When an individual undergoes trauma their brain is heavily impacted. Martha Stout presents this distinct connection in her essay “When I Woke Up Tuesday Morning It Was Friday,” by depicting different case studies, and the influence of the connection between physical trauma and the brain has on their personal character. Physical trauma being, sexual abuse and physical violence are depicted within Stout’s essay. The brain itself is connected to these examples of physical trauma, by allowing individuals to leave their reality and live life in a disconnected state. This disconnected state, Stout describes as “dissociation” (Stout 427). Stout explains her notion by, “Trauma can disrupt the memory in emotional ways” (Stout 426). In Oliver Sacks’ …show more content…
Dissociation, a place many find themselves, is done subconsciously by an individual to escape from their current horrid reality. Stout explains, “In these ways the brain lays down the traumatic memories differently from the way it records its regular memories. Regular traumatic memories are formed through adequate hippocampal and cordial input” (Stout 421). The way a traumatic memory is recorded is vital for the individual. The hippocampus is responsible for the long term and short term memory consolidation, certain memories are allowed for modification and sealed from any outside control. Traumatic experiences are recorded as fragments in the brain whereas daily memories, or clear memories, are transcribed fully. After a traumatic experience, the brain allows the individual to suppress their emotions and move onward with life. The brain is able to undergo this process by dissociating. However, this suppression causes the painful memories to be fragmented, which leads to a change in the individual’s overall character. As Stout infers with her multiple case studies, this altering of character is expected. Julia, a summa cum laude from Stanford and …show more content…
However, they could notice changes in their character and desire to make changes within their inner self. With Julia for an example, she was blind to the abuse that happened to her as a little girl because her brain allowed her to subconsciously dissociate. Stout claims, “All human minds have the capacity to dissociate psychologically, though most of us unaware” (Stout 426). Julia was not aware of her dissociation at first. She was unaware that the horrors of her past were masked by her subconscious, so when she decides to undergo therapy for this she finds the news difficult. Julia could be considered blind to her dissociation. One of our five senses is touch. Unfortunately, Julia loses emotional touch with her true character due to the horrors she faced during her childhood. Placing Julia, Hull, and Shulman in a sensory loss category. Although, Shulman and Hull experience a typical sense of visual sensory loss, Julia’s experiences a loss of emotional touch with herself. Each case study had to re-learn how to become who they once were. Shulman and Hull decide to make the experience they undergo positive by learning all that being blind has to offer. The heightening of other senses, the rewiring of the brain, and being able to vividly visualize a person you have not encountered are a few things these men undergo. Julia however, is so out of touch with herself
Carver provides an easy, visual outlook of the protagonist throughout the short story, which helps keep a better understanding during the simple yet intense experience. As the story continues, the protagonist enhances his mood as he aids Robert to visualizing a cathedral. This experience creates an impact on others because it is a great reason to why one should never judge someone of something beyond their controls. Also, helping someone, as Robert does for Bub can be a life changing experience. Despite the blind man being physically blind, the husband is the one with the disability to see from someone else’s perspective. This is proven through his epiphany during his portrayal of being blind. Although Bub is not physically blind, he interprets a shortage of observations. This shows that in many ways he is blinder than Robert. Robert is more open minded and willing to experience things, in contrast to Bub, who is narrow minded and has problems opening up his mind throughout the short story. Because the protagonist does not fully try to understand his wife, it makes him look like the blind person ironically though he can visually recognize her, proving that he does not truly know her inside and out. Knowing her personally is more of reality and the husband is blind to reality. Carver definitely analyzes the protagonist’s emotions through diction and visual aid throughout the story, providing great understanding of the meaning as a
Within Oliver Sacks, “To See and Not See”, the reader is introduced to Virgil, a blind man who gains the ability to see, but then decides to go back to being blind. Within this story Sacks considers Virgil fortunate due to him being able to go back to the life he once lived. This is contrasted by Dr. P, in “The Man Who Mistook His Wife for A Hat”, Sacks states that his condition is “tragic” (Sacks, “The Man Who Mistook His Wife for A Hat (13) due to the fact that his life will be forever altered by his condition. This thought process can be contributed to the ideas that: it is difficult to link physical objects and conceptualized meanings without prior experience, the cultures surrounding both individuals are different, and how they will carry on with their lives.
