“COULD ANXIETY BE TIED TO OUR OWN ALIENATION?”

 

“Grateful people may recover faster from trauma.” – Deborah Norville, journalist

 

“Life’s filled with trauma. You don’t need to go to war to find it; it’s going to find you!”    

I have had the privilege to work with many people who have been traumatized in some way whether from their military experiences, their work, their family experiences, their health challenges, and other forms.

Trauma is defined from the Greek, trauma  as “a wound, a hurt; a defeat.”   Since, we all experience these types of events, we have all been, or will be, traumatized at some time.   Or as Sebastian Junger put it, “Life’s filled with trauma. You don’t need to go to war to find it; it’s going to find you. We all deal with it, and the effects go away after awhile. At least they did for me.”

So, how come some individuals and groups bounce back quickly while others linger in pain and confusion for days, weeks, months and years.   There is an interesting short talk by Sebastian Junger in a recent Ted Talk entitled, “Our lonely society makes it hard to come home from war.”

Sebastian is a war journalist, who has seen war up close, and knows the impact battlefield trauma has on soldiers. He has researched the incidents of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) across history and  geography, going back as far as the Civil War in the US.   He offers some interesting ideas and perspectives.

For example, did you know in the US military today only about 10% of soldiers experience battle, while 50% apply for PTSD support services. Did you know that in Israel, where everyone does military service, only 1% apply for PTSD support services?

He cites other data and wonders about why such wide discrepancies have been occurring for so long.

Mr. Junger suggests the cause of pain for veterans when they come home is the experience of leaving the tribal closeness of the military and returning to an alienating modern society. And, if that’s the case, perhaps the same applies to individuals who return from a trauma to alienated communities, alienated families, or alienated relationships?

 

I welcome your observations and thoughts.

 

“No experience is a cause of success or failure. We do not suffer from the shock of our experiences, so-called trauma – but we make out of them just what suits our purposes.”

– Alfred Adler, psychologist

“The clown assumes your humanity. It assumes that, whatever trauma you’ve had, you can still love yourself.”
– Patch Adams, author

 

 

Until Next time…

Encourage others to subscribe to our FREE Newsletter and ebook, “Finding Balance in Your Life” at  And, please like us on Facebook, or Twitter.

Our next seminar is entitled, “How to Bring balance to Life and Purpose to Work!”  It will be on Saturday, June 3rd, 2016. Details are available at ww.kenpiercepsychologist.com

Send us your feedback and topic suggestions…we love to hear from you!  If you have a specific question or wish to schedule a consultation, feel free to contact me.

 

Namaste, (I salute the grandly organized design of the universe, manifested in you!)

Ken

 

Further information: www.kenpiercepsychologist.com