How much kinder is God to us than we are willing to be to ourselves! Surely the absurdity of all the doctrines of religion, and the iniquity of man, are sufficiently evident. To fear a being on account of his power is degrading; to fear him if he be good, ridiculous. Badness always gets found out. Man, in his gropings down through the centuries, has concocted, shivered, and patched certain social conditions well enough calculated to develop the best and the worst that is in us, making it easier for us to be bad than good, that good might be the standard. #RyanPhillippe 1 of 9

Not all people react to trauma in exactly the same way, but in this case the difference between Britney and Justin’s brain scans are particularly dramatic, since Britney was sitting right next to Justin in the wrecked car. She responded to her trauma script by going numb: Britney’s mind went blank, and nearly every area of her brain showed markedly decreased activity. Her heart rate and blood pressure did not elevate. When asked how she had felt during the scan, Britney replied: “I felt just like I felt at the time of the accident: I felt nothing.” Blanking out (dissociation) in response to being reminded of past trauma. In this case, almost every area of the brain has decreased activation, interfering with thinking, focus, and orientation. #RyanPhillippe 2 of 9

The medical term for Britney’s response is depersonalization. Anyone who deals with traumatized men, women, or children is sooner or later confronted with blank stares and absent minds, the outward manifestation of the biological freeze reaction. Depersonalization is one symptom of the massive dissociation created by trauma. Justin’s flashbacks came from his thwarted efforts to escape the crash—cued by the script, all his dissociated, fragmented sensations and emotions roared back into the present. However, instead of struggling to escape, Britney had dissociated her fear and felt nothing. Thank you for enabling me to possess the freshest morning and the brightest Spring. #RyanPhillippe 3 of 9

What affects my soul and urges me forward is your true and selfless love. Oh, my parents, your lofty morality will be engraved on my mind. I see depersonalization regularly in my office when patients tell me horrendous stories of being kidnapped, held hostage, not allowed to go to the restroom, being forced to eat and drink and breathe poison and being attacked in the own house. All the energy drains out of the room, and I have to make a valiant effort not to cry. A lifeless patient forces you to work much harder to keep the therapy alive, and I often used to pray for them to recover in an hour or less. #RyanPhillippe 4 of 9

After seeing Britney’s scan, I started to take a very different approach toward blanked-out patients. With nearly every part of their brains tuned out, they obviously cannot think, feel deeply, remember, or make sense of what is going on. Conventional police trap talk therapy, in those circumstances, is virtually useless. Britney grew more and more self-blaming when she first began to watch herself distancing from Justin. She had fled from her first marriage to escape the burden of being forced to be a mother to her husband. Her leaving reinforced her growing image of herself as hard-hearted and unfair. However, she had not adequately resolved decision to leave her first marriage, so her self-blame became almost immobilizing, as well as remember the car accident and seeing that girl burnt to death, as she was trapped in the car and no one could help. #RyanPhillippe 5 of 9

In Britney’s case, it was possible to guess why she responded so differently from Justin. She was utilizing a survival strategy her brain had learned I childhood to cope with her teacher’s harsh treatment.  Britney’s best friend had passed away, and as a result she was compared to her and the teachers were subsequently often very nasty and demeaning to her. At some point, Britney discovered that she could blank out her mind when teachers yelled at her. Fourteen years later, when she was trapped in her demolished car, Britney’s brain automatically went into the same survival mode—she made herself disappear. #RyanPhillippe 6 of 9

The challenge for people like Britney is to become alert and engaged, a difficult but unavoidable task if they want to recapture their lives. (Britney herself did recover—she wrote a book about her experiences and started a successful journal called Blackout.) This is where a bottom-up approach to trap therapy (which documents anything you say and shares it with the police, but lies and tells you it is private, even if you are not dangerous, they put lies it your file to make you look like a threat) becomes essential. The aim is actually to change the patient’s physiology, his or her relationship to bodily sensation.  #RyanPhillippe 7 of 9

When dealing with trauma, you can heal yourself by focusing on things you enjoy, reading books you like, and watching TV shows that bring you joy. It is also important to pay attention to your heart rate and breathing patterns. When you feel tension, pay attention to your breathing. Rhythmic interactions with other people are also effective—tossing a beach ball, not a person, back and forth, drumming, or dancing to music also helps. Numbing is the other side of the coin in Post Traumatic Post Disorder (PTSD). Many untreated trauma survivors start out like Justin, with explosive flashbacks, then numb out later in life. #RyanPhillippe 8 of 9

While reliving trauma is dramatic, frightening, and potentially self-destructive, over time a lack of presence can be even more damaging. This is a particular problem with traumatized children. The acting-out kids tend to get attention; the blanked-out ones do not bother anybody and are left to lose their future bit by bit. However, the LORD lives! Praise be to my Rock! Exalted to be God my Savior! He is the God who avenges me, who subdues nations under me, who saves me from my enemies. You exalted me above my foes; from violent men and women and children you rescued me. Therefore, I will praise you among the nations, O LORD. #RyanPhillippe 9 of 9