Dissociation can occur any time in our life and there is two kinds of dissociation, childhood and adulthood. Child dissociation is different from adult dissociation. Child dissociation occurs when the child is actually experiencing some sort of trauma, like abuse. Adult dissociation happens in situations like stress or family related issues. Another difference is that child dissociation does not last very long (usually a hour), but adult dissociation lasts for a longer period of time. Dissociation occurs when something so painful is happening that the mind leaves the body to go elsewhere. In Martha Stout’s essay “When I Woke up On Tuesday, It Was Friday,” she defines dissociation as the mind leaving the body and transporting our awareness to a place so far away, it feels like the person is watching from outside their body. In her essay, she tells her audience about the dangers of dissociation, such as blackout, unable to relate to others, a sense of not knowing who one is, and the sense of lost time. She also includes some of her patient’s stories and experiences with dissociation, how they struggle for sanity and how she helps them see a new meaning of life. She tells her audience that often when patients or people dissociate they have lack of self-control and self-awareness. Dissociation can happen to anybody in a dire situation, for instance a child getting abused or some other traumatic event. Martha Stout has her audience/reader rethink about dissociation particularly the harmful side of it. She has help me see that although dissociation is helpful, it could lead to suicide thought, accidents, loss of identity and sanity.
In the story "Cathedral" by Raymond Carver, the main character, goes through a major personal transformation. At the beginning of the story, his opinions of others are filled with stereotypes, discrimination and prejudice. Through interaction with his wife's blind friend Robert, his attitude and outlook on life changes. Although at first he seemed afraid to associate with a blind man, Robert's outgoing personality left him with virtually no choice. During Robert's visit, he proved to be a normal man, and showed the speaker that by closing his eyes, he could open his mind.
In the short story Cathedral, by Raymond Carver, there is a direct contrast between a blind man named Robert, and the narrator. The narrator has full use of his senses, and yet he is limited to the way he sees things, and the way he thinks. Robert however, has a very different outlook on life and how he sees things, as well as the use of his senses. At the end of the story, Robert has the narrator close his eyes to try and get him to experience the world the way he does. The narrator ends up being able to not only see the way Robert does, but he also is able to feel the world in a completely different way. The author suggests that the mind is most important in how people view things, and the judgements we make are based on what we see in our heads, instead of what is really there.
Trauma is an incident that leads to a great suffering of body or mind. It is a severe torture to the body and breaks the body’s natural equilibrium. It is defined as an emotional wound causing a psychological injury. American Psychological Association, defined trauma as an emotional response to a terrible event like an accident, rape or natural disaster. Immediately after the event, shock and denial are typical. Longer term reactions include unpredictable emotions, flashbacks and strained relationships. J. Laplanche and J. B. Pontalis assert, “Trauma is an event in the subject life defined by its intensity by the subject’s incapacity to respond adequately to it, and by the upheaval and long lasting effects that it brings about in the psychical organization” (qtd. by Hwangbo 1).
Judith Herman, from Trauma and Recovery, said “Traumatic events are extraordinary, not because they occur rarely, but rather because they overwhelm the ordinary human adaptations to life” (John A. Rich, Theodore Corbin, & Sandra Bloom, 2008. Trauma does not involve the same experiences for everyone; each individual is unique in that they, and only they, can decide what is traumatic for them. Before discussing what positive things can come from suffering a traumatic experience, one must first understand that negative things can arise as well. Trauma “shatters people’s basic assumptions about themselves and the world they live in”. Three basic assumptions are challenged by trauma: (1) the belief in personal invulnerability; (2) the perception of the world as meaningful and comprehensible; and (3) the view of ourselves in a positive light” (Baumgardner & Crothers, 2009, p. 67)....
One unfortunate part of the human experience is trauma. It’s inevitable, inherently common and completely complicated. As with many things in life, many people turn to literature in hopes of finding a magic remedy for a traumatic event, some step-by-step process for how they’re supposed to react, or, at the very least, a character who makes them feel less alone. There are a lot of books that are misleading and useless, but there are some in the most unlikely places that offer the soundest sympathy and the best company. One such novel is Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer. The novel has a relatable representation of the chaos and destruction that surrounds traumatic events, which is enhanced by the novel’s use of historical truth, within three main characters that represented three very different stages of grief.
