Does a person’s emotional development become stuck when a severe incident occurs in their lives?

Question

Are they stuck in a certain sense at that place when the incident occurred? I am specifically talking about a traumatic incident such as a death of a loved one, assault (violent physical battery or sexual assault) or violence of some sort. This question was brought to mind by Fran Dresher of all people, who was talking about her years of therapy to overcome an incident when she was raped as a young woman. Even with therapy to help develop coping skills for dealing with the incident, wouldn’t that episode always come back in a way?

Answer 1

That's a really interesting question. I suppose it means is it POSSIBLE to move on from a major trauma. Some people seem to use trauma to fuel them and whatever they want to do and to help them move on, though they never forget. Others are incapacitated by it. Does it depend on your genetic makeup, or how you were nurtured ?, I don't know. Certainly I feel that it is better to use it if you can, anger and hate can be a source of energy. Stevie Smith the poet said she could only write when she felt deeply unhappy. But there are degrees of trauma, which complicates the question too. Certainly I think there is the kind of trauma which a person never gets over, never forgets, so I guess that will always arrest your emotional development to an extent, but some great works of Art have been produced by people in that state of being, though always as a compensation for the "normal unhappiness", to quote Freud, that the rest of us take for granted.

Answer 2

Absolutely! When there is a disparity between intellectual development and emotional development it creates an imbalance. Most of us have one within close range of another (regardless of level)...but when a child is very intelligent and then endures a severe trauma (for example), their intellectual level can be through the roof, but their emotional development can only progress from the point of trauma...and therefore, it creates a significant emotional gap in their development and produces an imbalance.

Answer 3

It is more than possible that it could happen. In fact it DOES happen to a lot of poeple.

Do you mean would the memories of it always be there? Oh most definately! Some people just handle it better than others.

Answer 4

No but it can be really messed up depending on the level of mental trauma. IE Post traumatic stress disorder, or SHELL SHOCK.

Answer 5

"THAT WHICH DOES NOT KILL US MAKES US STRONGER",
Nietchze. A good read!