Judith Herman, a psychologist, believes that people who suffered from childhood trauma can help them survive in the environment of long-term abuse through three adaptation mechanisms: the defense mechanism of dissociation, the division of self-identity (which leads to the breakdown of relations with the outside world) and the pathological adjustment of mental state (depression, bipolar disorder, trauma addiction, etc.). ).
1, the defense mechanism of dissociation
Separation refers to experiencing the separation of perception, like observing yourself from the perspective of an outsider. The disintegration of reality is the feeling of separation from the external environment, and the two usually appear at the same time.
A group of neuroscientists at the University of Geneva triggered a similar experience when stimulating the temporal parietal node with electric current. One patient said that the stimulation made her feel as if she was hanging from the ceiling and looking at her body.
When a person feels completely powerless and there is no hope for any form of resistance, Ta may enter a state of submission and abandonment, and all channels of self-perception will stop and close. Divorce often occurs in a state where atrocities are committed and there is nothing they can do to change, such as children being raped.
The injured protect themselves from pain by separating their defenses. Although this represents an attempt to resist the painful emotional state, it may also pay a painful price, so that the impact of traumatic events will always exist.
2. Doubt about the relationship
After traumatic events, the injured become more vulnerable, their self-awareness is broken, and they have doubts about some basic interpersonal relationships. Trauma tore the attachment of family, friends and society, and threw the victims into the abyss of survival crisis.
Traumatized people feel that they have lost their independence because their bodies have been violated, hurt and defiled. This undermines Ta's belief that she can maintain herself when having sex with others, and Ta is easy to feel ashamed and suspicious.
Their interpersonal relationship is full of pain and contradiction, full of out-of-control anger, and easy to get angry with people. On the other hand, they are full of sympathy and protection for the weak and the poor. Their intimate relationship will also become worse.
3. Trauma addiction
Many trauma patients have recorded that the uncontrollable desire for self-harm appeared in the early stage of abuse and has been carried out secretly for many years. In this way, they try to get rid of their long-term anxiety and create a state of inner satisfaction and peace. Although it is fleeting, there is no other way to help them achieve this state.
Freud used "forced repetition" to describe this kind of repeated trauma. He believes that the reason for the recurrence of this trauma is that the patient subconsciously hopes to control the pain through re-experience.
In the 1970s, Richard Solomon of the University of Pennsylvania discovered that the human body can adapt to almost all stimuli. We may be addicted to some drugs, because these drugs will immediately bring us a comfortable feeling, while some activities that initially make us uncomfortable, such as running a marathon and skydiving, may eventually become enjoyable.
This slow adjustment forms a new balance of chemical signals in the body, such as marathon runners, who can get pleasure and excitement when pushing their bodies to the limit. When we can't do this extreme activity, we will be eager to make similar acquisitions again, resulting in a staged reaction similar to drug addiction. This can also explain why some people burn themselves with cigarette butts, cut themselves with knives, or attract others to hurt themselves.
Fear and nausea turn into pleasure in some unreasonable way. Solomon hypothesized that endorphin is an opioid chemical secreted by the brain in response to stress, which is the key to this seemingly contradictory pleasure.
The life of Linkin Park lead singer Chester Bennington, who committed suicide some time ago, is enough to show the great influence of childhood trauma on people.
According to the news, Chester's parents divorced when he was a child and was sexually assaulted by an adult man when he was a child. His residence has moved many times and he has changed many schools. He admitted school bullying's behavior in high school.
18 years old, drug and alcohol abuse. It was not until his best friend Samantha appeared that Chester was finally rescued.
At the age of 2/kloc-0, he was introduced by a friend to a band called Xero as the lead singer. This band was later LinkinPark. He found that singing can relieve his pain, so he worked harder. He practiced singing every day until he felt pain in his throat and lungs and even vomited blood.
As an adult, he was married twice and had six children. He has been accompanied by drug addiction and alcohol addiction, and he has repeatedly thought of suicide.
"My life has always been fragmented. Although I have been divorced for several years, it has been difficult to get out. During this period, I wrote a lot of new songs, and I was deeply addicted to alcohol and drugs, which helped me through that time. "
Therefore, when you realize that you were injured in your childhood, you should seek a cure in time to avoid aggravating the pain and causing tragedy.