Tag Archives: trauma

Thoughts on dealing with post-violence emotional trauma

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A post written in the aftermath of the El Paso and Dayton shootings triggered a significant response from my Facebook friends, including multiple shares, so I thought I would share the post on my blog. A link to the public post and comments can be found here, but the following is the text from the main post:

Like most, I am reeling from two days of carnage in El Paso and Dayton. What many of my FB friends might not know is that I am from Dayton. I know the part of the Oregon District where the shootings took place very well. I grew up the Dayton suburb of Bellbrook, raised my kids there, and was embedded in the community until moving to [Florida State University] 2011. Now, it turns out, the shooter may have lived one street away from the house where I lived for nearly 20 years. Needless to say, my thoughts and prayers go out to all my friends, relatives, and neighbors. (As far as I know, none of my family, friends, or neighbors were directly in harm’s way.)

These events are sad, tragic, and dispiriting to say the least. Everyone will be going through a difficult time processing the human tragedy, the apparent senselessness of the violence, and their implications. Finding ways to move beyond these tragedies is difficult, but essential work, and we all can play a part in the healing.

Unfortunately, I have found myself grappling with these types of traumas much more than I ever anticipated since I moved for Florida State and Tallahassee in 2011. Since coming to FSU, I have learned an astounding amount about emotional trauma from sexual assault survivors, but I’ve also worked (as a teacher, not a professional counselor) with my students to cope with the FSU Strozier library shootings in 2014, the Parkland high school mass shooting in 2018, the Hot Yoga studio shootings in 2019 as well as the aftermath of the devastation from Hurricanes Matthew (2016), Irma (2017), and most recently Michael (2018), which wiped out much of the Panhandle. Sadly, this seems to go with the territory when teaching at a large, urban university in the third most populous state in the nation that is also surrounded by large bodies of water. In each of these cases, I worked with students one-on-one and in group discussion.

I am not a trained professional, but I have learned we all have a role to play in helping others overcome these tragedies. This role includes helping those who may not have been directly effected but have important emotional ties to the people and events.

Here are a few initial thoughts based on what I have learned working with my students:

  • By all means, talk about it. Verbally articulating your fears, anxieties, and emotions is vital to processing these events. It also creates a firm foundation for the next step in healing. Create safe spaces for family, friends, and others to help them process their feelings without judgement. This is critical to moving forward. I have found our discussions in the classroom have helped students and families move forward in a constructive and positive ways. The feelings are real. They need to be named, discussed, and contextualized. Talking in a nonjudgmental space helps… a lot.
  • Don’t be afraid to seek professional help, even if you weren’t directly affected by the event. We are human. We are naturally empathetic. Part of they way many people process these events is by identifying direct connections to the tragedy to provide context for the hurt and pain. Just because I am 900 miles away from Dayton, doesn’t mean I am not struggling with how to connect to friends and family or experiencing other forms of anxiety, including guilt, fear, and anger. Professional counselors, therapists can help you process through this.
  • Remember the human toll from these events is vast. I know my community of Bellbrook is reeling from the knowledge that someone in their own community committed this horrendous evil. Many will be saying “why didn’t we know?” “Should we have known?” “What could we have done?” Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people will feel the tangible effects of these events and will be grappling with the aftermath.
  • The physical toll on the survivors is just one element of their personal tragedy. The emotional and psychological scars will be long lasting, and for many permanent. This event is an indelible part of their identity from this point forward. Be patient. Be supportive. Remember, everyone is on their own journey. As friends and relatives, our task is to help them get onto that healing path.

I have known many survivors of tragedy that have emerged as powerful, amazing human beings. These events, however, require us all to do our part in small and big ways to ensure a healing process and journey can begin.

One final thought (for those on spiritual journeys): I was in Orlando last night, but had the crazy idea to try to make it back to Element3 Church for the 11 am service. (I usually attend the 9 am.) These plans were made weeks ago. Today, our lead pastor, Lori Green, opened the service with a heartfelt and impassioned plea to remember why we were attending service today — because our Christian faith puts pre-eminent emphasis on love, community, and connection. This is where God’s love manifests itself in our daily lives. I have to admit that as she was talking about Dayton, I began to process El Paso, Parkland, Hot Yoga, Strozier library, Hurricane Michael — now hundreds of students where I have been privileged to lead discussions about coping with tragedy and trauma. I became overwhelmed.

I don’t know if anyone noticed my tears. But I realized I was in a community of people that understood the path forward is through love and compassion, not anger and violence. This is where the healing begins, continues, and leads to long-term peace. We cannot do it alone. Nor should we.

I am not sure why I was compelled to make it back to E3 today, and Pastor Lori certainly didn’t know what I was going through as I was listening, but I am glad I did. I am grateful this is my home Church and can testify to the power of its message.

