You are currently browsing the daily archive for July 28th, 2009.
In exploring how influential authors have experienced trauma and then gone on to symbolize these events in their novels, Rose supposes that buried or forgotten memories of primal scene experiences unconsciously and decisively help shape one’s life. I would agree that trauma shapes our future life, our future viewpoints of others, our decisions even. Trauma certainly can change one’s career path to incorporate the resolution of trauma into one’s new choices. Meaning that survivors, following trauma often go into counseling as a career, or legal fields, or advocacy organizations, even starting non-profits to deal with their cause specifically. How significant that the events in one’s life so determine the future path. Life is truly not the same following trauma. People often make other changes despite career changes, such as partner/marital changes, educational site changes, and employment site changes that alone shows that trauma is significant. Yet society continues to act as if violence does not mean that an effect on one’s life is predetermined.
Rose starts out his introduction by stating “the act of writing; like the act of reading, puts one at risk, the risk of opening oneself to asking big questions” I would add that any act of expression opens one up to asking big questions and deep questions. For trauma victims, the act of telling ones story is a risk to open oneself up to big questions from both oneself and the listener. The act of sharing any event becomes a dynamic of sharing that takes one’s own experience and involves others, even just listeners into sharing and experiencing. Do we want to bring others into our stories, our experiences. One of my staff told me today a story of how her memories had invaded the psyche of a family members and became their memory as well. How often does that happen? We hear a story and it becomes part of our story of life? Is this then a risk for the trauma patient to tell their story and then by that very act bring more people into the story and invade the space that story holds? More to read…..
