Several
authors identify post-traumatic stress by three cardinal signs. The
cluster of symptoms is described as hyperarousal. Intrusion becomes
the cause which produces these symptoms, and constriction results as
the response to the pressure of both.
Hyperarousal
Hyperarousal
presents the most difficult challenge and the most notable feature of
post-traumatic stress (PTSD). Hypervigilance refers to the sense of
anticipation that another traumatic event will soon occur, and that
feeling finds its expression in the heightened sensitivity to nearly
every stimulus experienced.
This
baseline level of stress competes for the energy that would otherwise
be spent on living in the present, and other matters of living become
a source of frustration. Think of what it is like to be deprived of
rest, distracted by something of great importance, but still required
to be attentive to a task at hand. Irritability, difficulty with
attention, anger, and aggression become a path of least resistance.
When rest does come, the thoughts of danger and threat become a
compulsive nuisance, creating insomnia, restless sleep, and
nightmares which add to the battle fatigue of everyday life.
Intrusion
Intrusion
describes the way that painful memories invade the present life and
consciousness of trauma that is long past. In the short term,
immediately after a trauma, this intrusion serves to keep us safe,
teaching us the lesson that life is fragile and that we are not
invincible. Within a few months after a trauma, if it is processed in
a healthy way, the intensity of the memory of the event begins to
fade. It becomes an element of the past that may be unfortunate and
life-altering, but reminders of it do not disrupt the events of the
present.
In PTSD,
it is as if the trauma teaches the wrong lesson. Rather than
understanding that our lives are fragile and certain forces must be
respected in order to better our lives, we instead learn the wrong
lesson. We surmise that living presents a constant threat which will
likely result in our demise. Intrusion drives this into the belief
system of the person afflicted with PTSD.
Long
after the danger of that trauma passes, those who do not heal from
the event relive it continually instead of just recalling it. It is
as though life stops moving forward for the traumatized person, for
they must always contend with the present sense of annihilating
threat. These abnormally intense memories of trauma thrust
themselves repetitively into the consciousness of the person in a way
that they cannot control or suppress.
Though
it is attributed to Lewis Carroll, the Pennsylvania Dutch in the
region where I was raised would claim this saying as their own:
“The hurrieder I go, the behinder I get.” I think of
this sense of futility as true of intrusion as well. As much as one
tries to avoid intrusive memories and symptoms, the more aggravated
and hyperaroused they become. I don't know the context of the
statement made by Carl Jung, but I think that it also encapsulates
the way intrusive memory works: “That
which we resist persists.”
Constriction:
The Numbing Response of Surrender
If
feelings of intrusion are defined as the cause of distress in chronic
trauma, then constriction of behavior and initiative becomes the
manifested effect. When a person loses their sense of safety, they
adapt to their circumstances by changing the way that they live to
preserve that which they still have left. The focus of living shifts
from pursuing a meaningful life of fulfillment and joy to an
impoverished one of concern with mere survival. This pervasive
response affects every aspect of life from a person's thoughts,
emotions, behaviors, attention, relationships, and aspirations.
As noted
in a previous post, trauma causes the loss of imagination. With it,
we lose hope and optimism about living in a better way by picturing
of better future. We can't set goals because we can't wrap our minds
around them when we are constricted by trauma. Concerns of living
shift from one of connection with the world and others into an
unbalanced focus on the internal aspects of a meager and solitary
life.
The
ability to shift into an altered state of consciousness allows for
survival of the dissonant and conflicting set of rules for living an
unbearable life. Dissociation – that altered state of
consciousness that arrises from the stress of cognitive dissonance –
helps to protect the sense of self, but at the high cost of
alienation from identity before the trauma. It has been called the
“numbing response of surrender.” For Second Generation Adults
(SGAs) who are raised in traumatic, high demand groups, they have no
previous identity to which to return.
Living a
life of futility in this traumatic state of constriction has been
likened to the Orwellian concept of “doublethink.” The mental
gymnastics of holding two contradictory ideas as both true becomes a
game that is both conscious yet unconscious. The person can remain
true to themselves to a limited extent, but a certain amount of
reality must be suppressed and avoided. A certain amount of this
requires a deliberate and therefore conscious choice to do so, and
the trance state of dissociation ensues to ease this process.
Zealous
Initiative Confined by Bounded Choice
As
another means of adapting, especially for SGAs, some people respond
to the constriction by embracing as much active achievement as they
possibly can whenever circumstances allow. Ingenuity and
determination come about within the limited scope which life allows
for them, even though it is limited by bounded choice. Only that
activity which the system will allow provides an outlet for the
trapped soul to find expression and optimism needful for living.
Vicious
Cycle
The
process created by intrusion and constriction perpetuates and
reinforces itself over time. Intrusion never brings about any kind of
helpful change, further aggravating the symptoms of hyperarousal and
proving the necessity of constricted living. There is no happy
medium to be found amidst this cycle, and balance becomes a nice idea
that it accessible only to other people. Avoidance and overwhelm,
amnesia to intense recall/reliving, feeling to much and feeling
nothing, no action to impulsivity become the norm of life.
The only
lesson taught by this process is that the person who has been
traumatized? Life is a process of unpredictable experiences and
helplessness.
For
further reading until the next post:
- Judith Herman's Trauma and Recovery
- Peter Levine's Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma
- Bessel Van der Kolk's The Body Keeps Score
