Psychic trauma: concept, realities and myths

Imagine a frozen lake. Yes, like the ones in American movies, in which children skate and play ice hockey. Or rather, like those on which the heroes walk very slowly so that their surface does not crack. Better like the latter.

We rarely imagine that that lake can bear some resemblance to our mind, much less to our happiness. Possibly we live in a reality in which our well-being, instead of being that lake, is a compact glacier, where it is difficult to scratch the surface, and we did not even raise the possibility of sink.

But what if you could? What if the layer of ice that separated us from the murky depths was as thin as cigarette paper, and gave us the feeling of being about to break. Can you imagine the stress and panic constants to which we would be subjected?

This (note the literary licenses), in addition to many other things, is what makes up the reality of a traumatized person, or in other words, who suffers symptoms of the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. And yet he lives on; does not die of fear, just as we think it would happen to us if we lived the metaphor of ice.

What is trauma and what really happens?

The trauma has been used by all artistic disciplines to, generally, exemplify madness. Soldiers who mistreat their spouses, traumatized children who become abusers, battered teenagers who become serial killers... And we could go on continuously.

But, making an effort to avoid the clichés, let's start with the real meaning of this label in the clinical practice. The post traumatic stress disorder is a diagnostic label that encompasses the symptoms that may occur after witnessing a life-threatening or physical event (physical or psychological), responding to it with reactions of intense fear, helplessness or horror.

Symptoms of psychic trauma

Now, broadly speaking, these symptoms listed within the label would imply:

• Persistent re-experiencing of the traumatic event. The person begins to go through moments in which uncontrolled memories of the trauma come over him, emotions that he experienced at the time, and an intense discomfort when coming into contact with everything that reminds the trauma. For example, if one of the things related to the event is sweating, it is possible that this reexperienced by sweating.

• Avoidance of stimuli associated with trauma. All kinds of strategies are generated that can help avoid something related to trauma, even if not explicitly. In the example above, sport could be something to avoid.

• Symptoms of hyperarousal such as inability to fall asleep, outbursts of anger, difficulties in concentration, hypervigilance or exaggerated alarm response. In other words, ways in which the mind accounts for fear in the face of the situation.

• General discomfort and interruption of the normal functioning of the person in any important respect. It is possible that in the trauma depressive or anxious symptoms are also generated; emotions of guilt or shame that put the self-esteem and the selfconcept of the person.

• Dissociative amnesiacaused by shock or feelings of guilt, shame or anger. It has many negative effects, such as the inability to express what happened in the trauma or to reevaluate it. Instinctively it may seem useful, since if the bad is forgotten, it is "as if it did not exist", but nothing could be further from the truth; Unlocking emotions that arose at that time and rewriting or reinterpreting what happened is essential for recovery.

"Back" to be the same

It is important to emphasize that like the rest of diagnostic labels, this one in particular it is just a way of calling a grouping of symptoms, of problems, to speak clearly. Only that. "Post-traumatic stress" does not mean: "have a group of problems and also be crazy to tie". Despite being a very widespread way of using labels, let's advocate for respect.

However, why this cruelty with this particular? It is possible that it is because of the morbidity that mental illness can produce, and because of the way in which it has been sold for so many years. The myth has been generated that traumatized people are broken forever, and this is false. "He is traumatized, he will never be the same again." No, this is not so. Psychic trauma does not imply a chronic situation of discomfort and disorder without turning back.

Beyond recovery, which is definitely possible and for which there are a wide variety of treatments (narrative therapy, biofeedback, or the applications of the cognitive behavioral therapies and the rational emotional therapy, to mention a few), It is necessary to attack the dichotomous approach that society offers us today regarding these issues.

Concluding

The doubt of "being the same again", despite being logical, It ends up being more one of those movie fears than a phrase with a real meaning. In the human being, learning is continuous, and therefore, being the same as before necessarily implies "not moving forward" or "not living". It would be unfair and illogical to require anyone (with or without trauma) to go back to being exactly the same as they were before. We are in constant evolution, in constant construction.

And in this problem, going back to being the same one can be a very hard cliché. An impossible test if we remember the stress and panic of getting lost in the depths. We can give the option to be "the one from before" and "something else".

And it is in that "something else" where each one has the freedom to live or to advance. But always both at the same time.