Listen, I’m not even going to have an introduction. I just want people to know the difference and to please stop telling me your life problems. I’m not mentally stable enough to help.

Venting: Venting is when you talk to another person, who is willing to listen and try to offer solutions to your problems, or are there for general support, think like a friend who is willing to talk to you about your problems, or like a therapist who is there to help you.

Trauma dumping: Talking about your problems at an inappropriate place and or time; like, let’s say you’re talking about work and stuff and they start talking about how their partner cheated and all their problems without you allowing them to tell you their problems, another example is that you’re asking about math notes and they randomly start talking about their childhood trauma. 

Trauma dumping also leads to feelings of anxiety, sadness, and depression in other people, and although it makes you feel better, it makes the other person feel worse. Venting on the other hand means the person is allowing you to talk to them, trauma dumping is not. 

It doesn’t make you a narcissistic person, or a bad person, you might not even realize you are trauma dumping, it also doesn’t mean the other person is a narcissistic or a bad person for setting boundaries about you venting/trauma dumping on them.

Venting is good; trauma dumping is not.