To act means to implement something that has been thought and designed in terms of meaning. Thinking and making sense come first. Action comes later. The process of understanding and making sense is actually a spiritual and mental action. Taking action or not taking action is one of the complaints we hear from most individuals. The field of mental health allowed us to look at action from another dimension. It has been found that "taking action" in the face of any external factor that makes a person feel uncomfortable is a factor that reduces the risk of the situation turning into trauma and the subsequent risk of severe post-traumatic stress disorder. If thinking about, understanding and making sense of every stressful experience we experience in daily life protects us, why are we exposed to trauma?
Thinking may be the most frequent action we do in our daily lives, but not every thinking is a process of making sense. Making sense requires a spiritual process.
Where did this thing-event-discourse touch me? What did it remind me of? Where do I feel this process physically? Did my body react? Did he get sick? What kind of position did I find myself in during this process? These questions are the ones that protect us from getting sick or experiencing trauma. But we are not culturally open to talking about emotional issues. Why are we so far away from making sentences starting with “I feel this way”?
Sentences starting with I also make us individuals. It allows us to be rooted in our area and remind us that we are individuals. But being individualistic is dangerous in our culture. The individuality of children, adolescents and women in particular is perceived as a danger that will explode social dynamics. Men, on the other hand, are individuals who are prohibited from talking about emotional issues from the moment they are born. We expect them to take direct action without being given space to feel. But taking action without feeling reveals unhealthy behavior.
After the process of understanding and making sense, comes the transition to a healthy action. This transition to action is divided into three types in response to the stressful situation-event-person; “fight”, “flight”, “freeze”. You may have heard of the fight and flight response. “Freezing” is a new term in our literature. Freezing is a very common action among breasts. In fact, it can also be described as "playing dead". Breast Our relatives sometimes pretend to be dead to survive when threatened. We, the human species, experience what we call "shock". Just like our mammalian relatives, it allows us to survive by pretending to be dead against stressors.
If we understand the danger, make sense of it and react, it will protect us from getting sick.
It is actually a very magical thing that the actions of fighting, running away or freezing protect us. Why can't we give such seemingly simple reactions?
Research has found that individuals who support teams, especially in major disasters such as natural disasters, are less likely to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder later than those who do not take action. We know that children who are exposed to medical intervention at an early age and who are allowed to run, shout, cry and hit experience fewer physical illnesses in their adult lives. Crying, shouting, hitting and throwing protect children from trauma.
Now is the time to become an individual, understand and take action. While our world is so tired, it seems like we don't have much time left to get sick.
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