For those interested in knowing more about my work on emotional trauma, particularly as it relates to sexual assault, here are a few links:

Five life lessons inspired by sexual assault survivors

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Most of the sexual assault survivors I have come to know in the process of researching and writing Unsafe On Any Campus? were teenagers when they were raped. For many, the assault turned their world upside down, sending them into a downward spiral of self-loathing, distrust, and cynicism. Fortunately, for most, resilience won out. In fact, a few have even found a new center, a renewed sense of self, and an element of peace.

This begs the question: What life lessons can we learn from these trauma survivors? Here are just five:

  1. Live in the moment. In all too many cases, the rape was so traumatizing that victims dropped classes, withdrew from school altogether, or completely shifted their everyday lives inward. Their depression was fueled by continually reliving the events and the assault. Their transition from victim to survivor often began with a renewed and deeper appreciation for the moments of support, beauty, and dignity they experienced each day rather than reliving the horror of the assault. This allowed many to reclaims their sense of purpose and recapture the dignity that makes them human. 
  2. Draw strength from community. Eighty percent of women who have been raped never disclose the assault to university or law enforcement officials. The figure is even lower for men. The trauma is so personal, so devastating, that many victims are afraid to tell anyone, even their closest friends and family. Reaching out to those cared for them most intimately, those who gave their unqualified support, started them on their path toward recovery. Without the support of those friends and family, survivors say they wouldn’t have had the courage to acknowledge let alone go public with their assault. This close knit group because their rock, their community, and a foundation stone for rebuilding their lives. 
  3. We each have our own journey. Each survivor has their our own personal journey to recovery. The more survivors I met, the more obvious it became that each rape (and assault) was different, each circumstance was unique, each consequence personal. I have met women who were able to move on quickly, and others that struggled to leave their home. The depth of their trauma is highly individualized, making their journeys equally diverse. Survivors are deeply respectful and tolerant of the importance for individuals to chart their own course, to discover their own path, to recovery. This inward reflection leads to a recasting of identity and understanding of self that is inspiring strong and purposeful. 
  4. Each journey has its own path. Not all survivors choose the same road to recovery or healing. The physical and emotional nature of a violation through rape triggers deep wounds that are often invisible, even to those that experience it. Thus, the paths are as varied as the journeys and require many more decisions than paths available. These paths can seem like they shift under their feet, and often become illuminated only after they have been trodden. Survivors on a healing journey are remarkably resilient. They understand the nature of emotional barriers and the difficulties of overcoming them. They are patient and empathetic. They persist with grit and determination. 
  5. Forgiving yourself is essential for healing and stepping foot on our path. Often, this self-forgiveness begins when we acknowledge the truth of a seemingly trite, but essentially true, mantra: “It’s not your fault.” Many of the men and women I came to know became victims through no fault of their own. They were in the wrong place at the wrong time, and unaware of the threat standing right next to them. Yet they blame themselves first and this weight drags them deep into depression. The path toward healing begins with forgiving oneself. Indeed, this may be the most important lesson of all because this self-forgiveness releases one from the self loathing and guilt that keeps victims in the past, focused on the past, and their paths dark.

These teenagers became women far too soon, their innocence stolen in a matter of minutes. They were forced to “grow up” and become adults far faster than any parent would want for their child. Fortunately, many survivors find a place where they can accept themselves again and embark on a path of self re-discovery. These stories—their journeys of recovery and healing—are almost never told. They don’t make it into make it into the headlines. Yet, as these survivors pivot on their path, they often find a light others may never know.

They also inspire me.

By bearing witness to their trauma, we can take inspiration from their journeys. By allowing ourselves to hear, we can understand the struggles that come with trauma. If we understand, we can support those who are on their path as well as those struggling to find it.

Perhaps, if enough of us understand, sexual assault and rape will become relegated to a dark part of our social history and banished from our present culture.

 

Permission to reprint and distribute this blog post is given with attribution to the author, Samuel R. Staley, Unsafe On Any Campus? College Sexual Assault and What We Can Do About It (Southern Yellow Pine Publishing, 2016)

A car accident, a broken ankle, and the torn souls of rape survivors

My 1973 Volkswagen Squareback was totaled in a 1983 car accident and was very similar to this one.

My 1973 Volkswagen Squareback was totaled in a 1983 car accident and was very similar to this one.

I remember three things, snapshots really, from the event that would shape the rest of my life in the early morning hours of frosty February day in 1983.

The first was opening my eyes to blackness. At first I thought I was blind. After a few moments, I realized I was looking up at the vinyl back seat of my volkswagon squareback. I must have said something because I heard my good friend Bill’s voice say: “It’ll be okay, an ambulance is coming.”

