Collective Trauma
Week 9: Winter Abernathy - 19 January 2022 [10:52am]
There is a quote from Richard Price referring to how the human psyche copes with loss. The quote goes "the bigger the issue, the smaller you write. Remember that. You don't write about the horrors of war. No. You write about a kid's burnt socks lying on the road. You pick the smallest manageable part of the big thing, and you work off the resonance."
The power that war takes from civilians is an atrocious concept for the human mind to grasp. I have always found the way the human mind protects itself from the outside world to be quite the bittersweet phenomenon. The brain takes the most basic, the smallest parts of the most horrific tragedies and holds moments as an allusion, a way for our minds to identify with the tragedy without remembering it. I think what we fail to notice however, is that the brain protects us from trauma, it protects us, and that is incredible.
The pandemic is a trauma, the pandemic is a large issue, and our brains protect us. We underestimate how traumatic these years of isolation have been for us. Similar to war, these past few years have proven how little control we truly have over our lives and as humans, we struggle to let go of that control, of that power, and that’s why this trauma affects us so deeply. Our brains believe in freedom, in our control over ourselves(self-possession), and being confronted with times of absolute loss of control(war, pandemic) is a jarring and traumatic realization for humans. Yet we forget, we forget that our illusion of control is just that, an illusion.
Hey Winter, the extent of the power of our human brain is one that is incomprehensible for us today and most likely will be for a long time. I recall hearing about a myth that our brain only activates a mere ten percent of its power in day-to-day tasks, and if us humans are able to achieve one hundred percent, we will reach a state of utmost intelligence (this myth was later adapted into the movie Lucy, one of my favorites). Although this is a myth and clearly untrue, our brain’s capacity still is much more tremendous that we can imagine. Upon hearing your example of our brain underestimating trauma, it reminded me of the observation that if a person is placed into solitary confinement, the person’s brain begin creating hallucinations as a coping mechanism. Furthermore, simply the task of breathing and reflexive instincts; neither of those we can control, but they literally save our lives everyday. Our brain’s incredible reflexes and autonomy just goes to prove this incredible power of our human brain.
ReplyDeleteHey Winter! I haven’t read up on trauma before, so reading your blog post this week was pretty enlightening. I do know that surviving trauma takes a lot of courage, and it’s amazing to learn about how little control and power we have on our subconsciousness. I also think we underestimate the importance of our brains, so learning more about it can perhaps one day allow us to delve deeper and understand human tendencies better. Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteHey Winter! Your post reminds me of a famous quote about tragedy, ironically by the mass murdering Stalin, that goes “one death is a tragedy, a million deaths are a statistic”. The human brain is something that can quickly adapt but is often left floundering in an extended period of change and denial is often its wall of choice as you aptly point out. I also find your observations in your last paragraph to be an apt statement and quite an interesting comparison. Let’s hope I don’t have PTSD from sitting in my room and playing games though, that would make life a lot harder.
ReplyDeleteHi Winter, after reading your blog, I realized how much power our minds have over us that we don’t even realize, and even though we feel are able to move and think at our will, we can not control the beating of our hearts or the feelings of pain or pleasure. I have always found the study of psychology to be extremely interesting especially since there is still so much humans are unaware of. However, with the advancement of technology and science, we are able to discover more and more about the human mind.
ReplyDeleteHi Winter, when you mentioned how our brains believe in being in control over ourselves, it reminded me of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs which is essentially the theory that the needs for survival, safety, love and belonging, esteem, and self actualization are what dictate our behavior. These needs are placed on a pyramid, with self-actualization being at the top; the higher the need, the harder they are to reach because people have to first meet the basic needs at the bottom. With the pandemic, it could be that if we apply Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs to recent events, we haven't had time to really think about how little control we have over our lives and the freedoms that we lost due to the circumstances we were put in. We have placed more focus on our basic needs such as staying safe from the virus and being with our loved ones during these uncertain times which could promote our thinking of underestimating the trauma from years of isolation.
ReplyDeleteHey Winter! I remember reading this quote from Richard Price somewhere, and it really resonated with me. This is why we connect more to personal stories of tragedy and loss in the news about one person or group, rather than issues that affect people on a wider scale. It becomes harder for us to empathize with statistics because our minds struggle to comprehend such a vast effect. There is still so much we don't know about our brains, but the phenomenon of dissociative amnesia makes me think that our brains do have some control over us and try to protect us. Your last sentence is really interesting to think about. While there are things we don't have control over, I think that the way it affects us so deeply is definitely an illusion. We are always "free," but it is very easy to feel lost in difficult situations.
ReplyDeleteHi Winter! The psychological topic that you covered in this blog regarding how people deal with trauma is so fascinating to me. I completely agree with the quote that you provided from Richard Price; I have read so many books where the author creates small but super impactful images of devastating events like the Holocaust. Sometimes the smallest images can have the biggest effects on the reader since readers are forced to get up close and personal to the bits and pieces of the event. This makes the event much more meaningful rather than just looking at the overall picture. I agree with you that the pandemic is a significant source of trauma and it has isolated people so much and taken away so much of our daily freedom. Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteWinter, this blog post introduced a new and not much talked about topic to me and I greatly appreciate that. Trama is such a forbidden word in the English vernacular. People try to disguise and erase their trauma thinking it will help them fit into society better; however they do not realize the power that trauma holds on to them. When I try to hide my pain or negative emotions it comes back all at once in the form of hour long breakdowns. It is like you said, truly incredible how our brain has the power to protect us from trauma. Our brain is a puzzle which has not been solved yet and I am very curious to understand how our brain has this power. Thank you for writing such an insightful post.
ReplyDeleteHi Winter, it's so interesting how our brains work. Our bodies have a lot of built-in mechanisms that protect us, and we don't even notice it because it happens on a subconscious level. Our brains block out the worst of the situations at times to prevent us from getting traumatized and allow us to keep pushing forward amid hardships. Even though it may create an illusion of the reality of the situation, it is beneficial to us to not be able to perceive the full extent of horrific events.
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