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hey there everybody and welcome back to this video on trauma-related symptoms today we're going to be talking about pessimism had to check my notes right there uh pessimism or
negativity is a very common um side effect or consequence of trauma when people experience
trauma and I know you're going to get tired of hearing me say this in every single video but
is that important when people experience trauma they feel what they feel unsafe and Powerless
well when you feel unsafe and Powerless your body registers that as a threat makes sense
when you feel threatened that will trigger your fight or flight response that triggers
anger or anxiety in you when you experience trauma all of the stimuli all of the things
associated with that trauma like the place and maybe even the shirt you're wearing or
the people that are there all of those things can serve as reminders or triggers for that trauma
our brain is programmed unfortunately to remember and assign more weight or what
we call more emotional valence to negative distressful or painful experiences or stimuli
so our body assigns more strength to the trauma memory than it does of the happy
memory of going to the park with your friend or going getting an A on a test in school
as a result of those memories being stronger even if you don't have as many of them as you
do happy memories you may remember them more strongly and it may feel like everything is
always threatening and that's where some of those cognitive distortions come in
but when you experience this when your brain is so focused on remembering those threats
to keep you prime to keep you hyper Vigilant to keep you safe in the future that you can't
see the good things that are happening that you can't really remember the happy times you've had
then it makes sense that you may start becoming more negative and pessimistic because you're
viewing the world through glasses that just flash danger constantly you know think of wearing
um some of those newfangled glasses they keep talking about coming out with that
have information overlaid on the lenses and the lens is just telling you constantly you're in
danger there's a threat there's a threat that could be a threat it would be exhausting and
it would also again prevent you from noticing some of the good things and it could start to
feel hopeless and helpless and dark and scary how do we address it ultimately it's about helping the
person get grounded and be mindful in the moment and when they feel anxious when they feel negative
to evaluate in this context at this time am I safe am I empowered is there anything wrong
if they're safe and empowered then the next step might be at this in this context at this time what
positive things can I notice yeah there's going to be negative things life is never perfect but
it's important to force your brain to balance out those negatives like when you're walking
through the through the forest if you notice a cottonmouth snake which for those of you who
don't know cottonmouths are are poisonous you notice a cottonmouth snake oh that's scary but
to also notice the Chipmunks and the squirrels and the bunny rabbits and the owls or whatever
it is that you like to notice for every stressful event that you experience or you notice you're
going to need to notice on average five happy events That's How Strong those memories are
I encourage people who believe that they are unnecessarily pessimistic
to keep a log keep a journal of those things I encourage them to spend 20 minutes a day that's
all the other 23 hours and 40 minutes they can be as negative as they want but 20 minutes a day
set aside time to focus on the positive what good happened today what good did I do today
anything that's positive uplifting notice that during that 20 minutes and it's kind of like a
workout for your mind just like you go to the gym you're not going to lift for 12 hours but if you
go in and you lift for 20 minutes you can get a really good workout in and it has long lasting
effects and they have found that people who spend that 20 minutes a day focusing on the positive
it really trains their brain to be more aware of
the totality of the situation the good and the bad instead of just focusing on on the negative the
other tip that I will give you if you're feeling really negative is to write it down on paper
um what you feel hopeless about what you feel helpless about what you feel angry about what you
feel scared about whatever it is write it down on paper as it comes up and put it in a box and then
30 minutes a day whenever you want to not during your happy time not during your happy 20 minutes
but 30 minutes a day you can set aside to go through those stressful thoughts that
you had and process them and examine whether they are actually accurate in this context at
this time and if they are what can you do about them how can you use your energy to
address them in a way that will help you move forward toward your rich and meaningful life