytelling culture, which is ubiquitous in the opening decades of the 21st century.
Paul D’Alton is associate professor at the School of Psychology in UCD.
