Objective Knowledge as a Political Tool

[Turgon]

Hey luke,

I am still trying to work out what he is saying about overcoming such deep seated trauma, I think it is something along the lines of truly feeling that pain that is locked away, hidden from the conscious - what does that mean in practice though? He isn't being very clear on that front.

Trauma is more of a physiological response which translates into a psychological and emotional response, i.e. felt sensations and the thoughts that come with it. Often times people will run into manic or ADD like symptoms, run around trying to intellectualize or come up with concepts to practicing dealing with trauma when what's needed is slowing down to really feel what it is your feeling. This can be a difficult thing to do and it's why journaling and writing down your thoughts on paper is really important.

If you were to ask yourself what it is your feeling in that moment, it can be difficult because you might not be in touch with your emotions or they might be manifesting as racing thoughts instead.

So, thoughts?

I am not that well versed in psychology so I don't know if what I am reading has any merit. It does explain somethings though, mainly that words and insights rarely change act-outs that are deeply ingrained e.g. someone with an addiction will get all the insights and see the truth as to why they should stop, but that doesn't stop the drive, rarely leads to transformation, maybe because as the author says, the insight only touches the left side, whilst the problem lies deep in the right side, where the left has no say whatsoever, where words are non-existent - if one is indeed dealing with an imprint or a deep pre-verbal trauma laid neatly beyond the reach of the left side.

I think this is why the recomended reading on psychology, like Trapped in the Mirror, The Narcissistic Family and In An Unspoken Voice are necessary. They've been tried and tested and a lot of people on the forum have been able to relate to those books and so the signal to noise ratio is low and the sources can be trusted.

 

[Buddy]

Exactly what Turgon said.

So, thoughts?

I am not that well versed in psychology so I don't know if what I am reading has any merit.
...
I am still trying to work out what he is saying about overcoming such deep seated trauma, I think it is something along the lines of truly feeling that pain that is locked away, hidden from the conscious - what does that mean in practice though? He isn't being very clear on that front.

Maybe he isn't being very clear because he's not speaking to you. I think it's good that you're reading something, but I think that what you've found is not touching you at the level of your life experience yet. Maybe that's why Nienna and Turgon talk about the more basic stuff?

 

[luke wilson]

Trapped in the mirror and drama of a gifted child (on the list as well) are next.

 

[Muxel]

You keep mentioning codependency, what book deals with that?

All of them, perhaps. Be in a relationship with a narcissist long enough and it turns you into a codependent, all the harder to wake up and get out.

One book I really wish I had is The Narcissistic Family. Do get that ASAP. The friction you have with your parents might run deeper than you think. Maybe if I'd had it, I would have woken up to the reality of my situation earlier - maybe.

Same for trauma and Peter Levine. Trauma is a big "Thing", just like Narcissism is a huge "Thing"... tons of stuff out there on it. You just haven't gotten into it yet. (That's not a crime, is it? Sometimes you happen upon a book by chance, sometimes life gives you a reason to pick up the book, which can be very painful.)

All of the books connect to each other in some way... "mosaic consciousness"... like pieces of a puzzle.

I only know about Arthur Janov because SOTT commenter "Good Optics" has posted many times about his stuff. You could go search for those comments.

And this from last month:

According to Wiki again, Hellinger was trained by, and took inspiration from, Arthur Janov, whose so called Primal Therapy was criticized too, including by Alice Miller who said that "there was 'too much faith' in cathartic discharge"-- and we know also from Peter Levine that it can be dangerous and re-traumatizing experience in some cases, and not efficient in others.