Traumatized people chronically feel unsafe inside their bodies: The past is alive in the form of gnawing interior discomfort. Their bodies are constantly bombarded by visceral warning signs, and, in an attempt to control these processes, they often become expert at ignoring their gut feelings and in numbing awareness of what is played out inside. They learn to hide from their selves.
Interpretation
Traumatized individuals struggle with a sense of safety and often disconnect from their own feelings and bodies.
This quote by Bessel Van Der Kolk highlights the profound impact of trauma on individuals. It explains how trauma can lead to a persistent feeling of unsafety within one's own body, which manifests as discomfort and anxiety. The past traumas continue to influence their present experiences through these warning signals. As a coping mechanism, many people trained themselves to ignore these innate responses, leading to a disconnection from their true selves and feelings.
In practice
In a mental health seminar discussing the effects of trauma on individuals.
People have a range of capacities to deal with overwhelming experience. Some people, some kids particularly, are able to disappear into a fantasy world, to dissociate, to pretend like it isnt happening, and are able to go on with their lives. And sometimes it comes back to haunt them.
The parent-child connection is the most powerful mental health intervention known to mankind.
A hurt is at the center of all addictive behaviors. . . . The wound may not be as deep and the ache not as excruciating, and it may even be entirely hidden—but it’s there. As we’ll see, the effects of early stress or adverse experiences directly shape both the psychology and the neurobiology of addiction in the brain
If we understand the mechanisms and motives of the group mind, it is now possible to control and regiment the masses according to our will without their knowing it In almost every act of our daily lives, whether in the sphere of politics or business, in our social conduct or our ethical thinking, we are dominated by the relatively small number of persons who understand the mental processes and social patterns of the masses. It is they who pull the wires which control the public mind.
The fact is that people are good, Give people affection and security, and they will give affection and be secure in their feelings and their behavior.
The deepest urge in human nature is the desire to feel important.
Worrying about scarcity is our culture's version of post-traumatic stress. It happens when we've been through too much, and rather than coming together to heal (which requires vulnerability) we're angry and scared and at each other's throats.
We live in a world where most people still subscribe to the belief that shame is a good tool for keeping people in line. Not only is this wrong, but it’s dangerous. Shame is highly correlated with addiction, violence, aggression, depression, eating disorders, and bullying.
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