Too scared to cry Flashcards
What are 2 mental mechanisms one uses to move anger onto others and how do they work?
Displacement- acting the anger out at someone/something other than the original source (people, animal, institutions)
Overgeneralization- directing the anger towards one single category (racial or cultural prejudice, hating everyone who works in blue shirts)
At a societal level, what may be the outcome of unconsciously motivated repetitive rage like behaviors, particularly after national traumas?
War
What are 3 angry style childhood personalities that can develop from repeated trauma?
Aggressive- identifying with the aggressor
Passive
Rapidly fluctuating- remains even keel but when situations emerge they erupt
How was rage expressed by the kidnappers of the Chowchilla children, and what original incident incited the kidnapping?
The men who did the kidnapping originally were pulled over for a speeding a ticket, which they felt they unduly received, and so they took their rage out on the town by kidnapping the kids. The kidnapping was a part of a vendetta against the town’s law enforcement
What is one of the most common childhood defenses against trauma?
What may occur as an outcome if the trauma is repeated regularly? How might this present and create conflicts in relationships?
Denial.
If a child becomes accustomed to repeated traumas, they begin to shut off their consciousness in order to avoid experiencing their reality. This can become problematic in the relational sphere because one individual may always seemed “checked out”, therefore causing their partner to feel isolated
What kind of experience within trauma can lead to denial/numbing and how might this lead to one’s self-esteem?
How can I avoid projecting my past experiences onto others in order to prevent them from feeling dehumanized?
Any repeated dehumanizing experiences which make one feel subjected to another’s coercion
Be heavily aware of how you coach others and give direction. Also limit how much instruction you give
Why might one child be able to recall the full details of a traumatic event while another may not?
A child who was previously unexposed to terror will not deny the reality of events because they would not have experienced the intense extent of symptoms prior. However, a child whose previously been terrorized will have difficulty recalling some or all events
What kind of outcomes will occur for a child whose repeatedly exposed to traumatic events?
Why would this happen?
Shocking experiences are particularly jarring for kids. To avoid the shock, the child begins to ignore the day to day events by numbing their senses and guarding against their thinking which then creates psychically dead kids
This allows the child to cope with their circumstances as if they aren’t happening, resulting in denial and numbing
What phenomenon occurs at the time of a traumatic event which precedes denial and numbing denial and numbing and what is the precursor to this phenomenon?
Emotional Anesthesia
Horrors that have now become predictable because they are long-standing, variable, and most importantly repeated
What kind of circumstances in history have produced the most benumbed individuals?
Catastrophic events such as the Uighur genocide, Palestinian/American conflict, Holocaust, Hiroshima, Central American war zones and Cambodian killing fields
How could you know from someone’s speech that they are benumbed or dissociated from their experiences?
They speak of horrible tragedies absent of any emotional expression. They may claim that “they were fine” and they got over it, or they mention they felt nothing at all
How might a psychically numb child present as an adult?
What could be potentially very dangerous about this?
Personality disorders, they may have trouble speaking, they may never smile/laugh
A child whose is denial may be praised for their being quiet, further encouraging this pathological response and personality trait
What are 2 personality styles than can emerge from consistent numbing? Describe them both
What adult personality disorders could these styles cause?
Withdrawn personality- nonresponsive to most environmental events (Bismah)
Hail fellow well met- This person can get along with all people, however, they possess no depth to any of their relationships. They are friendly and outgoing, however, it seems fake and superficial (my sisters). All relationships are the same and there is variance in depth with any of their social relationships
Borderline, narcissistic, antisocial, avoidant
Why might something like transcendental meditation or other forms of separating from reality contribute further to psychic numbing/deadening?
What are other examples of separating from reality?
This can teach someone to further lean away from the traumatic experiences further separating them from the nature of their reality. This could present as a large obstacle to deep psychoanalytic work
Dazing off, counting excessively, imagining different circumstances
