How Trauma Can Affect High-Performing Individuals: A Therapist’s Perspective
In the realm of psychology, both trauma and high performance have their individual space, and often, the two are discussed separately. As the complexities of human experiences intersect with the demands of high-performance in our rapidly-changing world, the conversation about the intersection of trauma with high-performance and leadership has never been more pertinent. Trauma, whether stemming from past experiences or current world events, can profoundly shape one’s mental health, personal life, and in turn affect their performance, including how they lead, make decisions, and interact with their teams.
What is Performance Psychology?
Performance psychology is a subdivision of psychology that explores psychological factors influencing optimal performance. High performing individuals are often those in leadership roles, individuals in sports, performing arts, business, and high-risk (i.e., life-or-death) occupations that require them to produce superior results consistently and meet high expectations often under pressure.
What is Trauma?
At its core, trauma refers to a distressing experience that overwhelms one’s ability to cope. It’s a complex experience that affects individuals in profound ways, shaping our thoughts, emotions, behaviours, and relationships. Trauma is not necessarily an event itself but the experience of an event. Therefore, a crucial aspect of trauma is its subjective nature - how it is experienced by an individual. Trauma often leads us to reach certain core beliefs about ourselves including feeling being “powerless”, “unworthy”, or “unlovable”, to name a few. These symptoms can significantly disrupt daily functioning and diminish a leader’s overall quality of life.
While there are many ways to conceptualize trauma, it is sometimes categorized in one of two ways - Big T trauma and Small t trauma (Shapiro, 1995, as cited in Straussner & Calnan, 2014). Big T trauma often refers to life-threatening events such as natural disasters, serious accidents, or assault. These events are typically what is understood when we hear the term "trauma." Small t trauma are not necessarily life threatening but could be extremely distressing experiences like chronic stress, emotional abuse, or ongoing interpersonal conflicts. These can be insidious, wearing down an individual’s resilience and well-being.
Intersection of Trauma and High Performance: The Possible Challenges
When trauma intersects with high performance, the resulting dynamic is multifaceted. On the one hand, the qualities that contribute to success—such as determination, self-discipline, and perfectionism—may serve as coping mechanisms in the aftermath of trauma. One can channel their energy into achievement as a way to regain a sense of control. However, this relentless pursuit of success can also be a form of avoidance, deflecting attention from unresolved trauma and underlying emotional pain. Amidst dealing with unresolved trauma, the pressure to maintain high standards and meet expectations—both self-imposed and external—can exacerbate feelings of anxiety and overwhelm. Some of the challenges faced by high-performing individuals in the face of unresolved trauma are:
Feelings of shame, isolation, and loneliness: The pressure to maintain a facade of competence and success can breed stigma around vulnerability, not allowing individuals to acknowledge their struggle and seek help. Facing symptoms of trauma that might be impacting productivity is met with intense self-criticism and can be seen as a sign of “weakness”.
Avoidance and Dissociation: Aimed at numbing painful emotions may lead individuals to bury themselves in work, using professional success as a shield against internal turmoil. Setbacks or failures in the professional arena can then become unbearable reminders of unresolved trauma, amplifying feelings of inadequacy and unworthiness.
Perfectionism: Often glorified as a hallmark of high achievement, it can morph into a relentless pursuit of unattainable standards, breeding dissatisfaction and self-criticism. This drive for excellence often associated with high performance can be exacerbated by trauma as a means of seeking validation and control.
Overwhelming feeling of being unworthy: Being a high-performer often involves being reflective of one’s growth. While occasional bouts of self- doubt are not uncommon in high- performing tasks, trauma can exacerbate these feelings of self-doubt, self-blame, and imposter syndrome making it hard to reach one’s full potential.
Hypervigilance and anxiety: Trauma can often lead to hypervigilance that can manifest as anxiety in high-performing individuals, impacting their ability to relax, concentrate, and engage in self-care practices.
Difficulty with setting boundaries: High-performing individuals may struggle to establish healthy boundaries in their relationships, both professionally and personally, leading to difficulties in asserting their needs and setting limits, often leading to overworking and burnout.
How Therapy Can Help
Therapy acknowledges that high-performing individuals derive a big sense of their identity from their profession. The role of therapy is to help the individual reach their potential by sorting the trauma response from the high expectations that are part of the make of a high-performer or a leader. The idea is to help the person build self-reflection and coping strategies to better understand their vulnerability and work around it, as opposed to resisting or denying it. The more the individual knows about themselves, the better are their chances at reaching their true potential. Therapy can play a pivotal role in achieving this in various ways:
Psychoeducation: Educating clients about the impact of trauma on the mind and body can help normalise their experiences and reduce feelings of shame or self-blame.
Creating a safe space: Establishing a safe space allows clients to lower their defenses and engage in honest self-reflection, laying the foundation for healing and growth. Therapists can validate the experiences of high-performing individuals with trauma, acknowledging the impact of their past experiences on their current functioning, taking away the judgement or shame from it.
Trauma processing: Therapeutic modalities that are trauma- informed can facilitate the processing of unresolved trauma. By processing traumatic experiences in a safe and controlled manner, individuals can reduce the emotional intensity associated with these memories and emotions. Slowly, the trauma stops taking control of the individual’s life and stops getting in the way of reaching a higher potential.
Exploration of core beliefs: Examining underlying beliefs about worthiness, adequacy, and control can shed light on maladaptive patterns of thinking that contribute to distress and sub-optimal performance. With the help of therapy, individuals can challenge distorted perceptions and cultivate a more compassionate and realistic self-view.
Building coping skills: Therapy equips clients with practical coping skills to manage distressing symptoms and regulate difficult emotions. Various techniques can help individuals cultivate greater awareness and resilience in the face of triggers or stressors that can help bring back sustained productivity.
Developing self- compassion: Therapy encourages clients to cultivate self-compassion and self-care practices as essential components of their healing journey. By treating themselves with kindness and understanding, high-performing individuals can counteract self-criticism and perfectionism.
Setting realistic goals: Therapy helps individuals set realistic and achievable goals that align with their values and priorities. By clarifying their aspirations and breaking them down into manageable steps, clients can avoid the pitfalls of perfectionism and maintain a healthy growth potential.
Therapy can empower high-performing individuals to embrace their vulnerabilities, change the narrative and leverage their strengths in pursuit of personal and professional fulfilment. Through therapy,individuals can heal from traumatic experiences to support their continued motivation, success, and growth.
At The Mental Game Clinic, we have psychologists, psychotherapists, social workers and mental performance consultants who can help with a wide range of concerns related to performance psychology, sport psychology, and clinical psychology. If you know someone who may be struggling, please share this email with them. If you would benefit from additional support, book an intake call with us at The Mental Game Clinic today.
Written by Jayati Singh
References
Barbash, E. (2017, March 13). Different types of trauma: Small 't' versus large ‘T’.
Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/trauma-and-hope/201703/different-types-trauma-small-t-versus-large-t
Hays, K. F. (2009). Performance psychology in action. American Psychological
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Straussner, S.L.A., & Calnan, A.J. (2014). Trauma through the life cycle: A review of
current literature. Clinical Social Work Journal, 42, 323–335. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10615-014-0496-z
