I think it useful to consider that there is a spectrum of trauma from the mildest to the most severe. On one hand, I\u2019m inclined to say that it does not meet the requirements for being considered \u201ctrauma\u201d unless there is a radical break with what the psychiatrist Jules Masserman in 1953 called the \u201cUr\u201d Defenses, \u201cUr\u201d referring to an ancient Babylonian-Sumerian civilization. Perhaps a better term might be \u2018primal defenses.\u2019<\/p>\n
Masserman (in an article in the American Journal of Psychiatry<\/em> 1953;110:324-333. notes three of these: When these get sufficiently bruised or disrupted at an unconscious level, the mind resorts to more primitive defenses, including mild to severe dissociation. It\u2019s as if to say, \u201cthere must be some mistake: at some level I\u2019m willing to twist my mind any which way to support these assumptions. (There are other deep instincts, too, such as the tendency to preserve the sense of self, as valued and good, if possible, as wicked and tough, if necessary.)<\/p>\n People are even willing to have multiple \u201cselves\u201d in order to repair the trauma. The point is that it helps to recognize the ways the mind insists on preserving its foundations. In Southeast Asia and the Far East, Yogic and Buddhist approaches invite us to transcend these defenses—or that\u2019s one way to interpret their value, among others.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I think it useful to consider that there is a spectrum of trauma from the mildest to the most severe. On one hand, I\u2019m inclined to say that it does not meet the requirements for being considered \u201ctrauma\u201d unless there is a radical break with what the psychiatrist Jules Masserman in 1953 called the \u201cUr\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,11,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1490","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-follies","category-literacy","category-spirituality-and-philosophy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blatner.com\/adam\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1490"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blatner.com\/adam\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blatner.com\/adam\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blatner.com\/adam\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blatner.com\/adam\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1490"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blatner.com\/adam\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1490\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1492,"href":"https:\/\/blatner.com\/adam\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1490\/revisions\/1492"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blatner.com\/adam\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blatner.com\/adam\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blatner.com\/adam\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
1. Somehow, I will survive. A sense that one\u2019s mortality is inconceivable.
2. There is a reason for what happens. True randomness also goes against a very deeply-felt grain.
3. People will help. There will be friends.<\/p>\n