The pursuit of health is full of pitfalls - about trauma and recovery with Kamila Kamińska

Part I: Trauma

The first meeting led by Kamila begins with reading the statement:

When we take a sober look at what we as a culture consider healthy and normal, we can understand the process of recovery as becoming whole again. (...) Recovery is not a certainty, but a real possibility. At this point in history it is necessary.

The word trauma from Greek means wound. Such wounds shape patterns of thinking about the world. For many people, they become active in their closest relationships.

Conscious, explicit memory of trauma is the tip of the iceberg - most traumas are hidden, mainly because we suffer psychological harm long before we are able to formulate a verbal narrative.

According to Gabor Maté, trauma is not what happens to a given person, but what happens to him as a result of difficult events.

Importantly, it is not only about such extreme events as war or natural disasters. It is also the result of difficult experiences that may have occurred in the family, such as neglect, emotional or physical violence, separation from caregivers or other forms of neglect or family dysfunction.

Maté emphasizes that trauma not only affects the psyche, but also the body, leading to various health problems such as addictions, depression, autoimmune diseases and other mental disorders.

You can see the recording of this meeting here.

Part II: Recovery

In the second part of the meetings, we learned another fragment of the book "The Myth of Normality. Trauma, illness and recovery in a toxic culture", in which we learn about the pillars of health formulated by the authors, i.e. the features that determine the recovery process.

They are:

• Authenticity (it is not a concept, but something we experience),
• Decisiveness (taking responsibility for one's own existence and the ability to respond in all important issues affecting our lives),
• Anger (defense of one's own boundaries; a mechanism activated when we perceive a threat to life or physical or emotional integrity),
• Acceptance (accurate recognition that things cannot be otherwise than they are at a given moment).

According to the authors, recovery is a process of returning to integrity and harmony between the body, mind and spirit. It is a process that requires work on various aspects of an individual's life, including physical, emotional and spiritual aspects.

Recovery, according to Maté, also requires working to overcome trauma and emotional wounds that may have roots deep in an individual's past. It is a process of accepting and understanding your own experiences.

You can see the recording of this meeting here.