Terrible Trauma Like a Poem

By Rosemarie M. Neilson LCSW AC

Writing poetry is a highly successful form of therapy. It is concrete, allows the individual to express their deepest pain and sorrow. It helps to formulate a plan to recover the “self”. Often there is so much pain to contain in one’s emotions, but most people who hold in trauma, or repress or suppress it feel it is a burden. Writing the closest words that describe their trauma keeps it on paper and not caught in their emotions.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Oct 28, 2019
• ISBN: 9781728331300

Rosemarie M. Neilson LCSW AC

My poetry writing developed as a result of trauma, and it became a ready tool to move my patients from pain into freedom. Many of the groups would need a shove to consolidate their pain to re- direct it, and as a result I began to write poetry within the group describing their movement.

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Copyright © 2019 Rosemarie M. Neilson LCSW AC. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse  10/10/2019

ISBN: 978-1-7283-3131-7 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-7283-3129-4 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-7283-3130-0 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2019916173

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

I thought about

telling you about how you have impressed me, how you motivated me, how you have helped me see the difference you’ve made in my life in 27 years so long yet it seems it is not. There’s so many memories but they’re all filled with hope. That’s what I want you all to remember. I want you to remember hope.

I will love you always.

POEMS OF THE GREAT WAR

IN FLANDERS FIELDS

In Flanders fields

by John McCrae, May 1915

In Flanders fields the poppies blow

Between the crosses, row on row,

That mark our place; and in the sky

The larks, still bravely singing, fly

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago

We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,

Loved and were loved, and now we lie

We’re here today to talk about stress, when we think of stress we think of stressors…..just identifying stressors doesn’t get rid of stress. What we need to do is find the origin of the stressors. Easier said than done.

For most of our lives we seem to go from one level of development to the next totally oblivious to how we got there…unless of course stressors get in our way.

Stress is a reaction, an action and a behavior….

All organisms respond to stress. The life cycle of all organisms depends on stress. Stress is cause and effect. Stress is change.

And those organisms that best respond to stress….survive! Adaptation .…but unlike lower organisms the human person is composed of body, mind, and spirit.

And it is this unique composition that makes our life form so magnificent…..and so enormously complex.

If we were only physical form…we would not have the problems we encounter with stress…it is our humanness that is experienced through our mind or our intellect, and through our soul or spirit that causes us psychological dilemma…this is where we get in trouble.

The intellect, the body and the spirit all develop at different cycles. (Use examples)

Scientists measure stages of physical growth and development. Theorists such as Eric Erikson, Piaget, and Freud, measure psychological growth.

Eric Erikson defined emotional development in 8 segments:

Birth to age 1 ½ Trust vs. mistrust

1 ½ to age 3 Autonomy vs. shame & doubt

3 to 5 ½ Initiative vs. guilt

5 ½ to 12 (Ego) Industry vs. inferiority

13 to 18 Identity vs. role confusion

18 to 21 Intimacy vs. isolation

Early to middle adulthood-Generativity Stagnation

Late adulthood Ego integrity vs. despair

Now what does all this have to do with stress?

If everyone here in this room is between the ages of 30 to 60 .….we are at the stage of generativity vs. stagnation. Now there a trick to this….if we did not complete the stage before this one, we have to go back and do it….does anyone tell us this? These stages of development are dependent on the previous stage and how we completed it. So the most crucial stage of course is the first…..trust vs. mistrust…..when we are just born to age 1 ½….

Who is taking care of us at that time? That’s when we need everything….if no one took care of us we would just shrivel