The second snapshot wasn’t a snapshot at all. I don’t remember seeing the inside of the ambulance, or the question which must have been “How bad is it?” All I remember is the paramedic–I assumed it was a paramedic because it wasn’t Bill’s voice–say, “You’re lucky to be alive.”

I remember the visual of the third snapshot. I was on a gurney rolling down a hallway in a hospital. I began to shake and cry uncontrollably. Or so I thought. A nurse said, “We’ve got a crier here.” Anger snapped me out of crying. But that’s it.  I don’t remember anything else from that day.

Friends and family filled in the rest. The surgeon spent four of the six hours in surgery trying to close up the gaping hole that was the left side of my face. The doctors had to pick out individual shards of glass and asphalt with tweezers, and then figure out how they were going to graft enough skin from somewhere else on my body to sew me up. Every nerve was exposed, but, for the grace of God, none were severed. We still don’t know how I kept my left eye because half of my eyebrow was stripped off and gravel was burrowed deep around the socket. The first few days after the surgery were agony, not so much in pain–medications kept that at bay–as extreme, turbulent discomfort.

The entire episode from the car crash to surgery must have taken hours, but I remember snippets of minutes. My body and brain were shutting down, a natural, defensive state of shock triggered by an extreme loss of blood and physical trauma.

Flash forward 20 years. I am running a loop in a 200-acre wooded wildlife preserve. Just past my turnaround–a mile and three quarters from home–a numbing pain shoots up from my foot as I feel the turn of my ankle on an unseen rock. I hobble out of the woods after crossing two streams using a branch as a makeshift crutch. My dog, on a leash, was no help.

Someone asks me if I heard a “pop”. I say “no,” so we conclude that I sprained my ankle. I Bu Profen and ice packs control the swelling and reduce the pain. Three weeks later, my ankle still hurts, but I’m on a ski trip with my friend Karl in Telluride, Colorado. A “skiers ski area,” I am on the black diamonds. While skiing Giant Steps, a double-black diamond, pain from my ankle keeps me from descending more than a couple dozen feet at a time through the moguls. I am embarrassed. I am a better skier than this. But I listen to the barking ankle, and  I bail on the next run, letting Karl ski the black diamond as our last run of the day while I suck up the pain and take the easier blue trails down to the base.

When I return home, I finally visit the orthopedic doctor. A skier, he examines my ankle and asks if I heard a “pop” when I injured the ankle. Again, I say “no.” He orders the x-ray anyway.

When he returns, he gives me the news: I had broken my ankle on the run in the woods. I look at him in disbelief. “Is it a hairline fracture?”

He slaps the x-ray up on a monitor and points to the bones of my foot. “No, it was a clean break.”

He’s right, of course. Even I can see the thick straight line that represents the break in my ankle.

I was lucky. The bone broke but snapped back into near perfect alignment. That’s why I was able to walk out of the woods. It started to heal, but skiing put too much pressure on the break. My ski boots were stiff and tight, acting as a cast to hold the bones in place, but if I had been snowboarding the ankle would have re-broken and the damage far more severe than the first time.

The point to the car accident story is that my body, doing what it does naturally, shut out much of the trauma I was experiencing. I have monstrous gaps in memory on the day of the accident even though I must have been conscious a fair amount of the time.

The point of the broken ankle story is I did not hear a snap. I should have heard a snap. The break was complete and clean. But I didn’t.

In other words, your body and mind does many things to protect you when you experience trauma. Sometimes, it blots out entire memories.

Perhaps it’s these experiences, and my reflection on them, that gave me the courage to step way outside my comfort zone and write my new book Unsafe On Any Campus? College Sexual Assault and What We Can Do About It. I understood trauma in a personal way, so when rape survivors began sharing their stories their memories didn’t have to be complete for me to put the pieces together and recognize the truth of their experience. 

WomanisolatedOne of the most damaging and significant criticisms leveled at men and women who claim they have been assaulted or raped is that their memories are incomplete, and dots between events don’t connect well. Incomplete or uncertain knowledge is one of the primary reasons why rape cases don’t go to court unless significant physical evidence can support the victim’s story. Unless the victim can present an ironclad chronicle of events, the case falls apart, particularly when they are faced with an (untraumatized) accuser who can present a complete, consistent case. It shouldn’t be surprising that only about 10 percent of rape cases end in a conviction on the rape charge.

Total recall of a traumatic event is an unreasonable expectation for human beings. The difference between my traumas and those of a rape survivor lie in the physical evidence, not the truth of the trauma. I still literally carry the scars of my car accident–they become bright red when my body is very hot or cold. I can show people the x-ray of my broken ankle.

What does a rape survivor show? How do you see the scars of a shattered soul? (Hint: Don’t judge and listen to their story.)