The key is showing the inner tension and the real impending sense of constant doom that pervades the trauma character’s thinking and emotions. This goes past just being grumpy or irritable. The juxtaposition between what the character wants to do to feel safe and the decision or action they actually take can be very compelling. This edge-of-your-seat-expectation that the sky is falling, or that sense of waiting for the other shoe to drop – imagine what that would feel like. These sentiments don’t have to be spoken aloud sometimes, the negative can be shown through internal dialogue. The ex-wife took the whole damn planet in the divorce. Kirk : Well, I hate to break this to you, but Starfleet operates in space. ![]() Space is disease and danger wrapped in darkness and silence. And wait’ll you’re sitting pretty with a case of Andorian shingles, see if you’re still so relaxed when your eyeballs are bleeding. Solar flare might crop up, cook us in our seats. One tiny crack in the hull and our blood boils in thirteen seconds. Kirk : I think these things are pretty safe. One of my favourite examples of this is Karl Urban’s portrayal of “Bones” in the latest Star Trek movies. They don’t often see the hope or potential in a new situation or positive change, only what could be harmful. Often though, these assessments always skew to the negative. Those with generalized anxiety see the world through the lens of what COULD happen. Those with PTSD assess everything based on what DID happen and strive to make sure it never happens again. Truth Isn’t Based on Fact or Realityĭecisions are made based on a blending of past experience, this preoccupation with fear and safety, anxiety of what could happen, and/or on personal truth (see below for inner dialogue problems). And of course, this can stray into self-sabotage, right? Because when an office shuffle moves them out of a workspace with a door and into a cubicle, they end up quitting. The illusion of control is very comforting. Every decision is filtered through this risk assessment.ĭoes your character need to sit near a door? Do they need to know a LOT of details about a party, event, or meeting before they can agree to go? Will they avoid anything that might remind them of the past trauma? Maybe they take ten flights of stairs everyday because the elevator feels unsafe (since there’s no quick escape from it). And when danger lurks around every corner, the energy required to see it coming, be ready at a moment to react to it, is exhausting. You’d get a lot of false alarms, but that wouldn’t mean the alarm or the toaster were malfunctioning.Ī brain preoccupied with staying safe will see danger around every corner – literally, whether that’s the reality or not. Imagine placing a smoke alarm directly over your toaster. ![]() ![]() For a character who’s endured trauma and continues to struggle with the aftermath of that event, the brain becomes preoccupied with staying safe and is very sensitive to any sense of fear.
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