"I get so sad at this time of the year," Lucy reported. "I remember mom suffering a painful death. I think of her medicines, the tubes in her arms, the oxygen tent. She struggled so hard to talk to us It's been four years this week. It's not just this week, when ever I see the hospital, such sadness. I could never please her and now she's gone. Sometimes my feelings are so strong the only thing that will calm them is a tranquilizer"
Feelings are brought on by:
Almost always there is an interplay between two or more factors. A person may dull feelings with alcohol and increase them with guilty thoughts. While seeing the hospital where her mother died could remind Lucy of the death of her mom, the belief that she could not please her mother adds to her distress.
During the past twenty years giant steps have been made in our understanding of emotions through neuropsychology. We now know that feelings experienced during the first four years of life are stored in the limbic system of the brain as visual memories. Without words to understand these emotions they can have a strong but subtle influence on a person's personality. This is another reason for protecting infants from trauma.
Human's are storytellers. When we experience something we talk about our experience. Some people exaggerate the events and feelings become bigger than life. Other people understate events and miss the feeling quality of life.
When our stories about our experiences are accurate, then feelings give us guidance about what is important in our lives. Normally feelings change as our experiences change.
Very strong feelings related to trauma take extra time to return to normal. When trauma happens a person often needs additional energy to flee or fight. Our body becomes flooded with the chemicals for the feelings and those that produce energy. It takes time for those chemicals to be used up.
It is useful to talk out traumatic experiences to lessen the long term effects of trauma. Trauma memories can be stored in the limbic system, that preverbal part of the brain. Talking about the trauma helps place the memories in the language areas and gives us more control over them. Sharing trauma should begin within 24 to 48 hours after the troubling event to significantly reduce long term effects.