"The likelihood of a person having a certain specific psychological, emotional or
physical reaction or effect following a traumatic experience increases with that
person's belief that he will have that specific reaction or effect."
"A person's beliefs about trauma and its effects will have an impact on the actual
effects trauma has in that person's life."
Once we believe something we may never question it again. It is a habit and a fixture
in our mind, regardless of whether or not it is the truth and regardless of whether
it serves us well or ill. We will defend it; many people will attack those who question
or challenge it. Belief and faith are synonyms. If you believe something you have
faith in it and it need never prove itself to be of value or even to be true.
Expectations and the Effects of Trauma
People make, suggest, blog, prescribe and publish predictions about the expected
course of treatment and recovery from the symptoms of PTSD every day. The result
is a pool of shared understanding, agreement, and perception of how emotional and
psychological trauma is going to affect people and about how long the effects will
last. Sometimes the effects are expected to last forever. I read that prediction
in the newspaper about once a week.
As a consequence of this, people have understandably developed rather specific expectations
and beliefs about what the effects of trauma will be. The expectations have been
reinforced by traumatized people, by the professional mental health and medical
communities, and by everybody with an opinion. The history of these beliefs, experiences
and expectations contains all of our shared facts and realities about the trauma
and trauma recovery experience. This body of belief perpetuates itself and it undeniably
causes specific effects.
But is the information contained in this shared body of knowledge in line with reality;
is it as true and helpful as possible? Are the effects that it causes in the best
interests of trauma sufferers, and, if not, is there an alternative? These are some
of the million dollar questions that we tackle in Force of Habit.
Beliefs and Trauma Effects
In this age of global and instantaneous communication we are all touched by trauma
or by someone who has been traumatized. It is unavoidable. That means that we have
culture-wide beliefs about trauma and its effects, just as we have beliefs about
everything else. As with all of our beliefs, some of these beliefs about the consequences
of trauma may be truer, more real, and more helpful than others.
Regardless of whether or not they square with fundamental realities, our beliefs
have an effect on us. Since Force of Habit is all about having the effect we want
to have, we won't be leaving that important job to chance and we won't be leaving
it to our assumptions or to the conventions and prevalent beliefs of our times.
We will be deciding for ourselves what is real, true, and useful.
The likelihood of a person having a certain specific psychological, emotional or
physical reaction or effect following a traumatic experience increases with that
person's belief that he will have that specific reaction or effect. A certain (perhaps
very large) amount of what happens to us is caused by our beliefs. The very well-documented
"placebo effect" (which I call "self-healing"), for example, causes a specific physical
effect on our body that occurs solely because we expect and anticipate it, and not
because any outside substance or agent caused it. It is caused by our beliefs. It
is accomplished by our mind.
How much of everything that happens to us is caused by our beliefs? While impossible
to measure, there can be no doubt that our beliefs and expectations have an enormous
impact on our experience. Since our body and our emotions respond in predictable
ways to our fantasies, thoughts, words and expectations, it seems very likely that
any given individual will respond to trauma with an experience that matches her
expectations and beliefs-regardless of whether or not such an experience is necessary
or even particularly natural.
A person's beliefs about trauma and its effects will have an impact on the actual
effects trauma has in that person's life. It is of critical importance to keep that
in mind. It behooves us to be very careful when talking-and even when thinking-about
the effects of trauma. The stakes could be very high if our beliefs are unnecessarily
deleterious: our beliefs could be for better or for worse and so could the effects.
Our beliefs could be based on correct or incorrect information about habits and
about what is possible and necessary.
The effects of trauma need not be permanent, or even long-lasting. With the appropriate
education, your mind can get rid of these effects, just as with any kind of habit.
Force of Habit opens the door to new and unexpected experiences that will change
your beliefs about what is possible. Your experience will then reinforce your beliefs
about what is possible and even about what is real. So keep an open mind. You have
nothing to lose but your chains-I mean your habits.
 | THINK RESPONSIBLY! |
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