Hi Lauralisa,
Thank you for the insightful and thought provocing post along with the book recommendation for "The Myth of Sanity."
Trauma certainly is a powerfull force in behavioral change, normally for the worse. One of my favorite books about trauma is an oldie but goodie by Flo Conway called, "Snapping: America's Epidemic of Sudden Personality Change." This book not only talks about the dynamic and quick trauma that can profoundly effect your worldviews but the subtle programming and mindwashing tricks used in cults, like the Witnesses, est, Moonies, etc.
While I'm interested in the psychological dynamics of trauma producing behavioral change what I find more interest in is finding a quicker cure from the effects of your exposure. While therapy helped me a lot to integrate my emotions with my rational mind, I never did a complete systems flush of all the toxins from my JW upbringing that includes everything from low self esteem at times to the inability to identify with "place." I learned how to let a lot of the pain go from those experiences but quite honestly I didn't have the emotional motivation to spend huge amounts of time in therapy to do cleanup work. So, while I think I got most of the major issues delt with, I know there is always room for improvement and more repairs but alas life has a habit of getting in the way and worse, I'm so damn good at compartmentalization and suppression of emotions, it just seems more tempting to lock them away for a rainy day. LOL! Am I rationalizing that the grapes are sour and giving up? Sometimes I think so.
I guess it is hard to remember at times that your original objective was to drain the swamp when you are up to your ass in alligators <smile>
Thanks for the encouragement and kind words.
And Ranch, join the club...maybe we all need to get together in chat sometime and have a cup of cyberJoe.
Skipper