Denial, the Harmful Resilience

Humans are very resilient, in many different ways. Some of those ways are not necessarily the healthiest. We have this “Keep on trucking” attitude that usually contributes to us overlooking major issues. Therefore we can easily underestimate the individual or generational effects that trauma has on us. “Regardless of how trauma is introduced, the direct and indirect exposure can alter how the brain process information and facilitate behavior (Dr. Rousseau 2021).” The effects of trauma are apparent when looking at our weakest links; our children and unborn children. “Trauma in pregnancy has dramatically increased in the past 25 years and is now the number one cause of non-obstetrical maternal death in the United States. With major trauma, there is a 40 to 50% risk of fetal death.” (D. M. Krywko, F. K. Toy, M. E. Mahan, J. Kiel. 2021)

The unhealthy resilience in adults can cause them to band-aid their harm rather than heal it, therefore continuing to ignore the severe effects of trauma, subsequently causing more harm. It seems we are stuck on a Merry-go-round of trauma, fuelled by denial. Comparable to infants, adults usually do not die physically from trauma, but the effects are dire. More than 17,000 people in the US have died as of May 28, 2021, from gun-related violence. There were 44,834 total deaths by suicide in 2020 according to the CDC and exedra.

The same occurrences that cause adult trauma can cause trauma to an unborn baby “in utero.” and the same deadly effects can occur to both yet we choose to continue ignoring them. One would argue we need to prevent in utero trauma, another will argue that crime rates need to decrease. One will state that poverty needs to be addressed in order to lessen the trauma, and another will argue for a budget increase to police training. All of them would be correct. Writing this blog, I am realizing there is no one topic I could possibly bring to your attention that hasn’t been spoken of to death. There are many brilliant individuals who have thought of trauma prevention, healing trauma, bringing our judicial and mental health systems closer together in order to both prevent and heal trauma, exedra. Yet we find ourselves in the same place asking the same questions years later. So I end this blog without presenting more data to support a topic I may or may not actually have knowledge of. I will not distract you with insignificance. I leave you with a question. What are we missing in order for actual change to happen?