Trauma

Sorry for anyone who's bored by all this psychology stuff, but it fascinates me - which is definitely a good thing at this point! ;)

First off, I ordered my own copy of this book today, and I think it'll be worth every penny!  It's killing me not to be able to underline and highlight. lol Halfway through it, I had taken at least 40 screen-shots with my iPhone just to have some record of the pages I like.  Ridiculous.

Last night, I read the section on Trauma... wooooooooooooooow!

He talked about the left and right side of the brain, and how trauma and crisis affect the brain.  The left-brain thinkers are analytical, verbal, concrete, rational, and goal-oriented.  The right-side is more intuitive, emotional, artistic, visual, and non-verbal.  As he put it, the left side does the thinking and the right side is a picture album.  It stores memories as pictures.  We're all stronger on one side or the other, but we need both to function well.  He explains all the science behind it all in a way I'm not going to attempt, but this is the basic result:

"It is as though trauma causes the left side (the cognitive) and the right side (the emotional) to become disconnected from one another.  Usually our body, emotions, and thoughts are all connected, but trauma separates these from one another.  Left brain and right brain have to pull together, otherwise just one side is in charge.  And they do until trauma enters the picture.  It splits them up.  

You may have vivid, graphic thoughts about what happened but have no emotion.  Or you may experience intense emotions without the thoughts or actual memories... Sometimes you alternate between the two - you find yourself caught between amnesia and reliving the trauma; between floods of intense, overwhelming feeling and arid states of no feeling whatsoever; between irritable, impulsive action and complete inhibition of action...

The frontal cortex ability is decreased; therefore, the brain is less able to do left-brain functions.  It can't distinguish a real threat from a false threat.  It also limits people from putting into words what they feel.  The right side - the alarm section - reacts too much.  It's activated to danger when there isn't any...  The next time you interact with a traumatized person, remember what has happened to his or her brain.  Don't hesitate to describe this to the person.  Many times those hearing this respond as if someone just turned on a lightbulb.  It makes sense and helps to normalize their experience."

I know that whole section helped me to feel less crazy and more hopeful, to better understand my own reactions in certain painful situations, and it goes along with what I've learned on personalities.  I'm genuinely looking forward to reading this book in more detail when my copy arrives. :)

Anyway, all of my crying and all of this reading on crisis, grief, loss, and trauma makes me think how very wonderful it will be when these things are all absent one day in God's Kingdom...  "He will wipe every tear from their eyes.  There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."  ~Rev. 21:4

Yes, please - I am so ready for the "the new order of things" to come in and completely take over!  And because I know it really is coming one day, I can always find hope in the midst of any earthly darkness and despair!!  "My God turns my darkness into light."  ~Psalm 18:28

Okay, I'm running late for the Super Bowl party, but whatever, I only care about the commercials anyway. :)  Happy Sunday!!