Trauma & Art

Fear of disclosure. Societal and cultural risks.

I have recently been participating in a short FutureLearn course on violence against women and children (what it is, statistics, its debilitating impact on all involved, the dialectic of trauma, what is taking place in terms of addressing the issue and providing support and the positive shifts in societal understanding) by the University of Strathclyde, and as a result, Judith Herman’s work has come to the foreground again.

Any form of violence against women and children, whether it is outright physical and sexual violence or more insidious forms of coercion, control and diminishing has a profound impact on their physical and emotional wellbeing, can affect their daily functioning, growth, work and studies, and lead to isolation and disempowerment, Disclosure and breaking the silence or speaking out about child abuse and violence against women often involve societal and cultural risks. In the case of domestic violence for instance, women may not report to relevant services for several reasons. They may fear repercussions from perpetrator and friends or extended family, feel shame, fear being blamed instead of supported, fear having their experience denied or minimized or not being believed by those they turn to or the agencies they approach. Survivors may be reluctant to disclose because of the stigma and discrimination that they may face. Disclosure can further lead to harassment and other dire consequences. Isolation makes disclosure or speaking out even more difficult and there are always social and practical risks to consider. Breaking the silence can be especially challenging in communities where violence against and oppression of women is not publically discussed and is to a great extent socially accepted even condoned. Various contexts and cultures deeply imbued in patriarchic values are likely to exert pressure or display aggression. Speaking out may bring conflict and often a negative backlash will arise. My own journey has shown that my desire to explore and speak about abuse and trauma has been met with interference, harassment and persecution even in contexts one would naively perhaps expect support and encouragement. So, people often oscillate between their desire to talk about thorny issues and take action, on the one hand, and to remain silent on the other. In her book Trauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence–from Domestic Abuse to Political Terror, 1994, Judith Herman writes ‘The conflict between the will to deny horrible events and the will to proclaim them aloud is the central dialectic of psychological trauma… (Η κεντρική διαλεκτική του ψυχολογικού τραύματος  βρίσκεται στη σύγκρουση μεταξύ της βούλησης να αρνηθεί κανείς φρικτά γεγονότα και της βούλησης να τα διακηρύξει δυνατά). The psychological distress symptoms of traumatized people simultaneously call attention to the existence of an unspeakable secret and deflect attention from it…The knowledge of horrible events periodically intrudes into public awareness but is rarely retained for long’. This phenomenon, termed the dialectic of trauma, reflects both the desire to tell and the terror of disclosure, as well as, the role that denial plays at an individual, but also at a much broader collective level across historical contexts.

I am providing some links to various interesting short videos of campaigning work by children and young people in Scotland and examples of work with children and women working on healing from their experiences: Listen Louder, Recovery a Reality, Voice Against Violence and CEDAR Network (https://www.cedarnetwork.org.uk/).

A short video, worth viewing, on the necessity of a trauma informed workforce is ‘Opening Doors: Trauma Informed Practice for the Workforce’ at https://vimeo.com/274703693. In an ideal world we would all be ‘trauma informed’ since early on and professionals in all relevant areas would receive some basic training on the physiology of trauma and ways to respond humanely and effectively, for then not only would we all have a greater chance at healing our own wounds and discerning our post traumatic responses, adaptations, defenses, unacknowledged biases, fears and blind spots, but we would be better equipped to refrain from hurting others, often unintentionally, and to support people both as professionals and in our daily interactions.

Finally, I found the Power and Control Wheel quite interesting (http://www.ncdsv.org/images/powercontrolwheelnoshading.pdf)