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Maybe some of you have experienced a traumatic event, but I hope you haven\u2019t. Unfortunately, I have. I watched my Dad pass as I held his hand. I often can\u2019t get the image of him taking his last breath out of my mind, or the last time he said \u201cI love you.\u201d<\/p>\n
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In this study, Ataria wanted to better understand the effects of traumatic events on people. He wanted to do this by using a \u201cphenomenological approach,\u201d or rather he tried to use descriptions. He did not have any hypothesis going into the study. He wanted the stories to speak for themselves, and then draw conclusions.<\/p>\n
Ataria interviewed Israelis who had been victims of terror attacks. Interviewees described their experiences in terms of how it felt, or rather their bodily experience during the actual trauma.<\/p>\n
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People often have one very strong memory of their traumatic event, usually either the initial moment of impact, or the most distressing part of the occurrence. Often in acts of terror, people remember the horrors, dead bodies, blood, or a person close to them suffering. When describing these memories, participants report feeing the same bodily responses as they did at the initial event. These sensations include seizing up, feeling frozen, shivering, shaking, trembling and sweating. One woman reported that the physical experience of describing the traumatic event is more severe than her feelings were in the actual moment. Some people \u201cfeel the pain burn\u201d or are \u201cflooded with feelings\u201d (133). Many feel as though they are reliving their traumatic event when describing it.<\/p>\n
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An issue with traumatic memories is the quality and reliability of them. Some individuals believe there are no gaps in their memory, and that their memory is completely reliable. These same individuals feel as though their memory in general has diminished. They feel as though they cannot remember new things because their memory is completely clogged with the traumatic experience. Others say they remember the tragedy strongly, but then moments later report having amnesia regarding that event, or as having \u201ca total black out\u201d (136). Ataria concluded that traumatic memories have several deficits including: confusion, the feeling that it happened to someone else, lack of retrieval of details, and the tendency to make up lost details.<\/p>\n
Sadly, many of these interviewees felt that this traumatic experience defined them.<\/p>\n
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Ataria found that even if the traumatic memory itself is poorly recalled, the experience leaves a scar on the bodily level. Regardless of the details the individuals can remember, the bodily experience and feelings associated with that experience never go away. Another blog post, \u201cPower of Emotions on Memory\u201d\u00a0<\/a>amplifies how emotions stay with us. Though in this article the author talks about how negative memory feelings fade, while positive memory feelings remained with us, there is a basic principle that the feeling <\/em>at the time of an event is vitally important.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n So, clearly not everyone experiences something traumatic in his or her life. How does this relate to the average person? Well, it shows that even if we cannot remember specific details about an event, the way we feel often stays with us.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n