| It
is not an uncommon phenomenon to experience lingering
emotional distress following a catastrophe, long
after the trauma has occurred.
The process of
dealing with and/or overcoming the trauma relies
on the passage of time. However, a universal reaction
experienced by the survivor or the victim is to
avoid and/or deny the shock and the hurt, and
suppress it in the subconscious.
In recent years,
there has been a growing trend to seek professional
help to resolve traumatic stress and the panorama
of emotions it sets off, such as anger, guilt,
shame and fright.
One of the goals
of treatment in traumatic stress following a tragic
event is to assist the survivor or the person
who witnessed the adverse event to release the
negative emotions that intensified the person's
defense mechanisms. Another goal is to reconstruct
the "girders" of the personality that
were shaken by the sudden and unexpected event
and to assimilate the meaning of the loss. The
need to preserve the old information prior to
the adverse event while confronting the pressing
reality of new information brought by the tragedy
intensifies the various defense mechanisms. Thus,
defenses such as disassociation, denial, avoidance
and numbing of responsiveness, which are not uncommon,
can become the result of the traumatic state.
Most survivors of a tragedy who lose a loved one
tend to feel compelled to return to a daily routine
without being able to deal effectively with the
adverse emotions which emanated from the disaster:
emotions that are in the form of suppressed anger,
helplessness, sadness, guilt, etc.
The assassination
of Prime Minister Rabin created in most Israelis
an emotional earthquake with aftershocks of various
degrees. It caused a trauma that cannot be digested
even now, nearly two years after the tragedy.
There are two
primary reasons for the difficulty in resolving
the traumas and/or the helplessness associated
with the trauma.
1. In the short
term, only a short time has passed since the tragedy.
It is a traumatic stress emanating from the brutal
murder of the most important political figure
in Israel, the Prime Minister. The close
proximity to the
state of shock and the enormous loss of a national
leader prevents the public from
working though
a mourning process which would lead toward a constructive
way of dealing with the traumatic stress and particularly
the unexpected void left by the loss of the leader.
2. In the long
term, the loss is a national loss and a Jewish
loss and it has a bearing on the thought process
of a nation as well as its cultural values in
Israel and among the Jewish people abroad, thus
adding to the complexity and difficulty of resolving
it.
A recent national
survey taken in Israel indicates that the assassination
of Prime Minister Rabin continues to trouble the
majority of the Israeli people deeply and to raise
profound questions about the meaning and strength
of the nation.
The people of
Israel would like to forget, but they experience
hardship in going through the mourning process.
The people rush to return to their daily routines
and struggle to heal emotionally. They are not
able to organize therapeutic tools in order to
soften or ease the shock. They force on themselves
a dramatic return to life, instead of dealing
with the trauma. Any active therapeutic involvement
is avoided and the suppressed feelings of sadness,
anger, helplessness and guilt continue to linger
silently.
It is possible
to undertake a collective therapeutic healing
for the public through the media, in coordination
with the various municipalities throughout the
country. Even a national collective therapeutic
process need not overlook the individual’s unique
response to traumatic stress relating to such
a loss. The trauma apparently doesn't allow individual
citizens to take constructive steps that would
result in any treatment. Instead they are preoccupied
with responding to their intense defense mechanisms.
The Israeli media, comprised of individuals who
are themselves traumatized by the tragedy, attempt
to rationalize the trauma. Thus, the media are
a victim of the trauma, like the rest caught in
all the cycles of rationalization, intellectualization,
denial and other defense mechanisms.
The following
are several questions relating to the collective
Israeli traumatic stress following the assassination.
1. To what
degree did the public witnessing the assassination
experience helplessness, terror and rage and
to what extent did the public that read about
it in the media experience it?
2. To what
extent did the numerous replays of the assassination
on TV cause an escalation of the traumatic
shock?
3. As a whole
to what extent did the public experience itself
differently after the assassination compared
to life prior to the tragedy?
4. To what
degree does denial reflect the behavior of
the public?
5. To what
extent is rationalization a characteristic
of the public's behavior in the aftermath
of the assassination?
In their book
Reaction to Trauma, Rion and Lois Everstone
argue that the cycle of events revolving around
the trauma can multiply the effect of the trauma
on the survivor. They postulated that a common
phenomenon for people is to utilize persona1 values
in justifying or explaining any event in life.
Therefore, the trauma is intensified through personal
values in any traumatized person and the traumatic
effect thus depends upon these personalized experiences
and values.
As to the major
questions pertaining to the effect that the traumatic
stress has on the national mood, several questions
can be applied to the personalized or collective
national values.
1. To what
degree did the trauma and its relationship
to national values intensify due to the betrayal
of national values pertaining to the taboo
of not killing a fellow Jewish brother? The
Prime Minister was assassinated by a Jew,
a native of Israel. Furthermore, where did
the aggressive energy--which the Jewish people
experienced throughout their existence in
protecting themselves against outside aggressors--go?
In the past, that energy was directed to the
outside and now it was trapped within the
people because the aggressor came from within.
What did this trapped energy do to the people
and how did it affect their traumatic stress?
2. The guilt
deriving from failing to appropriately protect
the Prime Minister: how does the national
guilt affect the nation's collective traumatic
stress? This guilt derives from
the betrayal of an ideology and values highlighting
the fact that Israelis never abandon a soldier
on 'the battlefield. The most important soldier
in Israel, the Prime Minister, was exposed
to danger and was abandoned. How does this
failed ideology affect the public's traumatic
stress? How is it internalized by the people
and what are its implications?
3. As a whole,
to what extent do the adverse events affect
the deterioration or collapse of fundamental
Jewish and national values, i.e. life, Jewish
solidarity, a common destiny? Israelis are
forever loyal to one another. Israelis protect
one another; life is a superior priority,
it must be a sanctuary.
Finally, in the
eyes of many, the traumatic stress following a
tragedy may be expressed by the individual as
a weakness. Therefore, many people who undergo
traumatic stress which might escalate into posttraumatic
stress tend to suppress their emotional reactions
because of shame and vulnerability, feeling that
no one can fully understand their unique subjective
painful experience. Bearing this in mind, it is
important to become aware of these and other emotions
which trigger resistance and other difficulties,
in getting help. Thus, the goal would be to initiate
both individual and collective therapeutic processes
centering on resolving the traumatic stress and
addressing the symptoms of traumatic stress suffered
by the individual as well as by the group.
Dr. Moti Peleg
is an Israeli Psychologist and the President of
Psychological Group of New Jersey, an outpatient
clinic and trauma recovery in Ridgewood, N.J.
He specializes in the treatment of reactive traumatic
stress, reactive depression and intimacy communications.
His writings have been published in various Israeli
papers and in professional journals.
©1997
by The American Academy of Experts in Traumatic
Stress, Inc. |
