Eli > Recent Status Updates

pg. 226 - 229
the chapter on medicine was particularly interesting, i learned quite a bit on the different medications used, its pros and cons, and the issue with over-reliance by medical professionals & the governing bodies fiscal irresponsibility on antipsychotic agents. it really saddens me that alot of abused children end up misdiagnosed & mistreated.

pg. 221 - 222
- trauma experienced in the prsent, nt memory of the past ( sensations )
- stuck in neverending prsent; cnt imagine a diff future
- orgnising past trauma into a cohesive story, its the past; obsrve changes - then & now, danger in the past, exprience only physical sensations
- facing the pst is needed to heal
- windows of tolerance
- EMDR, eye movement desent, hypnotherapy ( IDSE )

emperor Qin sliming 200+ forced labourers who built his mausoleum just for xiang yu to send 300,000 soldiers to excavate it:

and people still blame children for not 'speaking up' about the abuse whilst being ignorant about how it physically disables the human body from literally speaking or remembering it.

so far i've covered pharaonic egypt, the birth of Buddhism ( and subsequently the spread of it ), Athenian democracy and Alexander the Great's conquest! i find plato's opinions on Athenian Democracy to be really intriguing; how if it's handled by people who aren't suitable can also lead to a tyrannical rule.

read a chapter on the limitations of the DSM, it's quite informative and honestly it irks me a lot that we still lack better diagnostics for DTD when it could totally change not only the way psychiatrists treat it - but social workers, teachers, probation officers, and the general public deal with childhood trauma

in chapter 9, I found it really interesting when how certain 'problems' are just hallmarks of deeper problems to be solved, and rather than solving the surface-layered problems, we have to deep deeper. Through that, it also elaborated on how it can act as a coping mechanism short-term wise

talks about the roles of mothers in attunement with the child. I think this might be a patriarchal view. It should put emphasis on both parents, moreso men in nurturing their children. In the case one is unable to fulfill the need of their child - the other has to play a role in this back-and-forth interaction. These preemptive formation of strong attunement is the foundation to building future relationships.

it's terrifying to not recognize yourself in the mirror, or to even not know how you're feeling

i forgot to log this book in when i started reading it lol, but so far its kind of... monotonous and uninteresting. the writing and imagery is lush though

recently read about how we have 3 common state when in danger; social engagement, fight-or-flight and lastly shutting down and each are controlled by different nerves. Also, the vagus nerves ( specifically the ventral vagus nerves ) puts a break on our fight-or-flight reaction! When we feel safe, it sends signals to the heart to slow down its beating, thus giving us a sense of calm and safety.

the PET scan of the brain is really interesting. It's interesting to know the 'hows' of it; like how people aren't able to think straight or talk about their experiences in a sequential manner when experiencing a flashback or breakdown because the left-side of the brain ( which includes the Broca's area ) essentially 'shuts down.'

'Scared animals return home, regardless of whether home is safe or frightening.'

'scared animals return home, regardless of whether home is safe or frightening.'

'

something really interesting i picked up from the first few chapters were about how trauma affects the way we act - especially in how we deal with relationship in our lives, in how survivors of abuse may have a hard time distinguishing love and terror because they've been conditioned to believe the harm acted upon them to be of love, of benefit
In the end, causes them to live in shame

I don't know why, midway through and its starting to bore me :/ premise was interesting at first, I enjoy her writing style in this, really captures the character's personality, but eventually it started to become a bit more bland :(