Emotional inteligence
406/661The therapist encourages the patient to retell the traumaticevents as vividly as possible, like a horror homevideo, retrieving every sordid detail. This includes notjust the specifics of what they saw, heard, smelled, andfelt, but also their reactions—the dread, disgust, nausea.The goal here is to put the entire memory into words,which means capturing parts of the memory that mayhave been dissociated and so are absent from consciousrecall. By putting sensory details and feelings intowords, presumably memories are brought more undercontrol of the neocortex, where the reactions they kindlecan be rendered more understandable and so moremanageable. The emotional relearning at this point islargely accomplished through reliving the events andtheir emotions, but this time in surroundings of safetyand security, in the company of a trusted therapist. Thisbegins to impart a telling lesson to the emotional circuitry—thatsecurity, rather than unremitting terror, canbe experienced in tandem with the trauma memories.The five-year-old who drew the picture of the gianteyes after he witnessed the grisly murder of his motherdid not make any more drawings after that first one; insteadhe and his therapist, Spencer Eth, played games,creating a bond of rapport. Only slowly did he begin toretell the story of the murder, at first in a stereotypedway, reciting each detail exactly the same in each telling.
407/661Gradually, though, his narrative became more open andfree-flowing, his body less tense as he told it. At thesame time his nightmares of the scene came less often,an indication, says Eth, of some "trauma mastery."Gradually their talk moved away from the fears left bythe trauma to more of what was happening in the boy'sday-to-day life as he adjusted to a new home with hisfather. And finally the boy was able to talk just about hisdaily life as the hold of the trauma faded.Finally, Herman finds that patients need to mourn theloss the trauma brought—whether an injury, the deathof a loved one or a rupture in a relationship, regret oversome step not taken to save someone, or just the shatteringof confidence that people can be trusted. Themourning that ensues while retelling such painful eventsserves a crucial purpose: it marks the ability to let go ofthe trauma itself to some degree. It means that insteadof being perpetually captured by this moment in thepast, patients can start to look ahead, even to hope, andto rebuild a new life free of the trauma's grip. It is as ifthe constant recycling and reliving of the trauma's terrorby the emotional circuitry were a spell that could finallybe lifted. Every siren need not bring a flood of fear;every sound in the night need not compel a flashback toterror.
- Page 356 and 357: 356/661home—a progressive step th
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- Page 360 and 361: patients to go elsewhere for care,
- Page 362 and 363: 12The Family CrucibleIt's a low-key
- Page 364 and 365: 364/661There are hundreds of studie
- Page 366 and 367: 366/661instance, use bargaining and
- Page 368 and 369: physiological indicators of emotion
- Page 370 and 371: 370/661The difference between the t
- Page 372 and 373: 4. Self-control. The ability to mod
- Page 374 and 375: 374/661efforts to get solace will m
- Page 376 and 377: opportunity at all, let alone equal
- Page 378 and 379: learned, and how grim the costs for
- Page 380 and 381: 380/661distress of a child nearby w
- Page 382 and 383: 382/661of the brain's limbic center
- Page 384 and 385: 384/661In ensuing months, the Purdy
- Page 386 and 387: 386/661disorder, or PTSD. At the co
- Page 388 and 389: endured semistarvation, the slaught
- Page 390 and 391: 390/661overwhelming terror. 4 While
- Page 392 and 393: and dying—or for a teacher there,
- Page 394 and 395: 394/661ceruleus—alerting the body
- Page 396 and 397: All these neural changes offer shor
- Page 398 and 399: of calm—the amygdala never relear
- Page 400 and 401: 400/661better outcome: sometimes in
- Page 402 and 403: ex-lover. The man brought them to a
- Page 404 and 405: 404/661friends and family to form a
- Page 408 and 409: 408/661Aftereffects or occasional r
- Page 410 and 411: 410/661cannot keep it from reacting
- Page 412 and 413: 412/661habits of the heart learned
- Page 414 and 415: 414/661different pattern of brain a
- Page 416 and 417: 416/661monsters. Though he has felt
- Page 418 and 419: 418/661five infants falls into the
- Page 420 and 421: 420/661These sensitive children are
- Page 422 and 423: 422/661to help her up, and as I did
- Page 424 and 425: 424/661or the other type, says Davi
- Page 426 and 427: 426/661parents, and so how they lea
- Page 428 and 429: 428/661When the encounter takes pla
- Page 430 and 431: 430/661spontaneously outgrew their
- Page 432 and 433: 432/661was reopened, the animal was
- Page 434 and 435: The remarkable finding, though, was
- Page 436 and 437: 436/661switch for distress. The inf
- Page 438 and 439: 438/661emotional habits are malleab
- Page 440 and 441: 15The Cost of Emotional IlliteracyI
- Page 442 and 443: example, heroin and cocaine use amo
- Page 444 and 445: 444/661While any of these problems
- Page 446 and 447: both parents work long hours, so th
- Page 448 and 449: 448/661themselves as victims and ca
- Page 450 and 451: 450/661But studies that have follow
- Page 452 and 453: 452/661attracted to their defiant s
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407/661
Gradually, though, his narrative became more open and
free-flowing, his body less tense as he told it. At the
same time his nightmares of the scene came less often,
an indication, says Eth, of some "trauma mastery."
Gradually their talk moved away from the fears left by
the trauma to more of what was happening in the boy's
day-to-day life as he adjusted to a new home with his
father. And finally the boy was able to talk just about his
daily life as the hold of the trauma faded.
Finally, Herman finds that patients need to mourn the
loss the trauma brought—whether an injury, the death
of a loved one or a rupture in a relationship, regret over
some step not taken to save someone, or just the shattering
of confidence that people can be trusted. The
mourning that ensues while retelling such painful events
serves a crucial purpose: it marks the ability to let go of
the trauma itself to some degree. It means that instead
of being perpetually captured by this moment in the
past, patients can start to look ahead, even to hope, and
to rebuild a new life free of the trauma's grip. It is as if
the constant recycling and reliving of the trauma's terror
by the emotional circuitry were a spell that could finally
be lifted. Every siren need not bring a flood of fear;
every sound in the night need not compel a flashback to
terror.