Psychological Trauma In Ireland

Psychological trauma is not a tangible damage, it is a damage of the mind, and one that can persist throughout short to extended periods of time. Trauma can affect at different levels, at an individual of course, but also at a widespread socio-cultural one, a trauma that resides in the collective consciousness of a people, as exemplified by the effects on the Irish people due to the great famine. Significant trauma can cause a great degree of mental anguish, distress, fear and general hardship which can pervade much to just about all of a single person or an entire people’s lives. A serious side effect of large scale trauma is how it can alter a person or country’s perception of themselves, the world around them, and also how others see them, …show more content…
The word negligence is etymologically derived from the latin neglegere, literally meaning "not to pick up something.” In this scenario what the British Empire weren’t picking up was the welfare of the Irish people, something that seemed like a straightforward responsibility given the trouble they went through to reign in Ireland and establish the Act of Union in 1800. An example of this is shown clearly in Paddy’s Lament describing the British extraction of food and supplies from Ireland made by Irish people during 1847, the most brutal year of the Great Famine. During that year “Captain Larcom, found the total value of the agricultural produce of Ireland for that year to be… enough to feed… not only the eight million people living in Ireland but another eight million besides.” This gross misuse of power can be likened to a parent depriving their child of food, only in this case the child is an entire people. So where is the agency of the Irish in response that a child would lack? The Irish were just trying to hang on to their existence, trauma is disruptive in a life, it can create cognitive, social and physical barriers making people incapable of acting sufficiently for themselves, although many were capable of emigrating. This is what the British Empire wanted since they’d been instilling the sadness in the Celtic hedges, landscape and people, for quite some …show more content…
Many traumatized people are called lazy and broken for their inability to correctly integrate into or back into normal social life, even though its often the greater social constructs who are inflicting this as seen with the British treatment of the Irish. The American government has been doing this to all kinds of people since its inception, be those people, indigenous, African, Hispanic, Asian, homosexual, transgender/sex and anyone who doesn’t fit into the desired status quo, and things about likely about to get even more intense. How trauma affects individuals and entire portions of society need to be made more clear than ever if we’re to promote equity and understanding. I have personally been through my share of traumas that have often left me feeling crippled emotionally and unable to fully take part in social life. After high school my house burned down in the early morning hours, now leaving me with more troubles falling asleep, fearing what will happen while I’m not aware. This extends to even seeing orange and red hues on the walls during a sunrise causing personal panic and distress. It is art and in particular music that has helped me to makes sense of these events and begin to heal from them, seeing live music that is important to me has provides epiphany-like catharsis which has helped me to survive until this day. So I