STRANGER THINGS and TRAUMA

In my work with children and adolescents, I frequently inquire about their current interests and activities capturing their attention. Over the last ten years, I was frequently told by many of them, that they were watching the popular TV series, “Stranger Things”. This and recommendations by several adolescent family members motivated me to check it out. I only watched the first 2 seasons. Some confided that they were very interested in “horror genres” but also said that they enjoyed seeing how smart kids pulled together and fought against these monsters.

Last year while visiting family in New York City, we saw the “Stranger Things” play on Broadway which apparently is a prequel. Seeing this play helped me understand that some of those kids were now the parents of those kids in the current series. They had also been exposed to similar frightful events during their youth which left an indelible mark and trauma, this helped me understand why some parents in the TV series might frequently be absent and some were dealing with addictions that kept them from being more emotionally present and supportive towards their kids during this terrible time.

During the current “last season” there were new viewers caught up in this cultural phenomenon. Some of the parents I spoke to expressed mixed feelings about the graphics and gory scenes but eventually found themselves joining their kids in watching this series, at times this gave way to a fruitful discussion with kids.

From the beginning, I was intrigued by the apparent absence of parents in the first episodes. These kids seem to be navigating this scary time without sufficient parental supervision and were attempting to make sense of these traumatic events, frequently surpassing their capacities to cope with the threats they faced especially, considering their young age.

It was impressive to see how these kids came together as a force, with some guidance from older siblings and teachers, they developed a broad repertoire of cognitive and emotional skills becoming resilient, that is bouncing back to a pre trauma adaptation, while some of them developed Post Traumatic Growth, becoming better persons for having endured these challenging times.

The series can be seen from different perspectives, including at its superficial level and some can enjoy the excitement of a fictional scary series. I believe that you can also see this series as a metaphor for childhood and intergenerational trauma and the impact that it has on kids, families and communities. Sometimes these traumatic events become blocked off from awareness, which over time can lead to the development of maladaptive coping skills.

Many kids exposed to chronic or recurrent trauma cope by using unconscious methods to avoid overwhelming anxiety and fear, frequent examples of these maladaptive coping skills include feeling that they or their circumstances are unreal, this allows the person suffering these intrusive feelings or memories to anesthetize themselves from these traumatic memories. Others resort to self-soothing with alcohol, drugs or self-mutilation. Some might engage in re-traumatization of self or others, frequently becoming aloof, disengaged and seclusive to protect themselves from further trauma.

As this series ends, we see the victims of this chronic terror and trauma sitting around talking about their past experiences, a form of group therapy, lending support and love that they developed towards each other after enduring this horrible ordeal. Some were able to let their guard down and share their fear of being rejected by the group.

I think this series can help us better understand trauma and its impact on childhood, families and communities. But it also highlights the range of coping skills that many develop during turbulent times. Adults have the important task of protecting their children from harm and to be present in their lives to support them during challenging times. We can see how intergenerational trauma exposes them to frequent re-traumatization. I want to highlight and emphasize the effect of human resilience which can fortunately be taught and promoted by effective parenting and promoting the capacity for Post Traumatic Growth, even in the worst circumstances.