dimenticato

On the surface, avoidance, minimization, distancing, splitting, and attempting to place a positive value on painful experiences may look like dreadful self-deception. In reality, however, this self-regulation of negative affect performs a life-saving function. For precisely that reason, trauma patients find it dangerous, even impossible, to give up these survival strategies and self-healing measures, even though they block creativity and growth and lead eventually to stagnation and decay. [ . . . ] The sacrifice of one's self-protection strategies and the loosening of one's rigid defense mechanisms are dreadfully painful and threatening processes, for they uncover old wounds associated with safety, trust, power, esteem, and intimacy.