20: Remove Ghost From Wall
Let’s talk about memory. Traumatic memories operate very differently from normal memories. They are processed and stored differently by the brain, hence why survivors simultaneously remember too much and too little. (For more on this, read the epic The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel Van Der Kolk, which was the first book that gave me a language to describe to non-traumatised people what I was going through).
Today’s epsiode is a fun one. Every so often my inner absurdist gets out and runs riot. But the point of it is serious. Traumatic memories disappear from conscious view, but they affect our bodies and nervous systems every minute of every day and when one gets triggered, as has just happened to Nick, the physical and emotional memory re-surfaces in its raw form as a direct regurgitation of the moment of traumatisation. Unless we’ve had a significant amount of training with a therapist and a lot of practise, there is no way out of that moment. We are stuck. In this episode, I have manifested what that stuckness looks and feels like as a physical situation. I have also shown what happens when well-meaning individuals try to offer helpful, but totally useless, aid. (Or advice. For heaven’s sake, unless you’ve experienced real PTSD yourself, don’t try to offer advice to a trauma survivor).
As always, though, and because story allows us to do things we can’t physically do in real life, I’m offering you hope here by means of a creative solution for Nick. (It’s very literally a solution). Though he’s going to have to wait a bit for the humans to get themselves organised. If you’re trapped in trauma, have been offered ridiculous advice that doesn’t help, and need hope today, here’s your inspiration to think outside the box. Help can sometimes take the most unexpected of forms.
Episode 20: Remove Ghost From Wall
“Well I’ve never seen that happen before,” said Flick.
“Where’s the rest of him gone?” Said Lorelei, looking at the two tall-booted, breeched ghost legs sticking out.
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