In her book Trauma and Experiences Cathy Caruth discusses that trauma is not something that is experienced when the event first happens, but instead it is something that occurs only after the traumatic even has come and gone. She writes “The historical power of trauma is not just that the experience is repeated after its forgetting, but that it is only in and through its inherent forgetting that it is first experienced at all. (Caruth, 8). While a person undergoes a traumatic event the trauma is not only associated with the event but also to the recollection of the event. The Caco women in Breathe, Eyes, Memory undergo both traumatic events but also trauma through the recollection of these
Dissociative identity disorder, a condition that has plagued and altered the minds of those who were diagnosed for many years, represents the condition in which an individual displays multiple personalities that overpower his or her behavior around others and even alone. Such personalities or identities can have staggering differences between them even being characterized by a disparate gender, race, or age. One of the sides of them can even be animal-like and display feral qualities. Also, the disorder severs the connection between the victim’s sense of identity, emotions, actions, and even memories from their own consciousness. The cause for this is known to be a very traumatic experience that the person had gone through previously and fails to cope with it, thus they dissociate themselves from the memory in order to keep their mental state in one piece. All these results from the disorder do not begin to tell of the rest of the horrors that gnaw away at the affected human.
Ida Fink’s work, “The Table”, is an example of how old or disturbing memories may not contain the factual details required for legal documentation. The purpose of her writing is to show us that people remember traumatic events not through images, sounds, and details, but through feelings and emotions. To break that down into two parts, Fink uses vague characters to speak aloud about their experiences to prove their inconsistencies, while using their actions and manners to show their emotions as they dig through their memories in search of answers in order to show that though their spoken stories may differ, they each feel the same pain and fear.
The individual’s mind has various methods of protecting the self by identifying a scenario and applying certain defense mechanisms. This part of the mind is called the psyche, which acts as the brain’s defense mechanism when one deals with trauma or sadness. Most often, people do not even realize they are being protected by the psyche, because its job is to make one become unaware of their potential intense feelings. This feeling of unawareness is called dissociation, which Martha Stout refers to in her essay, “When I Woke Up Tuesday Morning, It Was Friday.” Dissociation isolates memories so that one can function properly without letting their emotions take over. Stout explains that trauma
Trauma is a disturbing experience that causes deep stress and possible anxiety. Traumatic incidents are thought to involve victimization. Examples of traumatic events range from witness, physical attack, emotional or sexual child abuse, to the sudden death or disabling illness of a loved one. Traumatic events in particular, possibly leads to a multitude of symptoms, including depression, guilt and obsessive thought about the victimization experience. Trauma and the body can be perceived in a literary context in Junot Diaz’s, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, Jean Rhys’s, Wide Sargasso Sea and Danticat’s, The Farming of Bones.
Dissociative Identity Disorder, or DID, is defined as: “The result of a marvelously creative defense mechanism that a young child uses to cope with extremely overwhelming trauma” (Hawkins, 2003, p. 3). Ross describes DID in this way: “In its childhood onset forms, the disorder is an effective strategy for coping with a traumatic environment: It becomes dysfunctional because environmental circumstances have changed by adulthood” (1997, p, 62). What types of traumatic environments are we talking about here? Often children who form DID are involved in some sort of abuse. These types of abuses can be physical, sexual and even ritual. Such abuses are not meant for children to have to endure, however, the mind is able to deal in effective ways to allow the child to bear such intolerable environments. As one examines this subject, one finds that there are varied opinions on DID, however, it is important to understand the nature of DID, types of DID as well as DID symptoms and healing in adults.
The model explains that successful or positive experiences in life prepares a person for life challenges (Trauma Recovery, 2015). According to The California Evidence-Based Clearinghouse for Child Welfare (2015), stored memories of unresolved conflicts or trauma in the brain tend to shape beliefs, emotions, body sensations and behavioral responses (CEBC, 2015). AIP model was created based on the symptoms that erupt from poorly adapted stored memories (CEBC). When maladaptive stored memories are not addressed, psychological symptoms may develop. Adaptive information processing model guides the therapist to use EMDR therapy to assess the disruptive memories (Trauma Recovery, 2015).