Trauma, Identity, and the Workplace

Individuals who have experienced trauma, especially interpersonal trauma, may face significant barriers to career and workplace success. These difficulties may range from specific cognitive challenges, such as maintaining concentration on work-related tasks and managing commitments and deadlines, to emotional and relational issues such as general irritability or difficulty regulating affect around coworkers or, perhaps especially, supervisors. Individuals with active, diag-nosable, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are managing a significant illness that can require active support from health care providers, and the need to take time away from work. However, researchers and practitioners also recognize that experiences of childhood maltreatment and trauma, instances of domestic violence or criminal victimization, and significant noninterpersonal trauma (such as that which follows a life-threatening illness or natural disaster) can limit or disrupt career development. This topical area, however, has seen surprisingly little in the way of research attention.

The experience of interpersonal trauma, in particular, is thought to activate processes that can impair decision-making and problem-solving abilities. In turn, these impairments reduce individuals' sense of self-efficacy and self-confidence and may be associated with physical symptoms that limit performance on the job. Disruptions in identity development, however, as seen in more serious experiences with trauma, may result in more insidious effects that are less well recognized in the occupational mental health literature. Just as survivors find general developmental and identity development tasks to be affected, they may find that making career-related decisions, implementing a career, and adjusting to the demands of the job are challenging, if not frustrating, activities. If an individual's identity, the sense of self as a person—and as a capable, working person—is disrupted, or has not clearly been defined, then the ability to make good career choices is compromised.

One major task of adolescent and early adult development is to establish a career self-concept: a work-related or vocational identity. Specific traumatic experiences may complicate this task for many trauma survivors. Developmental psychologist Jeffrey Arnett coined the term emerging adulthood in 2000. Arnett defined emerging adulthood as the period between the ages of 18 and 25 years, characterized by identity exploration processes focused on love, work, and worldviews. He suggested that by the end of this developmental period, most people will have made enduring life choices based on their relationships, their educational attainment, and their occupational choices and associated financial situation. Individuals in the life phase of emerging adulthood place importance on taking responsibility [Page 680]for themselves, for becoming autonomous, and for becoming financially independent. These are seen as important criteria for entering adulthood. Emerging adults, then, are in a life stage that is characterized by trial runs, reflection, and choice. Although the identity explorations of emerging adulthood make it an especially full and intense time of life for many people, these explorations are not necessarily experienced as enjoyable. When individuals have experienced significant trauma, these tasks may seem to be out of reach. Survivors may delay or avoid identity exploration. They may foreclose on an identity without having explored. Individuals who have been traumatized later in life, or for whom processing the trauma has been blocked, may feel the need to recycle through identity exploration. In many cases, this may leave survivors feeling developmentally “stuck” or “out of sync” with coworkers, peers, and friends. Additionally, others' expectations for survivors' work performance and work-related behaviors may not be met.

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