My patients can't do that. They're struggling with the effects of trauma suffered early in life when they were still developing the brain mechanisms that allow them to relate to other people and the world in general. Unable to trust, they grow up without a sense of self. They're overwhelmed by feelings, unable to cope, always out of control. Their brains tell them to manage the pain by getting loaded. Then, when they find their way to us, we ask them to go back and experience that powerlessness, the very thing that sent them off the rails in the first place. No wonder they resist."
-- from Cracked
I?m assiduously reading this Drew Pinsky book ? great book! He addresses the biology, and the meso-limbic control centers. The psychological phenomena of ?dissociation? figures prominently ? a big struggle of mine. AL helps me mange this.
Finally, he explains what ?treatment? is, or how it is intended to work: to get childhood trauma victims who don?t trust anyone, and therefore don?t have relationships, to begin to trust ? and then connect ? with others, in order to get reflective mirroring to learn to manage emotions effectively.
It really describes my core issues and struggles. The hardest thing is managing powerful emotions without AL!
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