Trauma Industrial Complex

Today, trauma is everywhere, and it seems like everybody has it. Trauma shapes public debates on education, criminal justice and healthcare. It`s cited as a root cause of addiction, mental health issues, and relationship breakdowns. It permeates media, from music and television to films and books - my own included. While the increasing openness is welcome, I`ve observed that this rise has been accompanied by a parallel explosion of disinformation. We now have a poorly regulated marketplace - powered by social media`s financial incentives - filled with confusing and sometimes harmful guidance about how to deal with personal trauma. Every day, trauma-related content drives billions of views online. Across the Western world, millions are adopting narratives of their own fragility based on ideas they`ve acquired from under-informed content creators. As trauma is rapidly commodified, I`ve seen our stories of lived experience become largely dislocated from their original social and political value: to defend the vulnerable and leverage for social change. Now, trauma stories are less about spotlighting injustice, and more about monetising self-help for affluent people. How did we get here? Are the stories we are telling ourselves liberating us or keeping us trapped? In this revealing and deeply personal book, I`ll pull back the curtain on the trauma industrial complex, tipping the sacred cows of lived experience and sharing the hard-won wisdom I`ve gained from the calamitous events brought on by telling my own story.